FORTY-SECOND ANNUAL REPORT. 21 



Mr. Wilson — What do you think of the idea of growing just enough 

 grapes to supply the demand as is done with many staple products 

 which are controlled by the trusts? 



Chairman — Mr. Friday is on the program to discuss this paper and 

 he will now have the time, after which you are at liberty to fire in just 

 as many questions as you w T ant to. 



Mr. Friday — There are many things necessary in the successful grow- 

 ing of grapes. First of all the fruit must be grown, but, even after 

 it is grown, there is another thing that the majority of growers don't 

 know how to do, and that is to pack it as it should be. This year the 

 grapes were not very plentiful and they sold at ruinously low prices, 

 and the real reason for this is the fact that the fruit was not packed 

 as it should have been. Mr. Smythe said in substance that the farmers 

 took what was thrown at them. A good many farmers should have 

 had bricks thrown at them. Their grapes were not sprayed and the 

 quality was not there, and these went on to the market, and of course 

 could not receive anything like first class prices. There were carloads 

 of grapes shipped that were not even blue — just red. They had 

 downy mildew and other diseases. We cannot put that trash on the 

 market and expect to get anything in return for it. We must raise 

 grapes that are grapes. 



A great deal was said about co-operation, but I want to say that 

 there is no way of co-operation when growers are so careless. The 

 thing that must be done before any success will come through our 

 organization is to grow the grapes that Ave can sell, and we will never 

 make anything by selling them on the margin of a half-cent commis- 

 sion. There must be some standard maintained. In some places this 

 is done. Every grape that goes into a basket should be as demanded 

 in some organizations ; a bunch of grapes without any black rot or any 

 blemishes, each bunch at least three inches long, and the grapes should 

 be wilted before being covered, so that the weight will be there and 

 at the same time the cover will not have to be jammed down on the 

 fruit so as to crush it. 



Again I want to emphasize the fact that we must deliver the goods. 

 One man from one of the associations bought over 125 cars of grapes 

 and he made only one dollar on some of these cars of grapes. A num- 

 ber of cars were turned down because they were so poor. As long 

 as the grape growers will abide by this system of raising and delivering 

 such fruit they are right in line with being wiped off the earth. Many 

 of these grapes were only vinegar grapes, not even Avine grapes, and 

 although the seller may dispose of a few car-loads of them to one man, 

 he cannot sell a second car nor keep it up when the quality is not there. 



It is not a question of ignorance. We know how to get the quality 

 and this is what must be had, and it must be had not only by one or 

 two farmers, but by everyone. There must be co-operation all along 

 the line. The grape vine, even though it does not have downy mildew 

 or is not infested by other pests, does not grow as good grapes without 

 being sprayed as when it is sprayed. A basket of grapes from well 

 sprayed vines will always carry better than those unsprayed, even 

 though they are not directly attacked by pests. I am told that the men 

 who went into the association they had in Yan Buren county, Avhere 



