RECORD OF A JOINT MEETING. 15 



the land, gathering up and distributing the products of one zone to another, 

 as though everybody was next door neighbor to everybody else. This equal- 

 izes production, and brings not only the necessaries, but also the luxuries from 

 all lands to the door of every well-to-do household. Small fruits are no 

 longer a luxury, unless it is with some of our rural population who can not 

 find the time to give them care and culture. About everywhere they have be- 

 come a household necessity, and not only in their season, but throughout the 

 year, are found upon the sideboards of our wage laboring people as well as 

 the rich ; even the poor are not deprived of their use. 



SMALL FEUIT CULTURE NOT HIGHLY PROFITABLE. 



The culture of small fruit is no longer a bonanza. Like all articles of 

 commerce, their value is regulated by quality, supply, and demand. The 

 question is no longer how can we grow them, so much as where can we find a 

 market for what we do grow. This occurs, at least, when there is a general 

 full crop in the various fruit growing sections. Some years the margin of 

 profits was so low that we could better afford to abandon our crops than 

 gather and ship them. In the early time of this industry here, our transpor- 

 tation was higher than now, but we were not blessed with the give-away 

 package. We made our own packages, and had them returned, thus saving a 

 large expense to the shipper. But the commission men, who were taking 

 their 10 per cent toll, besides the stealings incident to the business, com- 

 plained of their great hardships, and by various means the entire system of 

 shipping was changed. I bought my first quart-box material from Mr. Wilcox 

 and made the packages at home. This was the first attempt at quart-box 

 manufacture in this section, as far as I know. This was some 16 or 18 years 

 ago. The material was cut by hand, with the help, I think, of one man. 

 The amount of timber consumed by that establishment was comparatively 

 limited. Now, the country round about is being stripped of its little remain- 

 ing saw and box timber, to supply the numerous establishments engaged in 

 making these give-away fruit packages. Sooner or later, we will hnve no 

 timber protection for our tender fruits, and the business will eat itself out, 

 like the Kilkenny cats. Our manufacturers have struck a new key; they are 

 now reaching south, where timber is plenty aud cheap, cutting it and ship- 

 ping it north in the flat, to be made up ready for use. When fruit is plenty 

 and low, and these expenses all coming out of the business, as they necessa- 

 rily must, the margin of profit to the grower runs low. To find a ready sale 

 at good figures, our goods must have qualities to recommend itself to the 

 buyer. 



Only those who will grow good fruit, pack and ship with care, guarantee 

 the quality of their goods, and use a good business management generally, 

 can effect satisfactory results. 



EXTENT OF THE BUSINESS — SOME PIONEERS. 



From the most meagre beginning, in less than twenty years the culture of 

 small fruits in this locality assumed a most important commercial attitude, 

 the shipments reaching as high as 14,000 half bushel cases in a single day. 



Among the pioneer fruit growers in this part of the country, allow me to 

 mention the names of David Brown, who, I am told, shipped the first straw- 



