4S THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Mr. Merriman : I have alwaj^s made a practice of wash- 

 ing out old barrels perfectly clean, then lining Vvath paper 

 and stenciling my name on the top of every barrel. 



At President Hale's request, Mr. Blodget explained the 

 method of small-fruit selling practiced at his store in 

 Worcester. 



Mr. Blodget : Formerly all the small fruit growers about 

 Worcester who came in daily with from one to ten or 

 fifteen bushels of berries, hawked them all over the city, 

 and were steadily cutting prices to a demoralizing extent. 

 There was no standard of value from hour to hour. The 

 growers were induced to abandon this practice and bring 

 all the fruit to the store for sale, coming in between five 

 and six o'clock in the morning. These lots were all 

 spread out on the auction-room floor — each man's lot by 

 itself — and where any one had more than five crates they 

 were divided up into five-crate lots of the most uniform 

 grade. Auction was called for seven o'clock each morn- 

 ing, when all the leading buyers of the town — peddlers, 

 and buyers from adjoining towns — all assembled; had a 

 quick chance to see all the goods in town ; form a judgment 

 of what style would suit their trade best, and bid accord- 

 ingly, each lot was numbered from one on, consecutively, 

 and it usually took from twenty-five to thirty minutes to sell 

 four to six hundred crates of berries. High grade fruit 

 brought high prices, and low grade fruit, low prices; but 

 the whole average to the farmers was greater than in the 

 old way and it cost them much less for the delivery, and 

 every one was better satisfied. 



President Hale: I have watched this plan of berry 

 selling for a number of years and am sure it gives the 

 growers fifteen per cent better prices than the go-as-yoU' 

 please plan of each one for himself. 



Question — Mr. Stocking: In packing a barrel of 

 apples and pressing in the head, is there not danger of 

 pressing the apples into each other and bruising? 



Answer — Mr. Blodget: If you are packing apples for 

 long distance you must pack tightly and press hard ; but, 

 if for short distances — say Boston or New York — there is 



