56 PROCEEDINGS OF TWENTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWEES' CONVENTION. 



Upon motion of Mr. William Johnston, the thanks of the Conven- 

 tion were extended to Mr. McAdie for his appearance before them, and 

 for the kind invitation to visit his department and offer enlightenment 

 on the frost question. 



Upon motion of Mr. Joe Waldrop, an invitation was extended to 

 Mr. McAdie to speak to the Convention for one hour upon the question 

 of frost, which invitation he accepted. 



THE EAISm INDUSTRY. 



By M. THEODORE KEARNEY, of Feesno. 



The truth is, that when a request was made of me for a paper on the 

 raisin industry before this Convention, I was engaged in the occupation 

 of selling raisins at a very serious loss, and I feared to express my feel- 

 ings at that time lest I might say something I wished I had not said, 

 and therefore I replied that I could not see my way clear to prepare a 

 paper for the Convention. 



I realize the necessity that we are under to obtain facts and the 

 experiences of all in dealing with this subject of cooperation and the 

 marketing of our fruits, and perhaps I might state one or two experi- 

 ences, if you have time, on that point. 



There are two classes of fruit that we have to deal with, and I think 

 they need to be dealt with in an entirely different manner. One is fresh 

 fruit, or the perishable article; the other is the dried product, whick 

 might also include such products as olives and olive oil, and of course 

 all the dried products such as apricots, plums, peaches, and raisins, and 

 such things as can be carried over and need not be forced upon the mar- 

 ket. I was very much interested in listening to Mr. Sprague's report 

 on the operations of the Fresh Fruit Association this year, and of course 

 we know of the successes of Mr. Naftzger and his association in the mar- 

 keting of citrus fruits. It appears to me that both are on the right road 

 in the handling of those products. The necessity there is to find an 

 immediate market, or else we might have on our hands fruit that would 

 spoil. But in the handling of prunes and raisins and other dried fruits 

 we are not obliged to sell at once. And I have from the first been firmly 

 convinced that if we could go into the markets and say to the dealers, 

 ''Here is a product that you need, one that will be wanted all the year 

 round, one that we can carry if necessary and supply to you as you 

 need it, and that we will hold the price of it and sustain the market for 

 it, not at excessive rates nor yet at a price that will give us no profit,'^ 

 we could greatly increase the sale of our product and get a satisfactory 

 price for it. To be entirely successful looks to the fixing of a price and 

 the maintaining of that price in its distribution. Now, in order to do that 



