Miscellaneotts. 373 



that you had Charley Williamson, of Quincy, on your mind when 

 you wrote the article, for he is a poet sure enough, and, like my- 

 self, a loyal friend of old Ben. 



But even if I were gifted and inclined to court the muses, like 

 my friend Williamson, I wouldn't have the nerve to waste good 

 poetry on Ozark Ben Davis, so long as you newspaper men quote 

 them as going begging at 60 cents to $1.00 a barrel. Maybe after 

 "those returns" come in from that train load which we shipped 

 abroad, I will be in better humor to consider poetry, but in the 

 meantime prose, just common Missouri prose, is good enough for 

 me. 



About three years ago I said in my address at Louisville, 

 "There are Ben Davis and Ben Davis, but it all depends on where 

 they are grown." I should have added, "and how they are packed." 

 According to my observation a large per cent of the Ben Davis 

 apples raised on the Ozarks are not properly handled from the 

 time they leave the tree till they enter the car for shipment. And 

 do you know that the commission merchants, or wholesale apple 

 buyers, are largely to blame for this? Every one, or nearly every 

 one, of these "good men," who wires the grower, or country 

 packer, for price on a car of "fancy Ben Davis" will place his 

 order with the "cheapest fellow," so that the man who, by nature 

 and education takes pride in a "good pack," finding himself not ap- 

 preciated, finally becomes indifferent and gets in the "swim" to 

 make sales, taking chances as to whether they will stick or not. 

 It is only when the buyer is on the spot that a superior pack is 

 appreciated and properly paid for. Of course, a "good pack" is 

 apt to bring duplicate orders, and occasionally a compliment, but, 

 as a rule, the buyer is unwilling to pay more, or very little more, 

 than the current run of prices which are quoted from points of 

 shipment. 



Many years ago a barrel of potatoes, whether it held nine 

 pecks or eleven pecks, used to sell in Memphis for the same price, 

 so long as it was a barrel. The old fogies, who stuck up for the 

 eleven-peck barrel, found it didn't pay to be stubborn, and so 

 joined the reformers and did "bizness." Of course, those good old 

 times, like other youthful joys, are gone to return no more. Mem- 

 phis people are buying potatoes in sacks now, and demand 60 

 pounds to the bushel. Sad, but true. Perhaps the time will come 

 when the quality and manner of packing Ben Davis apples will be 

 sufficiently appreciated by a willingness on the part of the buyer 

 to make a proper distinction in price; then there will be an in- 



