PROCEEDINGS OF THE WINTER MEETING. 27 



Mr. Morrill: Let me suggest another thing; we are very familiar with 

 the canning industry, and Acme is the poorest possible tomato for 

 canning, because it "waters" badly and Beauty goes with it; and 

 repeated tests have shown that they may can them and give them solid 

 packing, and in thirty to sixty days they will open up and "water" badly. 

 Early Harvest has much the same fault; you want something as hard as 

 Perfection or Favorite, or Stone. Stone is one of the very finest, and so 

 is the New Livingston Red. They will remain solid packed. I grow from 

 ten to forty acres each year of tomatoes. I have been for twenty years 

 at it, and quit within the last year. I have the Chicago market and two 

 canning factories, and have been between two fires, to grow a tomato 

 for the factory and for market. If I grow what the factory wants, my 

 only course is to contract, and I don't really like the figures, for the 

 Chicago market often proves the best. I took as high as |500 per car on 

 Chicago market one season (1892), but at the factory they pay us |8 per 

 ton, and we will run from six to twelve tons per acre. 



Mr. Burdick: I am a canning factory man. I am glad it is here, and 

 I will say that if you stand by them, they will stand by you, every time. 

 When we commenced, they wanted us to contract to raise tomatoes. We 

 did not know anything about it but we finally concluded to try it, even 

 if we did not make a cent. We wanted the factory and we found we 

 had to give them some encouragement, something they could rely on, 

 to get it here; I contracted tomatoes, string beans, and peas. When they 

 come to get the string beans handled, the "Yankee" help would not work; 

 it was talk and play, and one thing and another, and the beans were not 

 taken care of. I noticed one day a pile of string beans thrown out back of 

 the factory. I said, "What does this mean, are you throwing them out?" 

 [There they were, paying us for them and throwing them out.] "Yes," 

 he said. "Well," I said, "I don't want you to take any more of mine." 

 He said that it was inipossible. to get them dressed; that it would be 

 necessary to secure old-country help. I sold tomatoes last year for good 

 prices, |1.80 per bushel I started in with, and the last I got was thirty- 

 :five cents, so the factory did not stand in my way last year, on tomatoes. 



Mr. Markham : It is the same here as anywhere. A good many farmers, 

 if they think they can do a little better, don't want to contract with the 

 canning factory; if they get in a pinch, they will go to the factory, which, 

 of course, is not always in shape to take them. The factory is at quite an 

 expense; it costs some money to start it. They are business people, and 

 I think it is one of the grandest things we have. Last year everything 

 was wrong, nothing worked right at all; but two years ago we certainly 

 were enthusiastic over the canning factory. 



Mr. Burdick: It was a dry season last year, and the peaches clung to 

 the stones so that it was almost impossible to dress them, and they 

 finally had to give it up. 



Mr. Gebhart: I would like to ask Mr. Burdick in regard to prices. 

 Did you sell to the canning factory at those prices? A. No. they were 

 not working that year, last year, with tomatoes. In regard to the small 

 fruits, they will not have anything to do with them for canning, but they 

 will take most of the peaches and plums. 



