124 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



THE shippers' ASSOCIATION. 



This disposition of our fruits has been and ever will be a great 

 question to solve, and today it is the great bugaboo. There is no more 

 serious or important question can come before ihis Society than that 

 of "Transportation" and " Marketing." One has truly said, " It is no 

 more a question, can we raise fruits, but how best to market them." 

 What with enormous freight and express rates and dishonest commis- 

 sion men, the grower is between the devil and the deep sea. This 

 union of communities and shipping in car lots is one answer. This 

 shippers' union and their sending where the fruits are moat wanted is 

 another solution; this sending a man to the most important markets is 

 another solution; but even then we are more or less at the mercy of 

 the commission man, are we not? How can we best overcome that? 

 Can men be found who are honest? Can it be possible to have an in- 

 spector at all ouF important points and commission men in all our 

 cities, all of whom shall be under bond? If so, will it not be another 

 way out of the difficulty? A full and free discussion of these matters 

 should surely demand a part of our attention and discussion. Can we 

 expect to succeed at once? By no means. It may take years to get 

 the proper machinery and plan to work this to perfection. To any of 

 you who think it cannot be done I would recommend a thorough study 

 of Prof. Langley and his ten years' work on the flying machine. 



THE COLD STORAGE 



Was so nearly a failure last year that we have to question if they know 

 it all yet. It occurs to me that they even have much to bear, and the 

 only trouble is that they are learning at our expense. Thousands of 

 pounds of good winter apples were put into cold storage last fall that 

 were a complete loss, and the fault was not always the apple-packer's 

 either. Good, large, cool cellars must help us solve the question, and 

 it well behooves us to do much of this on our own plan. 



These are only a few of the important matters that come to me as 

 I study this great question. It is for you and me to take hold of each 

 as it confronts us and help solve them. You need not fear that you 

 will have nothing for your head to do when you begin to realize how 

 much there is yet to study and learn and prove. To this end let us 

 labor, and work, and wait, and watch, and in the end we will see suc- 

 cess within our reach. L. A. Goodman. 



