138 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



MARKETING FRUIT. 



I will confine myself mostly to peaches, as my experience has been mainly 

 in that fruit. Before we can market our fruit we mu?t first get it ready to 

 market. In this preparation of our fruit for market lies our success or 

 failure in marketing, at least to a great degree. The first and most im- 

 portant thing to mention is, very careful handling from the orchard to the 

 boat or depot. 



PACKING IN GRADES. 



We will first give our attention to the style of packing the peaches. We 

 have our packing benches made about the right height for convenience, say 

 about two feet and eight or ten inches. Then take a basket of peaches and 

 put between two empty baskets and pack both grades at once, putting all 

 first grades in the right-hand basket, the second-grades in the left and the 

 culls in a basket by themselves. By this way of packing you handle each 

 peach just once. When we get our basket packed, if it is a first-grade we 

 put the card upon it so there is no chance for a mistake. This card is a 

 guaranty, and it means that that basket of peaches is straight No. 1, all the 

 way through, and the commission man is instructed to make it so at my 

 expense if there is any case where there has been a mistake in any way. 

 The fruit is packed in layers from the bottom of the baskets, so when the 

 to}) is on you can turn it bottom up and not move the fruit. Peaches packed 

 this way stand shipping very nicely, and when they get to market look solid, 

 and the baskets are nice and full and will sell at sight. 



I don't like the idea of pouring the peaches out upon the bench to pack. 

 You can not help but bruise them more by rolling them over and over again 

 and sorting them to get the right size to put into a certain place in the 

 baskets. 



IN THE MARKET. 



We now have our fruit well packed and we want to market it to the best 

 possible advantage. Now right here comes in the real secret of this guaranty. 

 Here is where we find that a little honesty is going to bring a premium. 

 To illustrate this point, Mr. President, pardon me for just making a hypothe- 

 sis: Suppose, if you please, that my neighbor, Mr. A., has been shipping 

 peaches to the Chicago market for a number of years, and has been very 

 careful and honest in his way of putting up and warranting his fruit, and has 

 sent regularly to one man and built fancy prices; and the same day he sends 

 one hundred baskets of his fruit to the commission man, Mr. B sends one 

 hundred baskets to the same man. But Mr. B. is a new shipper and he thinks 

 if the peaches look pretty well on top they will bring a good price. So he 

 puts them up, culls in the bottom and culls in the middle and good ones on 

 top, and away they go to be sold. Periiaps the commission man wants to 

 know about what he has got for a new customer, so he opens a couple of 

 baskets of Mr. B.'s peaches and finds them terribly poor, lie sells them at 

 fifty cents per basket, and the same day he sells Mr. A.'s for one dollar per 

 basket. Now, when Mr. B. finds that Mr. A.'s peaches brought one dollar, and 

 his only fifty cents, that commission man is a thief "right from the word 

 go," and he tells every man he meets that that commission man stole fifty 



