56 THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



no, unless our competitors in about the same latitude also have 

 a full crop. There are so many things that work against the 

 universal crop, such as we had in 1902, that we need not expect 

 it to occur oftener than once in five years. 



The San Jose scale, also, is likely to affect disastrously the 

 crops of the next ten years, and before that time is passed it 

 would not be surprising if we were sending volumes of peaches 

 to Europe. For the last few years, even when peaches were 

 scarce, it has been difficult to get more than a moderate price. 



With all our labor expenses higher, and the added cost of 

 fighting the scale, which seems certain to come to all of us, 

 there is a probability that our profits will be diminished still 

 more unless prices rule a little better. One prominent New 

 Jersey grower dares to say they will be higher. 



We don't want all the earth, but we hope for good crops 

 and paying prices a part of the time, though it looks now as 

 though the Connecticut peach crop of 1904 would be no more 

 than half a crop. 



After ]\Ir. Piatt had finished reading his paper, a lively 

 discussion of the subject ensued. 



Mr. Hale : I would like to ask one question. What is your 

 opinion as to the range of prices for peaches in New England 

 markets during the past five years? Has it been an increasing 

 or decreasing price? 



Mr. Platt : I thought it had been a decreasing price. 



Mr. Hale : I thought so too, but at a hearing before the 

 International Commerce Commission in December, they under- 

 took to prove that the prices of peaches in the New England 

 markets had been steadily increasing for the last ten years. 

 I tried to find out where they got their figures, but could not ; 

 so far as my own figures go, the price has been decreasing 

 and Mr. Platt says the same. 



Mr. Fenx : Whether or no the price this year was equal to 

 what has been received before. In 1903 the price was in pro- 

 portion to the crop. 



Mr. Hale: But the 1903 crop was not a good one. The 

 price was nothing to go by, for it was not a market price. It 

 was way beyond any measure of value or average. It was 

 simply, get all you could. 



