32 



THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



methods of marketing" the crop will soon be essential. It is 

 believed that these methods should consist first, in systema- 

 tizing the distribution of the crop so that all the state mar- 

 kets shall be supplied with state fruit before either import- 

 ing or exporting takes place, and secondly, that, in case sat- 

 isfactory terms cannot be made with dealers, co-operative 

 selling agencies be started in some of the cities. Such an un- 

 dertaking would be a serious one, but it must be remembered 

 that this year's crop of apples is estimated at 30,000,000 

 barrels, and it is said by some persons to be the largest since 

 1896, the record crop in the history of the country. With 

 the rapid development of orcharding, some systematic and 

 energetic methods must be used to secure continued finan- 

 cial success. Not only must waste in distribution be elim- 

 inated, but increased consumption must be encouraged. The 

 latter result can only be brought about by advertising at con- 

 siderable expense. But the expense must, and eventually 

 will, be shared by the fruit growers of the whole country. 

 And in this connection it must be remembered that the farm- 

 er alone, of all producers, spends not a penny in advertising. 

 Almost any branch of manufacturing must to-day spend ten 

 per cent of its gross sales in advertising its goods, and twen- 

 ty-five per cent is undoubtedly often reached. The value of 

 the apple crop in the United States this year is probably con- 

 siderable more than the value of our automobile manufac- 

 tures, yet we have hardly spent a dollar on advertising our 

 apples, where the automobile manufacturer has spent mil- 

 lions. 



Your Committee think it proper to call your attention 

 to the foregoing facts, for they will soon become of serious 

 importance to every member of the Society. It may be 

 somewhat too early to attempt to put them into practical 

 efl""ect. Rut it is by no means too early to start co-operative 

 buying. It was only two years ago that the Secretary of the 

 Fruit Growers' Association of St. Catherine's, Ontario, in 

 an address before our Society, stated that his association had 

 sa\ed the growers three or four dollars a ton through co-op- 



