298 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The survival of the fittest is at least largely applicable to fruit 

 growers. We find in nearly every community quite a number have 

 started and nearly all have run themselves out of the business, prin- 

 cipally from one or both of two causes, the lack of thorough cultiva- 

 tion and keeping free from weeds, or lack of fertility, renewing and 

 selection necessary to growing the highest standard of fruit ; while, 

 on the other hand, we find the few who take an interest and pride 

 in producing quality as a result are holding the best trade of their 

 respective markets. 



The demand for and consumption of fruit has doubled every few 

 years in the past decade, and there is every reason to believe that 

 it will continue to increase rapidly in the near future. Surely the 

 man who makes a study of how he can raise the very best, as well 

 as quantity, and bends every effort to carry out the knowledge ob- 

 tained has an occupation that admits of a bright future. 



There is an old spying among merchants that "Goods well bought 

 are half sold," which I believe to be quite true and believe we can 

 apply it with equal force to fruit growing, by saying that, "fruit well 

 grown is half sold." If you have good sized, firm, bright, attractive 

 fruit you may be surprised to find what a market you can open up 

 and at double the prices our eastern brothers are getting for the 

 same grade. 



Your home market will probably be the most profitable, and you 

 should demand a higher price for the best and can also save the 

 shipping expense, but if you have a surplus, which has a tendency 

 to lower prices, try your commission man with a few packages of 

 that fancy sound fruit. Or, what I think is still better, open up a 

 correspondence with the responsible dealers to the north and west of 

 you, where the field is unlimited. 



There is many a town and community practically going without 

 first class fruit of some kinds. As an illustration, I have been sur- 

 prised to find a town over supplied with fresh, home grown straw- 

 berries at three boxes for twenty-five cents, while less than twenty 

 miles away an inferior berry was bringing fifteen cents and not over 

 one-tenth as many sold. A similar thing is true with the Duchess 

 apple, which some localities find a drug on the market at twenty- 

 five cents per bushel while a hundred miles away they are retailing 

 at twenty-five to thirty-five cents per peck. 



' If there is much of a surplus of any kind of fruit in your locality, 

 or even enough to demoralize the home market, an association prop- 

 erly handled might help to increase the profit. 



We should also study economy, especially where it can be prac- 

 ticed without lowering the quality produced, such as planting in 



