542 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Mr. Smith: I am in favor of the stock company and am willing to take 

 stock in it. 



Mr. Brown : I am in favor of this company, and hope they will sell to 

 poor outsiders. 



Mr. Pixley said that through this new organization they hoped to get 

 advantages in selling fruit by car lots. 



Mr. Webster: The trouble last year was the short crop. I had bad 

 luck in shipping to Anderson. We are at the mercy of the commission 

 men. 



Mr. Morrill: Our effort last year had the effect of opening up new 

 markets and thereby relieving the Chicago market. 



Mr. Handy : No doubt the circulating of those pamphlets had a good 

 effect. 



S. H. Comings: Cranberry-growers adopted a stencil, and it is recog- 

 nized as a guaranty of quality. 



Mr. Pixley: We ought to guarantee that fruit is equal to its 

 appearance. 



On February 27, the secretary read a paper from W. A. Brown on 

 Marketing Fruit. 



The growing of perishable fruits as a business is a most fascinating occupation, not- 

 withstanding the constant cares, perplexities, and frequent failures which must be 

 encountered. But no one should engage in the business before carefully considering 

 the adaptability of soil, climate, and location in reference to remunerative and accessible 

 markets. 



Perhaps no locality in the northwest is better adapted to general fruitgrowing than 

 western Michigan; and certainly no other place in this latitude has so many of the 

 conditions necessary to the successful cultivation of small fruits as our own Berrien 

 county. 



Strawberries were first grown in 1862 for the Chicago market. The first raspberries 

 and blackberries were shipped in 1864; and the high prices prevailing caused large 

 plantings in the then comparatively small fruit area around St. Joseph. With the 

 rapid growth of western cities and the fast increased consumption of fruits, our small 

 beginnings have become an immense industry with thousands of acres in fruits. Nearly 

 all of the people of our lake shore towns are dependent, directly or indirectly, upon the 

 financial results of the business of fruitgrowing. 



The demand for fruits by the non-producing classes is almost unlimited, provided 

 that good fresh fruits can be obtained at all times and in all places at a moderate cost. 

 How to meet the demand for fruits upon an economical basis which will induce large 

 •onsumption and leave a fair profit to the grower, is the problem whioh large fruitgrow- 

 ing communities are being called upon to solve. , 



Without entering into details, we will allude to methods for transportation and mar- 

 keting fruits which are being perfected by co-operation in several large fruitgrowing 

 districts. The California Fruit Union has developed a system by which their fine fruits 

 are placed in markets two and three thousand miles distant in perfect condition. This 

 has been done by the relinquishing of all claims by the growers to their agents who 

 have full control of all exports, and who virtually own the fruit. Upon arrival in the 

 eastern cities the fruit is sold at auction to large buyers, who sell to local dealers. By 

 the perfect packing of good fruit only and transportation in refrigerator cars, California 

 fruits have become a staple production with values fixed by supply and demand. The 

 growers of citrus fruits in Florida are perfecting a system, by which their association 

 gives the exclusive control of all shipments to their own agencies. 



The Delaware Fruit Exchange, whereby peaches were sold at auction from growers' 

 wagons, proved efficient and satisfactory during prolific seasons, but owing to recent 

 failures in the peach crop has remained dormant. Much of the immense supply of small 

 fruits grown for the eastern cities is sold to dealers; but the old system of daily consign- 

 ments by individual growers to commission houses is the only efficient method available 

 for closing out large daily shipments of berries. Midway oetween eastern and western 

 markets, the fruitgrowers of western New York are organized for the co-operative trans- 

 portation and marketing of their fruits. Car and train loads of grapes are moved east 

 and west and placed upon markets selected by their own agents. Our southern friends 



