3i6 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



thoroughly before use. You should always have your own stencil 

 from a regular stencil maker; this should give your name and address 

 and be sure to get '"Howell county" on it. It should be attractive in 

 style and as large as the space it is to be used on will permit ; have 

 different sizes if necessary. If you belong to the Shipping Associa- 

 tion of Howell county, as is presumed you will, the stenciling of your 

 packages will doubtless be regulated by the Association. If you have 

 no stencil, a shipping tag (not a common card) tacked on smoothly, or 

 a heavy lead pencil will sufiQce. 



Never use large or irregular nails for fruit-boxes or crates; they 

 are unsightly. You must pack so that the "Howell county" mark on a 

 package means standard quality, to be accepted without inspection. 

 Such goods will be sought after when unknown brands, however, well 

 deserving, cannot obtain notice, 



HAULING. 



Do not carry tender fruits, if avoidable, in any but a spring wagon 

 do not allow them to be loose in the package and always cover them 

 from sun, dust and rain. Never carry any fruits loose in a wagon j 

 Time the movement of your fruit from the orchard or packing shed so 

 that it will not stand long on the depot platform, and ship by night 

 trains when possible. 



MARKETS. 



It is important to keep track of your markets. One market may 

 be good one week and another the next. Your commission man can- 

 not control conditions and you must not expect to much of him. In 

 finding markets (aside from the question of profit) you have an ample 

 safe-guard against that bugbear of many, over-production ; for if you 

 seek them diligently you will surely find them. It is claimed that the 

 market is never broken down by good fruit. As a rule, avoid solicitors- 

 and traveling buyers; deal direct with houses of well known standing 

 and do not scatter your shipments. In marketing your fruit, however^ 

 you are embarking upon an unknown and dangerous sea: without 

 chart or compass, over which even the experienced captains I have 

 called to your aid cannot pilot your small barks, and you must either 

 stay ashore and sell your fruit to local buyers, without the means of 

 knowing its actual market value, or you must put it aboard a ship big 

 enough to carry it anywhere and under a guidance which knows the 

 best ports and how to sail into them. I mean a fruitgrowers co-oper-^ 

 ative shipping organization. 



