36 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



smaller sizes of peaches to local and distant markets, for only the best will 

 sell readily therein or return profitable prices. Our difficulty with shipment 

 of car lots west from Milwaukee has been bad connection of boats with trains^ 

 This season we kept a man there to serve our interests and the result was bet- 

 ter than ever before. We are encouraged by it to think that in the future we 

 will be able to supply the northwest direct. Packages are deceptive, new 

 forms not always proving popular. The great volume of the peach crop the 

 past two years has made the return to the producer as low as he can bear 

 with any profit ; yet, to the consumer, prices were as high as ever. Unless 

 this can be remedied, decrease of production will follow, owners of the less 

 reliable lands occupying them with other crops. 



A. G. Gulley: I sent my raspberries to Chicago, but found afterward that 

 I could have obtaiued better ptices inland. Growers about South Haven say 

 they have better returns from berries sent beyond Chicago, or to the smaller 

 towns in other directions, though not in car lots. This year a new feature of 

 trade was the coming of buyers from the south and east who took peaches off 

 in wagon loads for retail, taking them even 75 to 100 miles away. 



C. J. Monroe of South Haven : This began three years ago. Some of 

 these purchasers buy to peddle, others come with orders in advance. I sold 

 one-third of my peach crop to such men, and a neighbor sold them $400 

 worth in two days. It is one of the most satisfactory features of the business 

 at present, and if it increases will greatly relieve the central markets. My 

 brother and myself each has a peach orchard ; each has to hire all the labor 

 required, and we can therefore compare results very closely. My brother 

 scatters his crops, but I send to Chicago. He gets better prices on the whole, 

 but his profits were cut by gluts in some of those smaller towns, so that in 

 the end, for two seasons, there is scarcely any difference between us. If my 

 brother had counted in his time spent in correspondence, he would be below 

 me in net returns. Yet, if a man can give shipments his personal attention, 

 I think he can do better by scattering them. The most successful grower I 

 know of, in this respect, is J. N. Stearns of Kalamazoo, whose orchards are 

 near South Haven. He secures his markets carefully, in advance, and so gets 

 highly satisfactory returns. But for the great mass of growers, Chicago and 

 the commission system are indispensable. If we could assess ourselves and 

 keep a man in Chicago to look after our interests, we could gain much. It 

 would also be a great advantage if large shipping points would send to Chi- 

 cago bulletins of shipments, so that the dealers could know in advance what 

 was coming. 



A COMMISSION merchants' YIEWS. 



G. W. Barnett (of Barnett Bros,, Chicago): No doubt many present are 

 familiar with my views on the points made by Mr. Brown's paper, through my 

 letters to the Allegan Gazette, so I must be to that extent repetitious. Mr. 

 Brown has spoken in generalities. The California union has not been alto- 

 gether successful, and changes of its plan are to be made soon ; the Maryland 

 exchange does not operate to the west, and the results of the work of the 

 others is not publicly known. But as there have been new ones formed late- 

 ly, it would seem that those first established have not been altogether satis- 

 factory. There are not twenty places west of Chicago where car-loads of fruit 

 can be successfully handled. Fifteen years ago the receivers of green fruits 

 were largely dependent on one man, but not liking that dependence my firm 



