220 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



is in the midst of exceptionally good markets, it is worth while 

 to note the difference in his freight and express rates as com- 

 pared with those from other sections. It costs on an average 

 about 35 cents per barrel, or 25 cents per box, by freight, to 

 put Massachusetts apples into Boston or New York markets. 

 By express it costs $1.13 per barrel and 48 cents per box. It 

 would seem that if that oft-predicted time ever comes when 

 fruit growing becomes unprofitable, this advantage in trans- 

 portation rates might easily make the difference between suc- 

 cess and failure. (The author, for one, has heard this gloomy 

 prediction from prophets of evil during a long lifetime and 

 personally does not agree with it.) Moreover, the Massachu- 

 setts fruit grower not only has excellent and abundant markets, 

 but the methods of transportation open to him are plentiful 

 and varied. The State is a network of railways and trolley 

 lines, so that a particular grower may have available one or 

 two lines to Boston, the same to Worcester and Springfield, 

 and if he cares to go to markets outside the State he has Provi- 

 dence, New York City, and even Philadelphia at no great dis- 

 tance from him. He usually has two express companies to 

 choose from, the same in freight lines, and frequently a trolley 

 express added. He can always rely on more consideration from 

 the different lines because he does have an alternative in case 

 their service is not satisfactory. And as a final advantage in 

 the transportation situation the distances to many of his mar- 

 kets are so short, and the roads are so excellent, that the 

 fruit grower is frequently altogether independent of the public 

 service company because his own teams or his auto truck can 

 take his product directly from the farm to market cheaper 

 than it can be handled in any other way. The proportion of 

 fruit handled by this latter method is certain to increase as our 

 State road system, already excellent, becomes more and more 

 extended, and as the manufacturers of auto trucks perfect them 

 so that the fruit will be carried in even better condition. On 

 the whole, it is difficult to see how a fruit grower could ask for 

 much better transportation facilities than are already at hand 

 here in Massachusetts or are soon to be realized. And certainly 

 in this respect he is far ahead of the grower of almost any other 

 section. 



If this presentation of the claims of Massachusetts as a 



