200 Missouri State Horticultural Society. 



especially if — to enter abruptly on my second proposition — it shall 

 also enrich the pockets of said benefactors ! which fact I hope to 

 establish because no other argument is likely to excite so many to 

 acts of pure benevolence ! Since I came to this meeting I have 

 been asked •''is not the evaporation of fruit becoming unprofitable 

 on account of overproduction?" And again, ''is not the use of 

 evaporated fruit going out of favor?" To the first query I can 

 confidently reply in the negative. That cry has been sounded for 

 ten years, or ever since the evaporation of fruit became an 

 independent industry, but with its growth has grown an increasing 

 demand, so that up to this present season there has been a steady 

 advance in the price of the product. Exportation to foreign countries 

 has grown in a little over ten years from the insignificant siim of 

 150,000 to $1,188,000 (nearly two millions of dollars). 



The comparatively low price of evaported apples at the opening 

 of this season was not the result of overproduction last year, for it 

 is a well known fact that the small apple yield in the eastern and 

 middle states last year and the consequent high prices paid for 

 green fruit there and here diminished the use- of evaporators. The 

 secret of the ''Bear" is told in a few words in the evaporated 

 apple market. 



Commission dealers " advanced" ten cents per pound to secure 

 consignments. Careless or greedy shippers put upon them improp- 

 erly cured fruit, and the dealers were "stuck" with unmerchantable 

 fruit which they had to hold over and of course as it grew worse 

 they grew desperate, and in fact for self-preservation they had to 

 slaughter prices to rid themselves of the almost worthless stuff, 

 which had not only become sour but had also soured the disposition 

 of its holders, who had pocketed their loss with a grim resolution 

 to get even with the manufacturers this year. They would only 

 offer manufacturers for fancy stock the prices which they had re- 

 ceived for the worthless goods of the previous year. But the old 

 stock has nearly all moved or been utterly condemned, and prices for 

 properly evaporated apples are advancing. Nine and three-fourths 

 cents is offered. Very little is to be had and demand is active so that 

 we may reasonably expect to see the old prices nearly restored before 

 spring. As fancy evaporated apples can be produced for five cents 

 per pound, it requires no arithemetic to cipher out a good profit 

 even at the low price which temporarily obtained this fall. 



As to the second question relative to the disfavor of late evajio- 

 rated fruit, I wish I might as emphatically reply in the negative, 

 but truth and candor compel me to say that I know this charge is 



