Winter Meeting. 265 



thought and attention at the proper time, if best results are to be 

 realized. 



We are, of course, all seeking these results. Hoav to obtain them 

 is the question. Especially in commercial production when it is neces- 

 sary to ship in car-load lots and wh:^n our markets are from a few 

 hundred to probably a thousand miles removed, is the problem a 

 hard one, and many are the solutions offereJ and attempted. Probably 

 no one of these will amount to mucli alone and I think we are apt 

 to lay too much stress on one or another of them. 



It is easy, toe, to locate the blame when results are not satis- 

 lactory. There are so many persons or corporations interested or 

 who have something to do with the deal. A fellow can manage to 

 get very poor results, and yet clear himself every time. Then the 

 weather has so much to do with the results. It rarely happens that 

 this is just right. 



With the weather against us, with pickers scarce and many of 

 them poor, with freight and express rates high, with refrigeration 

 charges exorbitant and service miserable, and with commission men 

 at the other end of the line ready and waiting to steal everything — 

 really the outlook would seem uninviting to say the least. 



But how are we to account for the greatly increased numbers 

 of fruit growers in attendance at the meetings of our associations. 

 Surely there must be another side to this stor3% Yes, there is. To 

 begin with, our possibilities are wonderful and while never realized 

 fully, we are, of course, optimistic and hope for the best. 



Our neighbors hear of our successes and our real estate men do 

 not take pains to tell those locating with us of our losses (and we 

 don't like to say much about them ourselves) and so there is in- 

 spiration for all. For the experienced grower there is the satisfac- 

 tion of knowing that conditions could not be worse than, they have 

 been (the past year for instance). And being, as I said, optimistic, 

 we trust that the weather will be just right and we even indulge in the 

 hope sometimes that we will secure lower rates and better service 

 and be able to sell our fruit on track at the loading station at big 

 prices, or at least be fortunate enough to consign only to honst com- 

 mission merchants who are greatly in need of our fruit. 



In strawberry growing, my plan is to select newly cleared timber 

 land that is dry and gravelly; or better still, the same quality of land 

 which has been cleared and cultivated one year; settmg but few 

 varieties, and for the past two seasons but one, the Aroma. The 

 fewer varieties the simpler will be the work along the whole line of 

 setting and cultivating the plants and handling their product. 



