40 



besides leaving a fair profit, as the combined retail value of 

 the two products is not less than $2.00, 



When our foreman abandoned the strawberry beds as 

 being no longer profitable they were allowed to stand two or 

 three days, then pickers were sent over them with instruc- 

 tions to pick all sound ripe or nearly ripe fruit. This was 

 taken into the laboratory and was there graded and prepared 

 for cooking. The better grade was made into preserves 

 while the poorer grade was run through a food chopper and 

 then made into an excellent jam. The cost of these products 

 exclusive of fuel and labor of cooking and canning was as 

 follows: Preserves 7c. per 8-oz. jar; Jam 6c. per 8-oz. jar. 

 When you remember that these have a retail value of 25c. to 

 35c. per jar it is easy to see that there is a big profit to bt? 

 made from this kind of work. 



I am thereby convinced that at the fag end of the season 

 of all our small and bush fruits there will generally be founa 

 a considerable loss unless it be saved by some manufacturing 

 process. Then too, there are the days when the market goes 

 to pieces and these perishable fruits either sell for a pittance 

 or are lost altogether. Why not manufacture this cheap 

 fruit? 



While the whole field of horticultural manufacture offers 

 much interesting material for investigation and discussion, 

 yet the one great problem of the Massachusetts fruit growers 

 is the disposition of his low-grade apples. 



Our commonwealth produces annually an average of 

 three to four million bushels of apples. The latest censu«j 

 figures available show the apple crop to be as follows : Mar- 

 ketable apples, 2,550,000 bushels, at an average price of 70c. 

 per bushel ;Cider apples, 1,270,000 bushels at an average price 

 of 12c. per bushel. Now anyone who has investigated our ap- 

 ple market to any extent may feel disposed to question these 

 figures because he sees apples offered for sale labelled 

 "fancy" and "No. 1" which by all known laws of right and 

 decency should be classed as inferior cider apples. Conse- 

 quently if our grading was what it should be the quantity of 



