Part II.] FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION. 175 



centive for a man to prune, spray, cultivate and generally im- 

 prove his orchard when he could receive little more than the 

 cost of production no matter how good his fruit. 



It is not my purpose to enlarge upon conditions. Most of 

 you are familiar with the case of the farmer as an independent 

 unit, without knowledge of conditions, trying to sell his crop. 

 I shall, rather, try to show you what one small body of men 

 have been able to do through organization. The first step in 

 advance came with the appearance in our State of representa- 

 tives of English receivers of apples. These men were desirous 

 of getting Maine apples on the foreign market, and competed 

 with the local buyers for the crop. One house in particular sent 

 its representative into our section year after year, encouraging 

 the farmers to export their apples, and pointing out the possi- 

 bilities of the foreign market. It was customary for these 

 English houses, through their agents, to advance to farmers a 

 certain amount per barrel, usually as much or a little more than 

 the local buyers were offering. The apples were then shipped in 

 the farmer's name, to be sold on commission by the receivers 

 across the water. After making the sale, account sales were 

 made up and returned to the growers together with remittance 

 for whatever the apples net over and above the advance. The 

 individual farmer in exporting his apples was at a disadvantage, 

 and often fared as poorly as his neighbor who sold to the local 

 buyer or consigned to some domestic commission house. In 

 passing I may say that the apples put up for export were 

 packed rather poorly, and were not a good advertisement for 

 Maine apples. 



At the same time, well-graded and packed fruit when ex- 

 ported gave the farmer very satisfactory returns. The main 

 thing for which we have to thank our English friends is that 

 they opened our eyes to the possibilities of a market across the 

 water. Owing to the fact that only large growers were able to 

 make up car lots, the smallest unit economical to ship, it be- 

 came customary for several of the smaller ones to get together 

 making up a shipment. While there was no attempt at organi- 

 zation, this was a step toward co-operation. 



In the spring of 1911 a young man from our town took ad- 

 vantage of the opportunity to attend a short course in fruit 



