70 



THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



for fault finding:. I wish that the conditions which exist in 

 W'estern New York and in the Shenandoah Valley existed with 

 US. I am sorry to say that in the Hudson Valley we are still 

 dependent on the city commission houses for the sale of our 

 fruit. There are not enough good fruit men in any partic- 

 ular locality up there to induce the larger buyers of apples to 

 come in there with the expectation of buying a large quantity, 

 and the growers all have more or less complaint to make. 

 Some of the buyers and houses that have taken apples from 

 such sections say that they have been scorched so and robbed 

 by the men that pack the apples that they are going to stay 

 out of tliere. That makes the situation rather bad for all 

 growers, and I suppose it is nothing but what we must rely 

 on time to correct. 



In packing apples too much emphasis can not be- laid on 

 the necessity of making each package and each grade imifonn 

 throughout. If vou are making a package of fruit fancy, be 

 sure that every apple in that package is up to the standard, . 

 and sell the lower grades for what they are worth. By making 

 your grades uniform your commission man will be able to 

 recommend your goods to his customers, and he knows that 

 they will prove as good as they should be. There is a certain 

 class of people who buy fancy apples, no matter what the 

 cost, but the bulk of the apples sold must go at a moderate 

 price, or the people will not buy them. It is to the working 

 man and his family that we have to look as buyers of our 

 apples, and we must place before them a good quality of fruit 

 at a moderate price. With apples selling to the retailer at two 

 dollars per barrel there will be perhaps twice as, many apples 

 consumed as there will be when sold for one dollar more, and 

 in years of great plenty, such as last year, no matter how 

 cheap the price goes, there will not be a sale for all that are 

 produced. Therefore, those men who grow the best fruit 

 are the ones who can sell when prices are low. I have never 

 seen the da}- when a man could not sell choice fruit at good 

 prices. I can go to Xew York and sell apples of the best 

 quality for two dollars a box, when the common run of apples 

 that are sold by the commission men will not bring one dollar 

 a barrel. The people that are used to buying first-class fruit 



