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Now the first thing I noticed when I moved into this 

 state was that the fruit was not what it ought to be. I can 

 .appreciate the mayor's statement that he would like to have 

 some of the fruit such as he used to have when he was a boy. 

 The fruit today is not what it ought to be. And now I am 

 not speaking of all, but, with the exception of specialties, 

 it is a fact that about one-third of the fruit produced today 

 in Massachusetts should be placed in the swill barrel, and 

 I think the time has come when the Massachusetts fruit 

 growers should stop growing cider apples, and get into line 

 with the Western growers who are getting 10 cents apiece 

 for apples. This state certainly can produce fruits of the 

 best sort and there is not one man in 100 in this state today 

 who is taking any particular pains to raise good fruit. Per- 

 haps this is a matter of inheritance. The problem of the 

 early settlers was the problem of raising not the luxuries but 

 the necessities of life. People could get along without fruit 

 in those days better than they could without corn, and so 

 fruit was neglected. Thus it became a tradition that the 

 only thing needed was to plant a tree and let it alone for a 

 : series of years. This has resulted in an enormous crop of 

 cider apples. Now people have become more particular about 

 the quality of fruit and, unfortunately for the people 

 here, it was the West that first saw the need for first-class 

 fruit. Some of the largest shippers to Boston are men who 

 are not farmers today and who never were, but are men 

 who have seen the business opportunity, have bought land 

 and raised fruit for the purpose of making money more 

 rapidly than they can make it in other lines. In other 

 words, there are business men who have seen the opportun- 

 ity which the farmers and fruit growers themselves have 

 neglected and they are now reaping the profits. We can 

 compete with these men. There are men, a good many in 

 this state today, who are doing it. It is not a question of 

 ;men, it is a question of ability and will. It is not an easy 

 matter to take up a new line and carry it out to success, but 

 it can be done, and if Massachusetts proposes to get the 

 trade, she can do it. Indeed, in the West, the people are 

 under many disadvantages. They have to pay freight rates 

 I much higher than ours, those a short distance west of the 

 Mississippi being from 60 to 75 cents per 100 pounds for 

 japples shipped in carload lots, while the highest rates in 

 .Massachusetts are 15 and 16 cents. 



