SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. m 



an\' record, but your i)residiu_o- officer gave her strict 

 orders to "cut out Adam," so he is "cut out." Really, I am 

 never surprised, but always gratified, when a man shows that 

 he is ashamed of Adam. Rut the order did not include the 

 .apple, the best thing- that ever grew, either in the garden of 

 Eden, or in the State of Connecticut. The fruit that sug- 

 gests everything good and pleasant and sociable, for there is 

 nothing about an apple that's not good — but the cider. What 

 would life be without apple dumplings, hot apple sauce, and 

 New England apple pies ! You don't make as good apple 

 pies in Connecticut as we do in Massachusetts, but they are 

 pretty good even fiere. 



Now the consumer wants to eat perfect apples, but what 

 does she do instead? If she is a large family and buys her 

 apples by the barrel, she always goes down cellar with her 

 basket, under orders to bring up the "specked ones." So 

 year after year we dive down in that barrel, wipe ofif the fair 

 apples that we want and bring up the specked ones that we 

 would rather not have. 



Now, why don't you apple-growers throw away your 

 t)arrels, hand-pick your marketable apples, wrap them sepa- 

 rately and pack them in boxes, as the Western grower does? 

 And incidentally get more money. Why, within a week. I 

 have seen the most luscious apples ever, absolutely as good 

 as the best fruit right from the trees, and that's pretty good. 



These were Western apples, to be sure, but why couldn't 

 they have been Connecticut apples? Is anything the matter 

 with Connecticut, that she cannot do as well as California, 

 Colorado or Canada? You may say that it will cost too much 

 to do as suggested. But you will get more. There are con- 

 sumers who w'ill gladly pay one dollar a dozen for such apples 

 as I saw. Try it, somebody ; try it, all of you. 



Happily,, the time is going by when we must turn the 

 apples out of the barrel to see what is in the middle, and from 

 the consumer's standpoint let us hope that the time of the 

 barrel is also going. If the Western grower can make money 

 by this care of the apples, and pav the extra expense of ship- 



