68 STATK POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



out packages to ship in or with half enough, thus causing the 

 fruit to lay around for want of proper packages, and get more 

 or less over-ripe and in many cases arriving in the market in 

 poor condition and thus causing poor results. I feel after a long 

 experience in the business in gathering, packing and selling the 

 fruit, that there should be some action taken by the growers 

 whereby they can provide themselves with suitable packages for 

 marketing their fruit before it lays around and gets sweaty and 

 over-ripe. I feel that there is no package better than a good full 

 sized barrel that will hold three bushels, and it seems as if the 

 growers in different sections could band together, and start bar- 

 rel manufactories so as to provide themselves vl^ith packages suit- 

 able to ship in. The question of using boxes has been more or 

 less discussed for the last few years. While I do not wish to 

 say that this is not practical, I feel that it will take a long time 

 to get people accustomed to buying fruit in such packages. Also 

 the transportation companies would have to arrange different 

 rates probably. If the growers should decide to make a change 

 and ship some of their fruit in boxes, I would suggest boxes that 

 would hold a bushel and a half, to be made solid and closed up 

 tight for winter use. In marketing the fruit would suggest that 

 they mark it on the end of the box, the variety, the quality, and 

 shipper's name. Always bear in mind and keep the quality Ai. 



"I feel that Maine has one of the best prospects for the culture 

 of apples, of any of our states as their fruit is growing more and 

 more in favor in Europe each year, and they being right on the 

 seaboard, can market their fruit as cheap, or cheaper, than most 

 any other state." 



I crossed over the street from York & Whitney's to examine 

 a pile of boxes which I found contained apples from Maine. 

 They were the ordinary 50 tt». evaporated apple box. Mr. Law- 

 rence of Lawrence & Company told me the people down in 

 Maine kept writing him to know what to do with their apples — 

 they could not get barrels. He replied, telling them to pack in 

 these boxes if they could get them. A car load of them came in. 

 His neighbors laughed at him. But he examined the apples and 

 found they were good, and he put a label upon them which he 

 thought would be all right, and the apples began to disappear. 

 He found he could sell them for a little better price than he had 

 been selling the barrels. Not long after this some of his neigh- 



