TWENTIETH ANNUAL MEETING. 209 



the West or South makes the most progressive man of all. 

 (Applause.) That has been my experience. There is some- 

 thing- in the air that seems to make them work more closely 

 together. And organization, gentlemen, is the keynote of the 

 future progress of agricultural work, it certainly is. I am 

 sorry to say it, because it is such a difficult problem to solve. 

 I don't think there is anything so hard to do for the average 

 New England farmer 'as to organize and get him to trust 

 others in the same business he is in. But in order to make 

 any great success, in the future in market gardening, I feel sure 

 we must organize more closely, we must have greater confi- 

 dence in others, and we must meet these various problems, 

 which now confront us, with a strong, organized front, other- 

 wise I am a little fearful of the future. 



There is another line of competition that is meeting us 

 in Massachusetts, especially about Boston, and I presume you 

 feel some of it here, and that is competition from the Italians. It 

 may seem rather absurd for us to admit that the Italian can 

 outstrip us at the business in which we have been engaged 

 for years, that has grown up with us. It does seem ridiculous 

 that we should be obliged to give in to this class of competi- 

 tors, but nevertheless it is a situation we have got to face. 



Packing and Marketing Our Products. 



One of the leading problems before the New England 

 farmer to-day is that of selling his crops to advantage and 

 thereby obtaining his share of the consumer's dollar. 



Our New England growers of fruits and vegetables na- 

 turally fall into three classes : First, growers who seldom 

 fail to produce crops of inferior quality, and are therefore 

 unable to pack a high grade mark. Such growers usually find 

 it difficult to dispose of their crops at anything like the market 

 quotations ; in many cases receiving much less than the cost 

 of growing, after deducting transportation and commission 

 charges. In the second class will be found farmers wdio are 

 careful growers, but for some unknown reason fail to realize 

 the importance of business methods in packing and selling 



