508 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Third, that the chang-e of size in boxes affecting all Southern fruit 

 growers who ship to this city, said growers having their box mater- 

 ial on hand at this time, would be to practically shut out all South- 

 ern fruit from this market and leave the fruit consumers unsupplied. 

 We therefore recommend that the secretary of this society be in- 

 structed to request of the city council to strike out sections 3 and -1 

 of the proposed ordinance. 



Signed— J. S. GRAY, 



J. A. SAMPSON, 

 A. H. BRACKETT, 

 M. M. FRISSELLE. 

 WM. LYONS, 



Committee. 



DISCUSSION. 



Mr. C. W. Sampson. I would like to say a word in regard to the 

 ordinance which the citj- of Minneapolis has taken steps to pass. If 

 it were passed it would be an injustice to the fruit grower and the 

 consumer. I am onl}^ one out of a hundred, yet I would sa}' it would 

 shut us off from the Minneapolis market, and we would be obliged 

 to use some other market. We have our boxes already ordered, or 

 on hand, and some have a surplus left over from last j^ear's stock. 

 The same is true of Wisconsin and other states, and I consider it 

 necessarj' in order to establish a certain grade to make the move- 

 ment uniform throughout the United States. It want to sa}^ further 

 that the horticultural society does not want to place itself on record 

 as being against any just measure, and that we favor a United 

 States law governing the manufacture of boxes, and that the regula- 

 tion boxes be made to suit the demand. I wish to state also that it 

 would be an injustice to the city, as it would shut us off from selling 

 in the city, if our boxes were not according to the standard of the 

 ordinance. It is unjust both to the city interest and to the fruit 

 grower. 



Mr. Pearce. The whole thing- is imaginary rather than real. The 

 onl3^ difference between the two measures is that our boxes hold 

 just a pint liquid measure and the others are drj^ measure. There 

 is just that little difference. The difference is so small that it does 

 not amount to an3'thing. The idea of establishing a different stand- 

 ard at once would be a loss of thousands of dollars to the whole 

 country. A great many people have their boxes alread}-^ made up 

 and it would hecessitate a change all around. 



Mr. C. L. Smith. As an actual fact our berries are not sold by the 

 quart, pint or bushel; nobody buj^s them in that way; they are sold 

 by the box or by the case of 2-4 boxes. That is the condition in 

 which thej' are marketed, and the man who buys does not ask how 

 niuch a bushel, but he buj'S them bj^ the box or by the case, and I 

 simply want to say that we want nothing of the kind. 



Col. Stevens. If this ordinance should pass it would, in mj- idea, 

 banish all berries from our market. We have the best market this 

 side of Chicago, and it is a great injustice to the producer, but to 

 the consumer it is an outage. 



Dr. Frisselle. It seems to me I should quite agree with Col. Stev- 

 ens. The fact is that the dealers in berries impose upon their cus- 

 tomers when they sell, for instance, blueberries; the3' do not give 



