no THE COXXECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



ber for boxes, etc., etc. He would soon learn where best to 

 buy and buy at the lowest jobbers' prices. He would soon, 

 if a bright man, become an expert in that line of work, and 

 know whether he was buying a good article and at the lowest 

 rates. 



The spraying, so necessary to be done now for perfect fruit, 

 cannot be trusted to inexperienced men every year. This work 

 should be done by intelligent men who can run machinery and 

 apply the spray to the trees with judgment, and with as little 

 waste as possible, yet with thoroughness. One man to mix 

 the material to be sprayed ; the men who spray and the teams 

 must not be stopped to do the mixing. Each has his work to 

 do while it lasts, and it must be done in time well and no mis- 

 takes made. Experience will soon attain greater perfection 

 and speed in the work. 



The cultivating and trimming of the trees, thinning and 

 picking the fruit, sorting, packing, — each branch to be in charge 

 of men trained and expert in each of the kinds of work 

 intrusted to him. When this cooperative work has been run 

 a few years, men will become educated to, and experts in their 

 kind of work, which cannot be so thoroughly taught only by 

 practice in large operations. 



It must be evident to you that the per cent, of cost will be 

 very much lessened by this cooperative management. This is 

 not all : fruit grown by these large combinations would not 

 only be grown more perfectly, but would be in quantities large 

 enough to employ an expert salesman to look up the best mar- 

 ket, and sell all the fruit and at better prices than the farmer can 

 with his small stock of fruit. Buyers prefer to buy and will 

 buy where large stocks of goods are for sale. 



The cold storage plant, now so necessary for holding fruit, 

 for the single grower (unless a very large one) is out of the 

 question, while cooperatively the cold storage would be perfectly 

 feasible and comparatively of small cost for amount stored. 

 As a modern business scheme, cooperative orcharding I believe 

 to be practicable and it can be made profitable to those who join 

 the corporation. "Oh ! you cannot make farmers hold together, 

 you cannot make such a scheme work," some will say. "These 

 farmers will not stick. Too selfish ; wall not hang together." 

 Do you believe it? Well, if this is so, let them go. There 



