330 State Horlicnltural Society. 



tice of trying to get as much of second-class goods into first-class grades 

 as they think the traffic will bear. They have as a class always done 

 this. It would be suicidal in a manufacturer, and should be abandoned 

 by the fruit grower. The consumer pays for everything — the growing, 

 the packing, the freight and the selling. He is the final referee. If he is 

 suited, that is all that is necessary, and experience has settled the fact 

 that when the consumer is pleased, he willingly foots the bill. Of course, 

 there is a class for every grade, but the class that demands an extra No. 

 I article is increasing faster than the supply. • 



Mr. Hale thinks the family package will be the one that is to be in 

 demand. The apple barrel is too large, and not more than lo per cent, 

 of apples consumed are sold to the user in whole barrels. Just what 

 size will prove best, he was not prepared to say, but the bushel-box 

 would get into many more families unbroken than would the barrel. It 

 would pay to give the matter close attention. The breakfast-food prob- 

 lem has been largely worked out along the line of small fancy packages. 

 Even the cracker trade has drifted into packages, and thousands of peo- 

 ple carry home neat packages of crackers who would never buy them in 

 bulk and carry them home in bags. The matter of reaching the con- 

 sumer direct is worth considering, not only by the small grower, but 

 by the large one as well. It looks like a large proposition to place ten 

 thousand barrels of apples among consumers, but it need not be impos- 

 sible. There are department stores doing a million dollars a year, nearly 

 all of whose customers they reach by mail, express and freight. If you 

 can eliminate the jobber and the retailer in selling your stuff, you can 

 reach the consumer with a smaller price and at the same time get more. 

 The consumer gets the retailer's profit and you get the jobber's. Mr. 

 Hale devoted a few minutes to describing his methods of advertising and 

 selling. He puts his name only on extra and first-class peaches. Seconds 

 go without his label, taking their chances on the general market. His 

 culls in Connecticut are sold to Jew hucksters, who come to the farm for 

 them. In Georgia the overripe and culls go to the canning houses. 



L. B. P. 

 — Report of N. Y. Fruit Growers' Meeting in Country Gentleman. 



FROM "THE FIRST DANDELION." 

 (By Walt Whitman.) 



O, the farmer's joys! 

 * * * 



To rise at peep of day and pass nimbly forth to work, 



To plough land in the fall for winter-sown crops, 



To plough land in the spring for maize, 



To train orchards, to graft the trees, to gather apples in the fall. 



