STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 5^ 



apples, packing them properly, and putting them upon the 

 market where and when we can get the best price, it seems to 

 me there must be organized effort. 



We hear a great deal about the Oxford Bears' organization. 

 You all know about them and about their success. There is 

 no question but this organization has been a success, and a 

 great success. Now what I believe we want in this state is 

 more of such organizations. We want every community or- 

 ganized. And when we have these local organizations, we 

 want a central organization. And with that central organiza- 

 tion, if properly conducted, I believe a great work will have 

 been done, or at least that we shall be in a position then to ac- 

 complish a great work. This central organization will work 

 out many things. It need not be an organization of much cap- 

 ital, but if the local organizations were agreed upon a central 

 organization to handle the crop, and the sole business of the 

 central organization was to handle the crop and market it in 

 the markets of the world, compelling the fruit as it comes to 

 them to be graded and branded according to their desire, and 

 as the markets demand, it seems to me that we would then be 

 in a position to market our apples and put them upon the 

 market according to the demand, and not, as now, produce a 

 glut at one time and a scarcity at another. 



Now out of that might grow, it seems to me, some beneficial 

 results, and I am going to name them, — not necessarily in a 

 Ir.gical order. First, if our apples were in the hands of a few 

 men to sell, we could develop our home markets. And that is 

 one thing in this state about which we are negligent. We have 

 a population in our cities of several hundred thousand people 

 who like apples, who like good apples, and who would buy 

 Maine apples if they could get them. The fact of the case is, 

 wherever you go into a city in this state, or a large village, 

 even today, when apples are plenty in the period of harvest- 

 ing, we find apples from the states of Washington and 

 Oregon in large quantities displayed in the windows, and taking 

 the place of the fruit that we ought to be putting in the win- 

 dows of the stores of this state. I believe there is an opening 

 for the farmers to take possession of our own market. We 

 know the apples can be raised, we know they will be raised, 

 and if we had a central body, if we could be organized and had 

 a board of managers, they might develop this market and 



