DECEMBER MEETING. 301 



.before, I have no doubt there is and will continue to be a demand for all the 

 fruit wliich Michigan docs or can produce. Tlic great question then, is, how 

 can this great niari^ct be reached quickly and cheaply? There is no doubt that 

 in the transportation of perishable fruits like peaches, time is of more con- 

 sequence than anything else. The sooner they can reach their destination, 

 other things being equal, the fairer they will look and the better tliey will keep. 

 To do tliis we must in some way avoid the delays consequent on shipi)ing 

 them to Chicago, and tliere await orders to be again shipped to some other 

 point, which might have been reached in the same time it took to send them to 

 Chicago. I use Chicago only to illustrate my idea. The same principle applies 

 to all central markets. My idea is, we must bring other markets to us, and 

 that to do this, we must let all portions of this great market know where we 

 are, and that we have the ability to supply them with all the fruit they may 

 ■want, and of a quality superior to all others. To do this fruit growers must act 

 in concert, and inform the consumer that there is a better market for him to 

 purchase in than Chicago. To do this would cost some money. It should be 

 done either through ordinary advertising, or by canvassers. The latter would 

 be more effective, the first less expensive. But whichever course is adopted, it 

 should be done thoroughly and no point left unnotified that could be reached 

 by the mails or otherwise. Every city, village, hamlet, and country store 

 should be posted as to the time and place, when and where to order their fruits. 

 Arrangements should be made with the great thoroughfares to have the fraits 

 forwarded with the greatest dispatch, and the fewest possible trans-shipments. 

 Purchasers shoidd be advised of these arrangements, and which is the best route 

 over which to have their fruits shipped. This renders it necessary that perfect 

 arrangements should be made here for filling all orders received with as much 

 certainty and dispatch as it could be done in Chicago. 



The business there is not all done in one place, but divided among five 

 hundred men, all working for one purpose, and when orders are received by 

 one for articles wliich he has not on hand, he gets it from his neighbor and fills 

 his order and returns the accommodation as opportunity offers. 



With us, after we are sufficiently advertised, we must establish central offices 

 in charge of competent persons, whose duty it shall be to attend to all corres- 

 pondence and receive and fill orders. They should be furnished by each of the 

 members of the association of the probable amount of each variety of fruit he 

 will have to sell, then, when an order is received, they would know just whom 

 to call iipon to fill it. I would not like to enter into further details of this 

 proposition as it may be thought entirely impracticable, and I should be loth to 

 occupy time which can be more profitably used. I will only add that it a])pears 

 to me that, beside the advantages already mentioned, it would prove mutually 

 beneficial, to the producer in a more certain market, as his fruit would be sold 

 as soon as delivered at his own port, to the consumer in receiving his fruit in a 

 shorter time, consequently fresher and more valuable, to both in saving the 

 expense and delay consequent upon employing middle men to do unnecessary 

 work, which is a detriment rather than an advantage. The cost of commigsious 

 thus saved is enormous. One fruit grower alone in Saugatuck informs me that 

 his commissions for this year have amounted to over f!],000. What then must 

 the aggregate be. Surcl}', if we could save but one-fourth of this, it is well 

 worth the trial. 



Mr. Markham's essay was well received, and it was generally conceded that 



