2l6 MINNESOTA STATE HOETICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 



ter settled warm weather had set in I would put in the third plant- 

 ing. Sometimes the first planting would come through and my 

 melons would be early, and sometimes the second planting would 

 be the crop, and sometimes it would be the third planting. An- 

 other point, on the same subject we discussed this morning, and 

 that is, to market our produce so as to get the most money. I divided 

 my melons into three classes. The first class were melons I knew 

 to be No. i in every respect. Those I took to market, and those 

 only. In the second class were those that I did not consider quite 

 good enough to go into the first class, and those I laid aside to give 

 to my neighbors. The third class I gave to the hogs. None went 

 to market that I was not sure would grade No. i, none but the 

 very best. Prof. Hansen seems to be rather pleased to hear what 

 we used to do in Dakota. A friend of mine said to me once, 'Tf 

 you only had that melon patch near Minneapolis !" "Yes," I said, 

 "then I would have to compete with growers at twenty-five cents 

 per bushel, but here I can sell them at $10 per ioo." 



Mr. W. G. Beardsley : I live in a neighborhood of large melon 

 growers, and they have abandoned the idea of pot grown melon put 

 out in the field. They plant the seed early and put in a second crop 

 and also a third crop, and in that way get early melons. 



HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OUT OF BLACK RASPBER- 

 RIES COMMERCIALLY. 



O. M. LORD, MINNESOTA CITY. 



If I answer truthfully and honestly from my own experience, 

 it can be in three words : "Let them alone." Our secretary intended 

 no doubt to have the "how" described from the grower's standpoint, 

 but the grower "is not in it" commercially, in this part of the .coun- 

 try. To make the most out of these commercially, in my opinion, 

 a man should open a commission house in one of the large cities, 

 quote prices above the market, sell to a capper, divide the profits 

 with him and report the fruit as received in bad order and un- 

 salable. In the Schley trial Dewey said repeatedly, that he did noc 

 want opinions, he wanted facts. I have here only given an opinion ; 

 if you want facts, make a trial of the business. 



Let us now consider the commercial part from another stand- 

 point. All fruit growers know that a radical change in the business 

 has taken place in the last few years. Transportation has revolu- 

 tionized truck farming and fruit growing. Let me illustrate from 

 Bulletin No. 21 of the Agricultural Department. The first all rail 

 shipment of strawberries to N. Y. city occurred March 30, 1889. In 

 1867 Crystal Springs, Miss., shipped a little fruit; in 1874 the busi- 

 ness increased to 60,000 pounds daily; in 1895 forty-five cars daily 

 were shipped from that one station, and corresponding quantities 



