278 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



would have to shoulder his own blame. And if we would have a law 

 passed to this efifect, it would be of benefit. 



Mr. Lawton : I think that the fruit interests are becoming of such pro- 

 protions along the lake shore that this cooperative selling is in the right 

 direction. In Lawton we formed a cooperative selling and had a presi- 

 dent, secretary, and board, and employed a man to do the selling. We 

 had cars from the Michigan Central railroad ; there was a certain amount 

 agreed upon, and we sold our fruit very largely that year in that way. 

 The fruit was deposited in the name of the association, and every basket 

 was stamped. It was largely grapes, and every basket was to contain 

 nine pounds or five pounds, and all to be of good quality. The inspector 

 examined each package to see that they came up to the standard, so that 

 the packages were all certified to and of a uniform weight, nine and five 

 pounds. And we shipped very largely that way that year. Of course 

 there were others who did not belong to the association and they came 

 out just about the same. Parties who sent in the usual manner realized 

 just about the same as the shippers did who sent through the associa- 

 tion. We thought we were going to make a great deal more, but we did 

 not. There were some losses; some car loads were sent to different local- 

 ities and we failed to get back just the prices we had bargained for. Still 

 I think that something of this kind after all is the proper way to dispose 

 of the fruit. But our experience last year did not seem to substantiate 

 that it was of any advantage. 



Mr. Delenere: I am not a fruit grower. I do not understand the soil, 

 but am largely interested in marketing the fruit. I find that in the vast 

 regions of the northwest there is a market for every basket that we can 

 produce. I find secondly, that we on the lake shore have to be governed 

 by the prices of the Chicago market. I find again that every car load 

 that can be removed from Chicago reduces the bounty received there and 

 advanced the price and our people get the benefit. I find again that peo- 

 ple are willing to come here and buy and pay spot cash for the goods, if 

 they can get honest packing. We want a uniform package, packed by 

 honest people with the same kind of fruit throughout the baskets; if 

 they are select, let them be that; or if they are seconds, let them be that, 

 and you can build up a market as there is a demand for your fruit, and I 

 do not care if you double your acreage, the demand is here in the north- 

 west. In place of shipping 150 cars from South Haven, I think I am jus- 

 tified in saying that, if the fruit is up to the mark, I can place 300. I 

 want it to go forth that the people of South Haven stand up for honest 

 packages, honest weight, straight goods, and that you mean to set the 

 example here to the growers along the lake shore. 



Mr. Hart: I think I can name enough houses that would take every 

 basket of peaches that is shipped from this town, and make them net you 

 35 cents a basket. I was making the figures last fall, and I have been on 

 the road from the northwest for several years, and am acquainted as far 

 as Helena, Mont., to St. Paul, and on most of the roads I know that the 

 prices would net you 35 cents a basket here on leaving South Haven if 

 handled rightly. Have a committee of three or four men that understood 

 the business thoroughly, go through the west and north and look up 

 markets, and they could sell every basket of good honest fruit without 

 any trouble and without any loss to the fruit man. On the Northern 



