I30 THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



cost of spray material and labor will be, not figuring that 

 there will be any increased profit to him. A good many 

 growers sell their crop to buyers and packers, who buy the 

 fruit on the trees and barrel it themselves. 



While in Boston in November, I had permission tO' open a 

 number of barrels of eastern apples put up in this way, and I 

 want to say that they were a disgrace to the whole New Eng- 

 land country. The apples were not fit to make intO' vinegar. 

 Is it any wonder then why apples put up in an honest way 

 bring a high price? You ask the grower about these condi- 

 dions ; he waives all responsibilit}- and lays it to th'e packers, 

 but the grower himself is to blame for letting the fruit leave 

 his place in the condition it does, for he is the one who gets 

 the credit for the poor stuff that goes out, and that fruit be- 

 ing on the market is what gives the people the idea that the 

 East cannot grow good apples. Some of your buyers here 

 in New England told me that there was good fruit 

 grown here, but»they could not depend on the way it was 

 put up, so in order to suppl}' a trade that demanded fancy 

 fruit they had to look to the western sections, that would 

 guarantee their fruit to be as it is represented. The barrel 

 apples I opened in Boston were selling for two dollars a 

 barrel, while on the same day and at the same place Hood 

 River box apples and also box apples from Mr. A. A. Mar- 

 shall of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, were selling for from 

 $3.25 to $4.50 per box. The question is, does it pay to take 

 care of your fruit as it should be and put up an honest pack- 

 age, whether it be box or barrel, or go on in the same old 

 rut and let the western grower continue to ship his fruit 

 into your own market and get the money? You have been 

 asleep in this respect for a number of years, and are just be- 

 ginning to wake u]). I had the pleasure of staying with Mr. 

 Marshall on my arrival east last fall and helping him har- 

 vest his crop of apples, and I wish to say that his crop packed 

 the largest per cent of extra fancy grade that I ever packed 

 or know of. The crop packed at least ninety-five per cent 

 extra fancy. It was an experiment with Mr. Marshall and 



