REPORTS OF DISTRICT AND LOCAL. SOCIETIES. 545 



Mr. Woodruff: I hope j r ou will pass this, and then I can buy the 

 " snide" package for about half its cost. 



Mr. Ruth: Unless a majority ship in full quarts the full quarts will 

 simply help to sell the "snide" package, and you get not a cent more for 

 it. The chief advantage is that in time of a glut the full quart will sell 

 first. The full quart takes too much talk to sell it for any more than the 

 " snide.'" A small shipper can not build up a reputation, whereas a 

 large shipper may. 



S. H. Comings: It takes years to build up a reputation, but it pays in 

 the end. 



W. A. Smith offered an amendment, to include the use of the peck 

 basket for peaches instead of the fifth-bushel. He has no faith in an 

 attempt to use the full quarts. The only way is to use the full quart and 

 stamp it ' ; full quart." The Delaware fruit exchange was broken up by 

 growers who wanted to save one cent per basket by doing their own selling 

 outside of the society. 



Mr. Withey: The manufacturers are responsible for the " snide " pack- 

 ages. They reduced the size originally as an inducement for shippers to 

 buy their packages. I am in favor of the peck basket and the full quart. 



Mr. Morrill: If a grocer here were to sell fourteen ounces for a 

 pound, and if you could buy sixteen ounces in St. Joseph, how long would 

 you buy in Benton Harbor? How long would fruit-buyers buy small 

 packages when they could get large ones? Mark your crates full measure, 

 and do not change houses. I am satisfied there is money in the full 

 measure and good packing. 



S. H. Comings: I have found houses in Iowa who handle fruit by car- 

 loads. I think by combined efforts we could get the benefit of these 

 distant markets. 



Mr. Smith's amendment carried. The motion as amended was carried. 



At the meeting of March 6 the society met at Grange hall, at 2:30 P. M. 



Mr. Pixley said that an Ohio manufacturer of Climax baskets offered 

 to furnish them at $33 per 1,000, here (very nice baskets), if 200,000 or 

 more are contracted, to be delivered July 1. They make five, seven, 

 eight and nine pound baskets; with smooth, flat covers. 



Mr. Handy suggested that the question of raising cucumbers for the 

 proposed new pickle factory be discussed. He said that parties had, at 40 

 cents per bushel (52 pounds), cleared $260 on 2i acres. Little work is 

 required, except in the picking. 



A. Brunson: On suitable ground they are a good crop, but I do not 

 think sandy soil is the best. Good ground might clear $300 per acre. 



President Morrill: The Improvement Company have put up a large 

 sum for new investments, and their success depends on getting new plants 

 here. The pickle works want from 500 to 2,000 acres. They want five 

 acres of land for their works, and expect to spend on improvement $25,000 

 by November next, $25,000 more in the next two years, and to employ 100 

 men nine months in the year to handle the crop. Mr. Morrill said that 

 two or three years old cucumber seed is the more productive. The seeds 

 are furnished by this company gratis. They take 50 pounds of cucumbers 

 to the bushel. 



Mr. Calkins said they should be picked half one day and half the next. 



It was stated that it is uncertain whether the Alden canning factory is 

 going to run this year. 



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