388 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



necessarily be made by its size or its color? If so, our western 

 friends in all probabitlities have lis beaten, liut when it comes to 

 making a rei)utation for high quality, for choicely good apples, high- 

 ly Uavored pears, unimpeachably good peaches, and honeyed plums, 

 the products of the Middle and Far West aie only tolerable in com- 

 parison. Why do not we in the East make the most of the condi- 

 lions that have been given us and grow fruits of quality and stake 

 our reputation on it? Let the westerners continue to grow their 

 huge, highly colored fruits. In time the jjublic will distinguish be- 

 tween "quality fruits" and those recommended by their bulk and 

 the color of their hide. 



We come now to a discussion of quality, a word rolled under the 

 tongue by fruit-growers and consumeis alike but Avhich like "good 

 cheer" in the fable is fish to one, llesh to another, and fowl to a 

 third. We need, therefore, to define the term. In brief, quality 

 is that combination of flavor, aroma, juiciness and tender flesh which 

 make fruits fit for the palate. But this is not all. The thing that 

 gives charm to the attractions of the world, whether books or pic- 

 tuies, or music, or people, or fruits, is that subtle undefinable thing 

 called personality. A Northern Spy, a Mcintosh, a vSeckel pear, 

 a Green Gage plum, an lona grape, for examples, all have distinct 

 and charming personalities which contribute no small part to the 

 high quality of these fruits. But many fruits have it not and the 

 sorts named lose it when grown under some conditions. This per- 

 sonality may be quite aside from any tangible quality. It is akin to 

 the charm of a woman of which Maggie says, in the current play. 

 What Every Woman Knows, "If a woman has it she needs nothing 

 else in the world, and if she has it not, nothing else in the world 

 is of any use." A high quality fruit should have some such personal- 

 ity. Is charm marketable? It is in marriage markets. It ought 

 always to be in fruit markets. 



High quality does not have the commercial value that it should 

 but it is coming to be worth more and more. There are two kinds 

 of taste, natural taste and acquired taste. Only savages have a 

 natural taste; to them crude, unrefined tasteless foods answer all 

 purposes. But civilized man has an acquired taste and with each 

 succeeding stage of civilization it becomes more delicate and more 

 refined. Once they but know where it can be obtained, people will 

 buy and pay for fruits of high quality — fruits with delicate and re- 

 fined flavors and aromas and juicy tender flesh. Such fruits should 

 be the food of the great mass of the American people while coarse, 

 turnipy fruits should go only to those who cannot tell the difference 

 between a Jonathan and a Ben Davis, a Barlett and a Kieffer. Peo- 

 ple need only to be educated as to Avhat fruits are of high quality 

 and a profitable demand will be created. 



It may be asked why the fruits of the Atlantic are of higher 

 quality than those of the Pacific sea-board! It is largely a mat- 

 ter, as I have said before, of food and water. But what combina- 

 tion of these essentials produces it is still another matter and one 

 that we know nothing about. There are poor fruits grown in the 

 East as well as in the West. Paul plants and Apollos waters, but 

 God gives quality. In His distribution of favors He has seen fit to 

 characterize the fruits of this region by their quality and those of 



