404 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



be snccessfully handled without organization. Wherever there is any 

 considerable number of growers or shippers, steps should be taken to- 

 wards organization. Elect officers to direct affairs for the coining sea- 

 son. Good, responsible, experienced firms should be selected to handle 

 your products in every city you desire to reach. 



Such firms are bound to take better care of your interests than of 

 individuals, because there is more at stake, and the merchant realizes 

 that if he makes a mistake or at any time misleads you in his advices, 

 he is likely to be dropped for somebody else. One telegram or letter 

 serves all — and the labor saved at both ends, by dealing with one man 

 instead of 12 or 50, becomes apparent. The commission man charges 

 the Association seven instead of ten per cent, and it really pays him 

 better, because of work and time saved. 



In dealing with transportation companies and other corporations, 

 your claims would receive attention where the individual would fail ; 

 recalling the old adage, that in " Union there is strength." In buying 

 your packages, fertilizers, or anything else needed by the community, 

 you can secure better terms than any individual. All sorts of con- 

 cessions are made to such bodies, the profits being greater and the risk 

 less — all of which is natural and customary in every channel of trade. 

 Incidentally, the isolated shippers at the smaller shipping points are 

 protected to a beneficial extent, as the unions and larger bodies else- 

 where, who are posted daily by wire, in a great measure save all the 

 markets. 



Much more might be written showing the necessity of unions and 

 organized bodies, without which the industry cannot produce all it is 

 capable of at any shipping point. It might be urged by some that these 

 unions have a tendency to flock to leading firms in each city. This, 

 however, need not necessarily follow, as unions, like individuals, go to 

 different firms, and they will continue to do so, as they increase and 

 see the necessity for it. — P. M. Kiely before National League of Com- 

 mission Merchants, at Buffalo, N. Y., Jan. 12, 1898. 



BUSINESS SIDE OF FRUIT CULTURE, 



In Horticulture Hall, Boston, J. H. Hale of South Glastonbury, 

 Ct., spoke on the •' Business Side of Fruit Culture." 



I am suprised, said Mr. Hale, that New England does not wake up 

 to the chance of the control of the fine preserved fruit trade, which is 

 invaded by as distant a competitor as Germany. Another oppurtunity 

 for New England is the cultivation of chestnuts as a commercial crop- 



