■20 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



fruit to do it. One man gets a little more for his fruit than the other. 

 It happens to go to a little higher market. Perhaps my fruit would 

 go to Syracuse and ni}' neighbor's would go to Utica. Syracuse would 

 be a little bit oft" that day. I would know what he got for his fruit in 

 that market and I would not be satisfied. 



The Secretary: In this case the No. 1 fruit is put in a pool, all the 

 sales of that day, and the growers are paid on that basis. Each man's 

 fruit is not sold separately. It is graded separately, but it is all sold 

 together. 



Mr. Graham: The question is there, what is No. 1 fruit? You run 

 your fruit through a grader, and in a great many instances fruit will 

 grade No. 1 as to size and still not be No. 1. It is impossible to do this, 

 I believe, so that fruit will bring the same price — bright, nice, firm fruit. 

 Fruit varies when grown under different conditions (young trees, and 

 all those things make a very great difference with the market value 

 of fruit) and when you come to grade it I do not believe that the farmers 

 or the fruitgrowers are business men enough to put their product to- 

 gether and ship it in that manner and abide by the result for more 

 than one year at any time. I don't believe they will ever do it. Once in 

 a while there will he one that will do it, but the great majority will 

 not. I believe they must sell their fruit themselves, and I believe the 

 time has come or is rapidly coming when all markets where there are 

 fruit centers, either individuals or corporations, will purchase the fruit 

 and ship it on their own account, making what they can themselves, 

 taking their own commercial chances on fruit the same as they take on 

 everything else of the kind, and they will make a good fair profit. It 

 will soon bring others in. If one concern makes a large margin or 

 profit this year, there will be two concerns started next year, and com- 

 petition will regulate that matter. I believe that is the way to sell 

 jour fruit. 



Mr. Reid: And the third year they will make a combination. There 

 is very little I have to say, and that is simply in opposition to the idea 

 that the fruitgrowers must market their fruit, sell it to somebody, and 

 take no part in the marketing of it, nor pursue their business any further 

 than the mere growing and selling of the fruit. If it really is true 

 that growers of fruit can not combine and transact business for them- 

 selves and with themselves they would better stop all their complaints 

 about the way they are misused under the present system. If they 

 can not do better than that, they do not deserve anything better, and 

 they certainly will not obtain it; and it would seem to me to be infinitely 

 better for the fruitgrower, morally and socially and intellectually, as 

 well as financially, if he could be educated into managing this business 

 of sales and shipment of his fruit for himself or by these co-operative 

 companies. If they sell to one institution this year, as Mr. Graham 

 suggested, and that concern does pretty well, another will come in the 

 next year, and perhaps there will be three or four the third year: and 

 "by that time the competition has become so sharp that not much money 

 is to be made, and a combination will be formed. They will then have 

 gone back to the original condition, and the grower will be absolutely 

 at the mercy of the combination, having no choice but to bring his 

 fruit to mark(4 and take what they please to offer him. It seems to 

 me this co-operative plan of selling and shipping is better for the devel- 

 opment and education of the fruitgrower than anything that has been 



