TWENTY -FIRST ANNUAL MEETING. 



A7 



.e^et a prize on a plate of Red Biegtiheinier apples, when he 

 had only one graft of it growing on a tree of Baldwins up in 

 one corner of his garden and knew nothing tvhatever of its 

 value. The fact that he shozved it gave no clue as to his 

 opinion of it, yet a visitor to the show might be led to plant 

 it by seeing what a handsome apple it was and that it got 

 a prize, and not knowing what a worthless thing it was to 

 eat! 



We have certainly made a notable advance in our ex- 

 hibitions during the past few years by the greater promi- 

 nence we have given to fruit packed in boxes and barrels. 

 And I believe that the recent marked improvement in our meth- 

 od of packing can, in large measure, be traced directly tO' this 

 change in the attitude of our exhibitions toward this matter 

 of packing. The man who sat up nights trying to win that 

 $75.00 prize for the best packed box of apples at the New 

 England Fruit Show has taken more interest in the subject 

 of packing apples ever since. There is no question about it ! 

 Nor is there any question that this side of the fruit sbow oi 

 the future needs to be still further enlarged and perfected. 



But important as this matter of packing fruit is, and 

 much as it has done and tvill do in the future for the fruit 

 business, I believe that fully as important a step remains to 

 be taken. And this is to recognize and educate the coitsunier 

 at our fruit exhibitions. We have certainly a vast amount to 

 learn in this respect from the manufacturers! Go to any 

 "food show," so called, and you are deluged with samples of 

 everything to eat and drink from corn flakes to rye whiskey, 

 and many a person has acquired a taste for some new break- 

 fast food or dinner drink by this means. Not content with 

 this, these enterprising manufacturers will send some woman 

 to your local grocery store to "demonstrate" the use of their 

 product; to teach the women of the neighborhood how to 

 cook it so that it shall be at once attractive to look at and 

 delightful to eat. Why don't our fruit growers, who manu- 

 facture the finest of food products, imitate the person who has 

 corn flakes or rolled oats or baled-hay for sale, by getting 



