ANNUAL REPORT. 307 



A larpfe amount of fine fruit, of uniform quality and de- 

 sirable varieties. 



A sufficient nunnber of orchards located near a suitable 

 central packing station. 



An organization strong enough to command the respect 

 and confidence of producers, dealers and consumers alike. 



Last, but by no means least, regenerated Yankee farm- 

 ers who will throw over their conservatism, forget all their 

 inborn traits of Yankee independence and love of barter, re- 

 pudiate all the traditions that have made their race famous, 

 and stand ready to pool their interests and sacrifice their in- 

 dividuality for the good of the producers as a whole. 



It appears to be the unanimous opinion of those we have 

 consulted, that we must come to the point of adopting some 

 form of co-operative selling- of our orchard products in the 

 future, but that the time is not yet quite ripe. At the present 

 rate of increased apple planting, and the rapid adoption of 

 better methods of growing and handling New England 

 fruit, the first objections will soon be overcome. We are 

 not, however, yet ready to prophesy as to the time required 

 to overcome the last objection. 



The Connecticut Pomological Societv has appointed a 

 committee to make a survey of the orchards and a census of 

 the fruit products of that state, and we would suggest that 

 if this could l)e done in all of the New England states we 

 would have a much better understanding of the possibilities 

 before us. 



We believe, however, that the time has alreadv arrived 

 when co-operative buying can be made of great advantage 

 to all our members. Fertilizers, machinery, spray materials, 

 etc., can be purchased at a saving, thus reducing the cost 

 of production. There are now farmers' co-operative asso- 

 ciations at work through other organizations with which ev- 

 ery fruit grower can g'et in touch, and we recommend that 

 you investigate the opportunity they afford, for the following 

 reasons : 



