STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 59 



Other and that breaks the skin; it begins to rot, and you are just 

 as bad off as though you had packed them loosely. Therefore, 

 unless you are thoroughly conversant with the methods of pack- 

 ing, let some of the rest take the risk — let those who have 

 experience. 



But is it not time — I am not going to discourage those who 

 are willing to come up and do a little experimental work — is it 

 not time that we did some of this shipping ourselves and learned 

 the proper methods, and not give the profits to the middle-man. 

 Now our Canadian neighbors — I believe they are sharper than 

 the Yankees are — we pride ourselves on being pretty smart, but 

 from the reports that I get the Canadians are looking after this 

 sharper than we are; they are getting better prices for their 

 fruit; they are shipping this season their fall fruit, their soft 

 fruit, in cases made purposely, in compartment cases like those 

 we ship eggs in here, pasteboard, each apple occupying 

 a compartment by itself. They are taking more pains in sort- 

 ing their fruit, as the Southerners do in sorting their oranges. 

 Apples of one size only are put in each box. Not all the num- 

 ber ones are put into one box, but the large ones are put in one 

 box, and the smaller size are put in another box, so that they 

 run even throughout. And when you stop to think, you know 

 how much better the oranges look in that way, and how much 

 better our apples would be and how much higher price they 

 would bring than in a mixed lot — to say nothing of putting the 

 number twos and cider apples in the center of the barrel, as 

 some do. 



If England should take as many or twice as many as they did 

 the last year, the last time we had a big crop, when they took 

 about a million and a half barrels, it would seem but a drop in the 

 bucket with the crop that we have this year, therefore we had 

 better keep our number twos at home any way. 



Then the question comes up in answer to the question 

 "Where shall we market our fruit?" What varieties have we? 

 What shall we send abroad? What shall we sell here? It 

 makes a wonderful difference to us what our crop is. If we 

 have a bright red apple that will stand up well, they are ready to 

 take it across the water; but our softer fruits and green fruits 

 had better be kept at home. We do not take quite pains 



