72 THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



It would not take a very extensive draft upon the memory 

 of any of the gentlemen here present to remember back to the 

 time when at this particular season of the year a commodity 

 such as eggs and. in fact, butter, was simply out of the ques- 

 tion. They could not be obtained at any price. The great 

 production of eggs and 1)utter, during the usual periods of 

 production, had to be consumed or disposed of in some manner 

 or another or they simply went to waste. To be sure they 

 used a primitive system of liming, which in its ver}' nature was 

 expensi\e and very injurious to the product so treated, but, as 

 a matter of fact, that was the very best preservative obtainable 

 at that time. When that particular process was in operation 

 the prevailing price of eggs to the farmer who produced same 

 was from seven to eight cents per dozen, and not a great many 

 wanted even at those prices. The cold storage plants have 

 certainl}^ done away with all those killing prices to the farmers 

 for those particular goods. Statistics go to prove that in the 

 last five or six years the prevailing price paid to the farmer for 

 his eggs during the producing months of April, May and June 

 would average from seventeen to eighteen cents per dozen. 

 The very reason for this advance in price is owing entirely to 

 the modern methods of being able to take care of this particular 

 commodity as soon as produced. They are gathered and 

 hastily transferred into new cases, put in first-class shipping 

 shape, loaded into refrigerator cars and inmiediately started 

 East consigned to the cold storage warehouses that will hold 

 same for a period covering from six to eight months, delivering 

 them to the consumer in almost as good condition as when they 

 were received from the farmer. Of course, it must be said 

 with all truthfulness, that the cold storage plant, of itself, is 

 not to be treated as a magical institution, ^^"e have noted in 

 our experience, especially in this particular locality, that the 

 principal product which we, receive from pomologists here- 

 abouts is apples, pears and a number of the smaller fruits. \\'e 

 have seen, much to our distress and to the great expense of the 

 owner of certain goods, that they absolutely lack the funda- 

 mental knowledge of packing and storing the right kind of 

 goods. Our particular locality seems to be favored with bein^- 

 able to consume all fine fruits almost as soon as they are pro- 



