344 State Horticultural Society. 



The principal demand and only mode of transportation for our 

 fruits was by wagon to the western plains. Our local city demand was 

 veiy limited, being chiefly for immediate use, scarcely ever could wc 

 sell a bushel to any store, the citizens occasionally bought a few 

 bushel of Geniton apples and buried them in their gardens for home 

 use. The general opinion and expression was that in a few years 

 apples would- not be worth picking up off the ground ; that there would 

 be so many growai they could not be used. We had neither commer- 

 cial orchard, commercial varieties nor commercial value. 



At the time of taking- charge of the Park orchard in Alarcli, 1S71,. 

 there were in the orchard 500 bushel of Geniton apples, these had 

 become slightly frozen on the trees in October, 1870. They were 

 afterwards shaken oft', picked up, and placed in piles, then buried. 

 On April 14th they were sold at public sale, and I bought them for less 

 than 10 cents per bushel. On the 15th day of April. 1871, I was on 

 the Kansas City market with two wagon loads of these apples, which 

 was my first experience in handling fruit on this market. Consequently,, 

 this is my 34th anniversary of that occasion. 



At this date we liad not one single fruit distributing house in 

 Kansas City, and 1 have no knowledge of there being one single 

 bushel of apples shipped to or from this point. Cold storage was 

 unthought of, refrigerator cars were ujiknown, and the masses of the 

 people imeducated as fruit consumers, not knowing the valuable 

 and necessary elements in fruit for toning and invigorating the human 

 system in its every day usage ; they used fruit merely as a novelty. 



A few years later a change began to come, fruit growers began 

 planting other varieties of fruits, and small fruits, berries, cherries, 

 grapes, etc. Our cherries Avere picked wathout the stems and very 

 frequently without the seeds. Then we began picking our cherries with 

 stems remaining. And such a howl I and for a wdiile it was almost 

 impossible to sell cherries on the Kansas City market that were 

 picked wn'th the stems on. People thought it highway robbery to 

 measure cherries in that way, but finally this mode of picking was 

 adopted. 



Our small fruits were all handled in shallow boxes or trays, in 

 shipping Or hauling to market ; those trays were placed on top of 

 each other, two or more, and nailed together with cleats. At the 

 market the berries or cherries were dipped out wath paddles measured 

 in quart, half-gallon or gallon measures to the customers. Grapes 

 were also handled in the same w-ay, and weighed out. Peaches and 

 pears and soft fruits were handled in our local markets in various 

 sized boxes, bee-gums, washing tubs, etc., and some of our more 



