6 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. , 



Thus we see from this statement of President Lyon, founded on actual 

 experience, that the prime cause of glutted markets is traceable directly to 

 shiftlessness or carelessness, and in more cases than one, a sprinkling of 

 dishonesty in selecting, assorting, and packing fruit for market. We have 

 found and proven by actual test, during the past season, in handling 

 apples at Grand Rapids, that by taking from one bushel of apples the 

 small, inferior fruit in amount so astonishingly small as to be almost 

 unnoticeable, the quality of the remaining fruit was raised fully twenty 

 per cent. The same rule is equally applicable to all fruits. 



Again, we quote from Mr. Roland Moeeill of Benton Harbor: 



In the first place, I will venture the assertion that we have not yet reached the point 

 where we produce any surplus fruit of any kind at any season of the year, except per- 

 haps in the case of apples in occasional years; and that, if called upon to furnish all the 

 markets accessible to us with good fruit (i. e., fruit fit to eat) we could not do it at any 

 price, and the fault is all our own. We have been very diligent in planting and growing 

 large tracts of fruit in our fruit regions proper; but few of us have spent very much 

 time looking up an outlet for all this crop which is sure to come and is nearly always 

 upon us before we are properly prepared for it. Then we load it all up, good, bad and 

 indifferent, and hustle it off by the most convenient route to the large markets, hoping 

 against hope that we may realize something from it, and all of us doing the same thing 

 at the same time. No wonder the market is glutted. • • • It seems very difficult 

 to get the fact into the brains of some fruitgrowers, that inferior fruit is the one great 

 snag against which they invariably run, in all our large city markets, and they place 

 the snag there themselves. Nobody asks or wants them to. The commission man 

 begs them not to send it, the buyers curse them, the consumer becomes disgusted and 

 uses a great deal less of it than he would if he could get what he wanted at all times. 

 There are two kinds of inferior fruit. One is all poor, for which the owner should be 

 thankful if he gets enough money to pay expenses. The other is the kind which is 

 very inferior at the bottom of the package and very fair or choice on top. A great 

 many men grow this kind entirely, and we annually hear mourning from their camp. 

 They say " The market is glutted," "Fruitgrowing don't pay," and "The commission 

 men are thieves," etc. The fact is, they should not grow that kind of fruit. It does 

 not pay, it destroys the confidence of the consumer, and he buys just as little as he can 

 (this alone causes a glut). Besides, it establishes low prices for good fruit. Of course, 

 there is a certain amount of good fruit on the market at all times, on which the owner 

 has made a good reputation. This never fails to sell above the market, and usually 

 brings the owner a good profit. 



If all growers would ship only good fruit, honestly packed in standard 

 packages, the prices would certainly be satisfactory and it would have an 

 influence toward better cultivation and better methods generally. In 

 order to produce more prime fruit to supply the demand, which would cer- 

 tainly increase as fast as the supply, we often hear men say that the proper 

 way to pack fruit is to " top it off." They say everybody else does so and 

 that is excuse enough for them. Of such I would ask, if my neighbor 

 is a rascal, is that any reason why I should be one? 



We of Gratiot county have full and easy access by rail to many of the 

 leading markets of the state. By the D., L. & N. railway we reach Sag- 

 inaw and by direct connecting lines reach Bay City in from one to two 

 hours and Grand Rapids in three to five hours. By the T., A. A. & N. M. 

 railway we may reach Owosso and the cities of the south and the numer- 

 ous summer resorts of the north. By the T., S. & M. railway we reach 

 the lake ports of the west shore, and by direct connecting navigation lines 

 we gain access to the great western distributing city of Chicago, and many 

 other points. Our transportation facilities are unexcelled. 



The length of our paper will permit of scarcely a passing note on 

 forestry and the influence of the forest upon the productiveness of our 

 cultivated crops. But, if asked if the wholesale slaughter of our forests 



