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And I honestly believe there is just as good an opportu- 

 nity here for a young person who wants to make the start as 

 anywhere I know of. Although in the "West and especially 

 Hood Eiver, Oregon, you would have the advantage of get- 

 ting information from a good many who have made a suc- 

 cess of the business while here there are very few of these 

 cases and information is not so free, so the beginner would 

 have to rely upon himself a good deal and the information 

 he gets from the Agricultural colleges. 



"We can grow better apples here in New England" was 

 sprung on me from all sides. That may have been true 

 years ago and I will admit there are a few being raised at 

 the present time, but if you are raising all this good fruit 

 here, why is it that we have been shipping apples in here for 

 the last ten years and receiving almost as much per box as 

 you have been getting per barrel? 



I will tell you why. It is simply because the grower 

 could not put his conscience in the barrel, but I think the 

 day of reformation has come. "You can fool some of the 

 people part of the time, but you cannot fool all the people 

 all the time." I went on the Boston Market last fall and 

 received permission from a wholesale fruit firm to open a 

 number of boxes of Hood River Apples. Every box I op- 

 ened was in first class condition and the apples were just 

 as they were represented. I also opened some barrels of ex- 

 tra fancy Eastern apples. I suppose the most of you know 

 what I found. I* certainly was a fright, the apples were 

 hardly fit for vinegar. Had they been offered for sale in 

 Oregon or "Washington the fruit inspector would have taken 

 charge of them and destroyed the fruit and the owner fined 

 for selling them. What a fine time an inspector would have 

 had on the Boston Market last fall. 



Mrs. Buckley. Who packs them? 



Mr. Castner. The grower packs them. 



Mrs. Buckley. The commission houses send men dowii 

 there to pack the apples? 



IMr. Castner. The grower dodges the responsibility, 

 says the packers do it; but the grower himself is to blame 

 for ever letting it leave his place in that condition. The 

 grower is the one in the long run who gets the blame, so !t 

 is foolish for him to let it go off in that condition. That is 

 the reason New England people get the reputation of put- 

 ting up poor fruit. Very few ever have any culls. They 



