22 Second Annual Repoet 



the apples, and keeps them warm. We are now using a spe- 

 cially prepared paper, about which I presume you all understand. 



Now about stencilling and marking. There is not a farmer : 

 not one out of a hundred that is willing to have his barrels 

 marked like the Millard stencilling. It is all done with printing 

 presses ; you can have the boxes all marked, and have them come 

 to you knocked down. Creamery men have their stencils and 

 papers and boxes all marked. Why don't we do it? Why don't 

 we put our names on our barrels, providing we have good stock 

 inside ? 



I sent some boxes of apples to Boston this fall, and a few 

 days ago I got a letter from a good business man there,who spoke 

 of seeing a nice box of apples in the Faneuil Hall market,, but 

 that all the apples were not as handsome and good as those in the 

 facings. Of course they don't all look quite as pretty. We are 

 not responsible for that. I asked him what the trouble was under 

 the facings; if they were decayed, bruised or wormy, except a 

 little difference in size and coloring. He didn't answer that 

 question. I asked him again about the price, if he didn't pay 

 more to the middle man than he ought to have ? He wasn't com- 

 plaining about the price, but he wanted the Vermont farmers 

 to be more honorable and honest. The commission man cannot 

 sell a barrel if there is a single poor apple in the facings. If the 

 fruit dealer can pick out a poor apple he won't buy, except at 

 a small price. We must be very careful about our facings. If 

 once in a while there is an apple that is not good in a barrel we 

 have got to stand for it; we can't assort them at such prices. I 

 wrote this man to ascertain the price they were paying for that 

 box,, and he said they asked him 75 cents a dozen or $2.25 a 

 box, that was not a very high price. Our boxes are selling 

 for $2, and if the middle man sells them for $2.25, if we can get 

 as closely in touch with the consumer as that, so there is but 25 

 cents on a bushel of apples for the middle man, we are getting 

 much more closely together than I thought. 



There is a difference in selling apples to those who are 

 selling in the fall, cheaply, and selling when the proper time 

 comes and in the proper market. 



I met one of our shippers this morning. He carries about 

 800 barrels; he is getting $1.95 a barrel for Greenings; last 

 fall they wouldn't touch them at $1 and $1.25; he has made 95 

 cent profit on his No. i and 2's. Now he has a certain amount 

 of red fruit. He has just sold 3 barrels of Spitzenburgs for $4 

 and $5 ; he will not sell any more at that price, but says he will 

 get more, and is going to hold them. 



I wrote a commission man in Boston a while ago to ascer- 

 tain tlie net price, net profit to Vermont apple growers. He 



