38 THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



The second subject I am instructed to present for 

 your consideration and, we trust, favorable action, is that 

 of state legislation to insure uniform grading, packing and 

 branding of fruit. 



Confidence in the uniformity and honesty of the qual- 

 ity and grading of all fruit is the sole basis for any success- 

 ful trade, and with the exacting system prevailing among 

 the corporate interests controlling western shipments, this 

 subject comes to us in a manner not to be thrust aside. It 

 is not pleasant to be obliged to yearly face the fact that 

 New England fruit sells in all foreign markets at fully 

 fifty cents below the same varieties grown in Canada, and 

 this because the Fruit Marks Act insures to the buyer of 

 Canada grown apples a standard grade, not excessively 

 high, but uniform, something impossible to insure under 

 individual packing in the States. This is not a question 

 of individual liberty, but of the position our fruit shall 

 occupy in the great distributing markets. Maine pomolo- 

 gists are not asking for the Fruit Marks Act of Canada, 

 but that the fruit societies of New England unite in formu- 

 lating a bill to be presented the several legislatures, which 

 will insure this protection and provide authority for the 

 enforcement of the necessary sections. 



Vermont growers, alive to the serious loss resulting 

 from want of this legislation, will present such a bill to 

 the incoming legislature of that state and endeavor to 

 secure its passage. I am certain that Maine growers will 

 ask of its legislature in 1909 the enactment of a like meas- 

 ure. With us the trouble is not so much with the growers 

 as the dealers and packers who handle the bulk of our 

 fruit, and whose standard is purely commercial, with no 

 regard for the future reputation of the state. For this rea- 

 son our fruit has received a serious setback this season. 

 Grown under the most adverse conditions met for years, 

 it has been packed and rushed to market without due 

 regard to sorting, until the letters received from the larger 

 dealers across the water indicate that our reputation has 

 suffered materially. 



