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SELLING FRUIT AT POINT OF SHIPMENT. 



IT is high time for the fruit growers of On- 

 tario to make a change in their methods 

 of selling fruit. No more reckless system 

 could be thought of than the present one, 

 where thousands of growers blindly ship 

 their fruit to consignees in out chief cities 

 without the least idea whether those markets 

 need the shipments. Our country is large 

 enough to take all our fruit at paying prices 

 were it properly distributed, but when it is 

 shipped in the present reckless fashion it is 

 no wonder that first one centre is glutted 

 and then another. Besides, the present sys- 

 tem gives the owner of the fruit no word as 

 to the price, and he simply must accept 

 whatever people choose to give him. Such 

 a method of sale would not be tolerated one 

 moment in the grocery trade, or in the hard- 

 ware business. And why must we give 

 away our fruit to any one who will pay the 

 freight and the commission, and perhaps 

 enough over to pay for the baskets and the 

 picking. 



COLD STORAGE FOR FRUIT GROWERS. 



THE solution of the question of selling 

 our fruit by contract is undoubtedly 

 in the cold storage. So long as our fruit 

 must be sold within twenty-four hours after 

 it is gathered, we have no alternative — we 

 must ship — and we must accept whatever 

 pittance it may bring. But given an ample 

 refrigerating warehouse at central shipping 

 points, where the fruit grower may have his 

 perishable fruit held for a week or two if 

 necessary for a proper sale, and we believe 

 there would be a complete change in our 

 business, and proper returns for our invest- 

 ments. 



SELLING BERRIES ON THE TRACK. 



MR. J. C. EVANS, of Harlem, Mo., is 

 advocating the selling of fruit by 

 contract. At a recent meeting of the fruit 

 growers of his state, he said: 



" All fruit grow-ers have, at some stage of 

 the game, to learn a lesson. Many of us 

 have learned that lesson long ago. It is 

 one thing to grow^ fruit ; another thing to get 

 rid of it right. Some four years ago, at a 

 convention of fruit growers from several 

 different states, the question of selling direct 

 at the growers' shipping point was sprung. 

 Those gentlemen said, ' You never can do it.' 

 One said it could be done. Now what do 

 we see at this meeting? At such and such 

 a place the growers sold their berries on the 

 track. Four-fifths of the berries this year 

 in Arkansas and South Missouri were sold 

 on the track. Of the 200 cars of fruit from 

 our station not a car was consigned. The 

 time is nearly at hand when no fruit will be 

 consigned to any commission man. It will 

 all be sold on the track. The time is com- 

 ing when a man who grows a car load of 

 cattle or hogs will have the buyer go there 

 and buy them outright. The day of the live 

 stock commission man is past. The day is 

 coming when all larm produce will be sold 

 on the track. We should encourage the ap- 

 proach of that day. Tell the buyer your 

 fruit or stock is for sale, but it must be sold 

 before a wheel turns." 



THERMAL EFFECTS OF SOIL CULTIVATION. 



T'^HE benefits of cultivation of the soil 

 are far more extended than is usually 

 supposed. Primarily the gardener hoes his 

 garden simply to kill the weeds, thinking 

 what a curse they are, causing him such con- 

 stant labor. Recently it has been plainly 



