WEST MICHIGAN FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION 209 



-the Mississi])]ii on the west and Jlie Allanlic seaboard on the east. This 

 was acconiplisbed in ''Jii, notwiUistanding- the immense glut all over the 

 eountrv. 



Another lesson will long be remembered, viz.: that the more abundant 

 the fruit, and consequently the lower the price, the more we had to pay 

 for the give-away packages. The dealer in this kind of goods was quick 

 to see the handwriting on the w^all, and he went for the grower accord- 

 ingly; and between the manufacturers and the transportation companies, 

 the profits were pretty closely sliced down. The many, many lessons we 

 have had on this point should by this time convince us that a larger and 

 more uniform package would largely reduce our outlay and increase our 

 income, strange, strange as it may seem, w'e adhere year after year to 

 these small packages, to our utter loss and to the profit of others who 

 fatten ujjon our toil. Think of these little mites of baskets, five-pound and 

 six-pound baskets alone costing about fifty per cent, of the gross sale. 



In the berry business, too, we cut off our own noses by adhering to the 

 ^'snide'' boxes, and the sixteen-quart case instead of using the twenty-four 

 'or thirty-two full-quart package. This is not a new lesson, but it will be 

 reserved for our children to become wiser than we. 



Another lesson, perhaps never so strongly presented before, was that of 

 thinning the fruit on the trees. This was so apparent that even a blind 

 man could not help seeing the indispensable necessity of this work; and 

 yet, how many growers utterly neglected to do this work. This was 

 excused on the ground of economy. The practice of this economy, how- 

 ever, cost the peach-growers of Michigan, in '96, tens of thousands of dol- 

 lars, and was therefore a lesson that should long be remembered. Yet, it 

 is safe to sav, it is one that will soon be forgotten. The heavv draft on 

 the trees of such an immense amount of fruit, was enough to tax their 

 verj^ life, to say nothing of the heavy drain upon the soil to mature so large 

 <i crop of solid matter in the shape of pits or seed. 



When we stop to consider the immense amount of labor necessary to har- 

 vest this large crop of small and inferior fruit, the cost of the diminutive 

 ^'snide" packages — five-to six-pound baskets — the freight and cartage, and 

 the frequent cases of dishonest packing, is it any wonder that the grower's 

 purse remained empty? But even those who thinned their fruit (and here 

 I claim no exception for myself) lacked in moral courage or worldly' wis- 

 dom. 



In California this matter of thinning peaches is reduced to a science. 

 Th'-'ir distant location from market absolutely d( niands this thorough 

 work. Why not profit by their example? We know that ^Michigan peaches, 

 equally well grown, and equally presentable in the market, and of higher 

 color, are far superior in quality and will, side by side and day by day, 

 outsell the California fruit. But not only did we lose heavily in '96, by 

 keeping the markets glutted wdth our small, inferior fruit, but the loss will 

 be seen and felt in '97. Our trees were so exhausted from the enormous 

 burden of last year's crop, that they w'ill demand one year's rest to recuper- 

 ate, and they are likely to get it. Thus our ignorance, carelessness, or false 

 economy will cause a double loss. 



We have every reason to believe that the production of such an enor- 

 mous crop of solids in the matter of pits must and will impoverish the soil. 

 -Our soils are no longer of the virgin type — constant removal of any crop 

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