94 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



apples than they will pay the exchange for these extra fancy grade. 

 Of course they want to get a slice out of everything that goes out — that 

 is at the bottom of the difficulty. But with any packing of these same 

 apples, fifty per cent of them will go into that extra grade. That is 

 what yon may be up against when you undertake this method of pack- 

 ing. This year I am satisfied that it is not a paying proposition. They 

 are not willing, as I said, to pay more for this brand of apples than 

 for the common ones. For instance, a man came to us and wanted 

 to get ten carloads, and offered us $2.25 a barrel for our prime apples. 

 We asked $2.50. Then he went out among the growers and paid $2.25 

 a barrel for the orchard run, but was not willing to pay us $2.50 for 

 this grade of fancy apples. We have to take $1.50 to $1.80 for what 

 we call firsts, but they are not fancy. And taking the two grades to- 

 gether, we can dispose of the major part of our fruit at these prices, 

 but it has not been a paying proposition this year. However, we are 

 lining up a trade in the smaller places — we have put a couple of men 

 on the road — and the men in these smaller places are taking from one 

 to five cars each, which they are turning over directly to the retailers 

 and consumers, and I am satisfied that we have there a trade that will 

 take our fruit in the future and be satisfied with it. The grade is 

 all right. Here is the brand we put on our barrels : We have a stencil. 

 We have a stamp to give the size in inches of apple; then a number 

 that indicates the packer, and he is the person who is held responsible, 

 and he is no more interested than the grower — he has a reputation to 

 establish. As things are developing we are very much gratified with 

 what we are doing, and we are pretty sure that in years to come we 

 will have a market for our fruit through this outlet. The members 

 are standing by and bringing in their fruit and turning it over. In 

 one instance a man who was indifferent to this organization, would not 

 take stock in it, would not at first contribute his fruit, but he has 

 brought his fruit this year to the Exchange to sell. That to us is a 

 very gratifying indication of what we are doing. When people outside 

 will come and bring their fruit to us to sell, Ave are pleased. I may 

 state that the way we have our labels is this, for instance: 



FRUIT GROWERS EXCHANGE, 



fennville, mich., 



Standard Grade. 



Medium size — two and a half in. Jonathan. 



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