DECEMBER MEETING. 237 



Wc need an accurate measure for fruit that .shall bo a standard iu the mar- 

 kets. I am satislled that the ciuestion before us is of the greatest importance 

 to those M'ho make fruit growing a business out of Avhich to get money. 



Mr. llanford, — A good rule for us all to follow is to never put into baskets 

 what we would not purchase ourselves. I am satisfied it pays to separate fruit 

 into three grades, and then the first grade will sell for more than the whole 

 unsorted. I saw i)ears from California ])ut u}) iu peculiar boxes, which sold for 

 large prices, I took accurate measurements of the l)oxes, had some made, and 

 shipped my best pears in these packages. The result was I received nearly as 

 much as the California pears sold for, and without any deceit whatever, for 

 without doubt my fruit was the most luscious. 



In peaches I know one had bettor throw away his seconds than to have them 

 mixed with the best. 



Thonuis Wild, Berlin. — I have had some peculiar experience in the shipping 

 of apples. I was connected with the purchase of quantities of apples one fall, 

 and tlie apples were to be packed according to special instructions that no poor 

 fruit should go into the barrels, and that as a guaranty of the contents of the 

 barrels each one should bear the packer's name. I went oS with the shipment 

 of fruit feeling that with a lot put up on honor I could command the highest 

 price. I found commission men did not buy on hearsay. Several of the bar- 

 rels under my charge were opened and inferior apples were found distributed 

 through them, and it was with the greatest difSculty that I marketed the lot at 

 any price. The farmers who put these apples up were not so much in blame 

 for they were ignorant of what constitutes marketable fruit. They did not 

 know that an apple with a jam on one side was ranked as a second or third, neither 

 did they understand that a worm hole through the apple in any direction but 

 from end to end makes a second of it. Here is where selfishness ought to crop 

 out in making as saleable a barrel of apples as possible, rather than in getting 

 as many seconds along with the best as they will possibly carry. ^Ve are behind 

 our friends who live on the lake shore in this matter of marketing, but if we 

 cannot learn by telling, Ave shall have to await a time when our own experience 

 shall have taught us the fallacy of making money by being stingy in 

 selling fruit. 



E. J. Shirts, Shelby. — This matter of ignorance extends to the mixing of 

 varieties. For a good many years I made the marketing of apples a specialty, 

 and it was almost impossible to make people understand the necessity of 

 packing each kind by itself and marking the variety upon the barrel. 



H. B. Chapman, Reading. — It is not ignorance, but dishonesty. Farmers 

 are not exempt from this frailty. Apples of second quality are willfully placed 

 in the barrels in a majority of cases, and with the expectation of making some- 

 thing by it, and barrels of mixed apples are marketed as Greenings or 

 BaldAvins when the packer knows he is deceiving. I am glad to have such 

 fellows brought to their senses. 



Mr. Wild. — I am told by commission men that it is desirable to have two 

 tiers of apples laid carefully in place at the u])per end of the barrel, as it gives 

 a thoroughly good appearance when the head is opened. 



Mr. Pearsall, Grand Rapids. — One tier of placed apples is enough for me, 

 providing the barrel is what it should be throughout. I am satisfied it jjuvs to 

 have uniformity, have the tier at the head a true index of the whole barrel. I 

 have marketed a good many apples, and by this method found my apples were 

 sought after. 



