70 state; pomological society. 



fine fruit and inferior fruit, and they looked the question all over 

 and finally decided that the opportunity for the fruit grower 

 was the greatest of anything for any man in America. There was 

 no profession or business that they could see in America that 

 offered such splendid rewards for brains as the culture of fruit, 

 and they visited various fruit growers. One point they rnade 

 to me in regard to the apple. They said thgy could go to the 

 fruit stand and pay five cents apiece, but they wanted to buy a 

 package as they came from the grower, and it was a great big 

 barrel, and they said, "Why don't you put up the apple in some 

 package that a man can buy and take home and take to the 

 hotel ?" Another thing these men criticised was that there was 

 no adequate distribution of the fruit. There would be good 

 fruit in one city and a hundred miles away but very little. 



What are we doing about these things? What are we plan- 

 ning about these things? These are questions that want to be 

 thought out. Somebody in Maine has got to begin to do some- 

 thing about this question of apple packages. In the large cities, 

 where the people live in flats, they never think of buying a barrel 

 of apples because there is no place to put it, but they would buy 

 a barrel in four packages or three, and they would find a place to 

 put it and use it up quickly and want more. You could double 

 the consumption of apples in this country right away, perhaps 

 not for the first year or two, but in a very little while, by giving 

 a package that would go into the home. Then cram the package 

 just as full as you can get it. If it is supposed to be a ten-pound 

 package, get in ten and one-half pounds of fruit if you can. 

 Pack it just as full as it can be crowded. Pack it honestly all 

 the way through from top to bottom. If you have one single 

 imperfect specimen to go into the package, put it on the top, imper- 

 fect side up. Put a label on top with your name on it, and let 

 them know who does business in that way, and then make them 

 pay for it, pay big for it, — they will be glad to do it. Every farm 

 ought to have a name and a reputation. Every farmer ought to 

 have a business sign up in front of his farm, giving his name, 

 the productions of his farm, and the postoffice address if 

 necessary. 



But if you have to ship your fruit away, ship it to a commis- 

 sion merchant who knows how to reach customers in a wholesale 

 way better than you do. Talk about dishonest commission men 



