66 THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



then let them canvass the State and see how many will join 

 such an association and agree to pay so much per tree as a 

 foundation fund for work, it will be a starter in the right 

 direction. You can roughly estimate how many trees you 

 have in the State to-day, how much to pay per tree, and 

 then let that committee work along some intelligent line 

 and recommend some action which, if adopted by the 

 majority of orchardists, will go. My own idea is, you have 

 got to have a sort of fruit exchange or clearing house for 

 the shippers. The small grower, with twenty-five or fifty 

 baskets of plums and peaches per day, is at a disadvantage ; 

 if he attempts to ship by express he might as well give up 

 at once. There must be some way for these small growers 

 to combine so as to load full cars at some central point and 

 ship to certain commission men at different cities for a 

 reasonable distribution, and let that committee direct it all 

 right along, and if you do not get as large returns as you 

 think you ought to in a week or so, do not quit, but wait, 

 and the final result will be better than you could ever do 

 alone. The trouble is, we are all too independent; j'ou 

 will find that three-fourths of the growers will not be likely 

 to go into it at all. 



Mr. Ives: How would a combination of fruit growers 

 affect the general public favor of the State? 



President Hale: You have got to sell your fruit, and 

 all the combination is for is for intelligent distribution; 

 not to corner the price, but to see to intelligent distribu- 

 tion, and that it goes into the hands of honest, intelligent 

 men, so as not to overload one city and lower prices, while 

 another city, perhaps not a hundred miles away, is short of 

 fruit and would gladly pay well for it. 



Mr. W. H. Blodget: I have had dealings with some of 

 the Western New York associations, and they have 

 accomplished just what you are talking of to-night. It has 

 worked to the advantage of the small, as well as the large 

 growers. A fruit inspector was appointed in every large 

 city. The fruit was all put under a label issued by the 

 association; there were two grades made of it and any- 

 thing below that was put into the wine fruit. The head 

 secretary is in communication every morning with the 



