238 THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



fruit in the state of Connecticut, particularly apples, as they 

 they do in Oregon or any of those states, and you can meet 

 them in any of the markets. The cost of producing is less 

 here than out there. Labor is less here, and material is 

 cheaper. Transportation to market is cheaper, and you are 

 closer to them than they are. So that you have got them 

 beaten any way they want to take it. I speak strongly about 

 this, but I know what I am talking about. I have been 

 through that country. I spent some time out there studying 

 their conditions. I did it because I wanted to inform myself 

 as a grower. I am just a grower with the rest. This asso- 

 ciation that I represent is all made up of growers. You have 

 got nothing to fear from that western competition if you get 

 into the market the way you can do, as favorably located as 

 you are down here. Now what did we do? We started out 

 some six years ago and sent out three cars. We sort of felt 

 our way at first, but the business has grown until this year 

 we shipped one hundred and forty or one hundred and fifty 

 of small mixed fruits to that western market from our own 

 association. Other associations throughout the districts have 

 also increased their shipments. Not quite as heavily as we 

 did, but they all show a steady growth. All in the same line. 

 We have not got the prices that we should in all cases, but 

 we have, in a majority, got better prices than we would if 

 the people had given their fruit to the local markets. We 

 have sent that amount of fruit into that country where they 

 cannot grow it, and as the result of it, we have raised the 

 prices to our own growers at home. We have not increased 

 it there. Now isn't that better than being obliged to dump 

 your crop into a commission market and take what you can 

 get? 



Now there is another point about this association effort 

 that it seems to me is a very important one. You can do 

 more business and better business with the commission 

 houses, because they know what they can depend upon. If 

 you sell your fruit through a commission house that hou<=e 



