REPORTS OF DISTRICT AND LOCAL SOCIETIES. 553 



save as much on drayage as Mr. Judson figures out. He thought an agent 

 could be of advantage to as in the northwest. 



Mr. W. A. Brown thought much can be done by an agent in looking up 

 mistakes in the northwest, to travel and visit different towns and find 

 markets. We should ship through without breaking bulk. We expect 

 five to six million baskets of peaches, if nothing happens, and they will be 

 all needed. Our agent should be able to give us information about mar- 

 kets at any hour. 



Mr. S. H. Comings thought the new company to be organized tomorrow 

 may be able to do much for its members — not only in buying packages 

 but in freights and other items. 



Mr. Webster : Would make Benton Harbor and not Chicago, the dis- 

 tributing point for the northwest, and let buyers come here. 



Mr. Mead: Small fruit must be disposed of quickly, and if buyers do 

 not come here we must ship to Chicago. I think this new company is a 

 right move. 



Mr. Webster: My ticket is — a market in Benton Harbor; but if you 

 are going to ship to Chicago, send a man there to look after it and restrict 

 the number of commission houses we ship to. W T e have been studying 

 how to raise fruit, and now we are trying to find out how to dispose of it. 



Mr. W. A. Brown: Sooner or later, our fruit must be sold here in Ben- 

 ton Harbor. The tendency in this direction is growing every year. The 

 new organization is a good move, but they have much to learn. A great 

 deal of missionary work has got to be done. 



Mr. Handy: One objection to selling here is that buyers make no dis- 

 crimination between good and poor fruit. 



S. H. Comings: The commission man is a good agent if he is the right 

 kind of a man, and can do us much good. 



Mr. Farnum, in answer to a question, said that cars bringing fruit from 

 the east would otherwise come back empty, and therefore they can afford 

 to bring fruit cheaply. He said that he had never said that our lake 

 freight was too high. He had thought that if fruit could be delivered in 

 Chicago in good condition, it would result in a gain to us of fifty cents per 

 case. 



Mr. Gates read a protest against the report of his paper, read at the last 

 meeting, as published, and wished the statement corrected, that he advocated 

 trapping codlin moths with a lantern, and explained that his plan was to 

 destroy them with an open light. He objected to the statement that Prof. 

 Cook said that moths are not attracted by a light, which was a typographi- 

 cal error, and which should have read codlin moths. 



April 3, 1891, the society met at Grange hall. 



Mr. Pixley, of committee on packages, said that their new organization 

 was about closing contracts for crate stuff, and were anxious to know whether 

 the shippers want the full-quart package or the "snides." Mr. Pixley 

 favored full standard packages. The association is known as the Berrien 

 County Fruitgrowers Co-operative association. 



Mr. Handy thought the majority of shippers would ship in small-quart 

 packages, though he would prefer the full-quart package, if three fourths 

 of the shippers would use them. 



S. H. Comings thought that it would take a good while to settle this 

 question of size of packages. 



Mr. Pixley thought that it was a question of morality. 

 70 



