158 THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Mr. Foster : Yes, I think that is one of the best things to 

 do; to use the cap and cushion. It helps to protect the fruit 

 very much from the damp. 



Mr. Merriman : I think they press the apples very much less. 



Mr. Foster : They do indeed. I did not know what you 

 might think of the Ben Davis here, and when I spoke of it I 

 saw some smiles cross the faces of some of you good people, 

 but let me tell you when you talk about this great Arkansas 

 apple, or the Ben Davis, as a degenerate, it is having a great 

 sale, and is commercially one of our leading apples. I should 

 not wonder if there would be a million of barrels of that kind 

 from the W^est. I think you would be surprised at the quality 

 of some of these fine Arkansas Ben Davises. and the magnitude 

 of the cultivation of them in the West is something beyond our 

 Eastern comprehension. Their methods of cultivation are such 

 as are to be envied, and very much to be sought after and 

 imitated by our people here in the East. 



A Member : I would like to state for the benefit of the gentle- 

 man from New York, that in Connecticut we regard the Ben 

 Davis apple somewhat the same as the dairymen do oleo- 

 margarine. 



Mr. Foster : Well, I do not think that anyone who is intelli- 

 gent and honest can dififer much on the question of oleomarga- 

 rine, but the comparison is hardly a parallel. 



A Member : It's simply a fraud on the Baldwin, that's all. 



Mr. Foster: The Baldwin is a good apple to bank on, but 

 you understand, of course, that I am speaking of the Ben Davis 

 from the standpoint of the fruit distributor. It's an apple that 

 stands up well, looks well, and sells well, and the demand for it 

 is very large. 



Mr. Hoyt: What is the cost for freight on it from the West? 

 What is the expense per barrel for shipping from Arkansas to 

 New York City? The expense per barrel or per carload from 

 Arkansas ? 



Mr. Foster : Well, sir, on a seven thousand barrel lot which 

 were loaded around Lafayetteville, and in that territory, the cost 

 was just about a dollar and one cent a barrel. The rate from St. 

 Louis to New York is 56 cents per barrel by the carload, and 

 from Arkansas it costs between 90 cents and a dollar a barrel 

 through to New York. A few years ago we had a very happy 



