EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 37 



established for ourselves direct business relations with the dealers west of us, 

 and in those towns such shippers as Mr. Taylor may often be in competition 

 with us, to the injury of both in respect to prices. I would like to hear, 

 sometime, at a meeting like this, an expression of opinion on the topic, 

 "What should we expect from the commission merchant?" Mr. Barnett 

 expressed himself as gratified with the reception accorded him here, contrast- 

 ing it with one he received at a meeting of southern fruit and vegetable grow- 

 ers, which had much of that warmth which springs from misinformation, and 

 continued: No honest man in the commission business will advise a shipper 

 to send his products to Chicago, or to his firm, if he has reason to believe that 

 the shipper can do better elsewhere; and no man fit to continue in the busi- 

 ness will do it. Find if you can do well with part of your crop elsewhere than 

 in Chicago, and if you can send ten baskets there per day, do so, and to that 

 extent relieve the central market. Mr. Barnett spoke at some length about 

 the bad condition in which fruit is often received, and told how he once 

 offered, to an association of growers, to pay the expenses of a man in Chicago, 

 if he would honestly report to him the state in which their fruit reached the 

 market. He spoke further, favorably to each grower "working up" a market 

 for himself, and said he would like to have in Chicago such an agent as Mr. 

 Taylor referred to, who would not only look after the shippers' interests, but 

 would be able to tell how much fruit was coming. He did not believe it 

 would ever be practicable to supply the northwest without the aid of Chicago 

 and the commission men. 



W. N. Cook of Grand Rapids : In the apple business it is very unsafe to 

 depend on names, as Chicago insists on ''Wine" for Twenty-Ounce and 

 *' Steele's Red " for Red Canada. One advantage would come from planting 

 fewer varieties, and supplying better sorts will educate the market, or, rather, 

 complete their acquaintance and use. 



J. A. Pearce : Cold storage could be used to advantage to keep back part 

 of the crop and thereby relieve the market of glut. The commission men 

 have no facilities for storing large quantities, so if each grower would keep 

 back his share it would be a great relief. 



IMPROVING THE PUBLIC TASTE FOR FRUIT. 



President Lyon : It must be known to most of those present that I most 

 thoroughly believe in the possibility of educating the market. I well recall 

 the time when both pieplant and the tomato were not used ; but the public 

 were educated to a liking for both. So, too, as to the Concord grape, though 

 never esteemed by connoisseurs as of high quality; and so, too, as to the Dela- 

 ware grape, for, despite its small berries and bunches, the people learned its 

 value. In the same way the Rhode Island Greening apple's quality has won 

 a high place for it, notwithstanding its uninviting color. There are other 

 apples of equally superior quality, but they have not been pushed in the 

 market to public attention. Commission men, of course, ask for the sorts 

 their customers demand. The Schaffer raspberry has fought its way to pref- 

 erence very much against its appearance. If we send fruit to market in such 

 condition as it should be, if it has merit it will win its way. 



C. W. Garfield: I am not so optimistic as Mr. Lyon; but we can allnote 

 the disadvantage we labor under in the fruit market. We see the stores and 

 stands crowded with southern fruit, more and more each year, for consump- 



