76 



Surely we cannot lose sight of this fact and fail to real- 

 ize that at least in one particular we have a veritable para- 

 dise for the producer of small fruits. When we stop and 

 compare our conditions in this respect with those of our 

 southern and western neighbors whose profits are largely- 

 eaten up by heavy express and freight rates or whose goods 

 are damaged by long time in transit, then we ought to 

 be thankful that we are situated as we are and that having 

 once grown good fruit we have opportunity to market it 

 easily. 



Then again our soils and climate are suited to the de- 

 velopment of small fruits, and land that was once deemed 

 unfit to grow fruit upon is now through careful and scientif- 

 ic treatment made to produce large and paying crops. There 

 are no better places for the growing of small fruits than 

 the level land of our hill towns and as for the valleys they 

 can be made to produce abundantly. 



I believe that we are only beginning to realize the 

 possibilities for small fruit growing in Massachusetts, but 

 in order to arrive at the best results many of our present 

 methods must be changed. For instance the strawberry is 

 generally grown in matted rows because it is less trouble 

 to grow it this way. The consequence is that the market is 

 each year flooded with quantities of small and poor fruit 

 which hardly pays for picking while the really good fruit 

 brings top prices. To increase our profits we have got to 

 grow better quality fruit, and to grow better quality fruit 

 more attention must be given to the land, to the growing of 

 the crop, and above all to the marketing of the same. Many 

 times profits are cut off entirely by the careless handling of 

 a well grown crop. Let us study conditions and by co-op- 

 eration help each other so thst on<^.e a crop is well grown it 

 can be well marketed. 



We are all realizing that land is increasing in value' 

 in our state and particularly in the vicinity of our large 

 cities so that as the population grows and migration to the 

 country increases much of our best land is taken for build- 

 ing purposes, and the farmers and fruit growers are grad- 

 ually pushed further back into the country. These condi- 

 tions, however, should not discourage fruit growing near the 

 cities for an acre of land near a good market is worth more 

 than ten acres that are far away, for in the former case 

 not only can you dispose of your product more readily but 



