80 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS ' CONVENTION. 



season was over and the smoke of battle cleared away we found that 

 Wells-Fargo had gotten about $8,000 for transporting our berries, and 

 after all our expenses were paid we had as much or a little more than 

 the man on the outside and our experience as an asset for future 

 business. 



Some of the things we found we needed, and succeeded in getting; 

 part this year, and a promise of next were: lower rates, smaller mini- 

 mum loads, and a better railroad time and connections. 



While we are in the habit as fruit growers of laying most of our 

 troubles to the railroad and express companies, there is one thinu we 

 must not lose sight of, and it is this, unless our fruit is properly picked, 

 packed and loaded, all the railroad rates and service in the world can 

 not make it arrive in good condition at the other end. This rests with 

 your individual growers and corporation inspection. While some 

 growers think they will lose their individuality by joining an associa- 

 tion, they really have a wonderful opportunity to preserve it in this way. 



There is no doubt but that cooperation is a remedy for many of our 

 ills. This is an age of combination. But they must be carried on strict 

 business principles, and we have much to learn. We may. perhaps, have 

 to wander in the wilderness until we grow a new lot of men that are 

 willing to give and take and pull together for their own sakes as well 

 as the community, for the prosperity of the community is in a direct 

 ratio to the prosperity of the individual. In the mean time we will have 

 to depend largely on a Moses for leadership. But it does look'as though 

 the children of Israel had a pretty good time, even in the wilderness. 

 They certainly did not have to make any bricks for the Egyptians. 

 (Applause.) 



PRESIDENT JEFFREY. We will now have the pleasure of listen- 

 ing to a paper by Mr. G. P. Rixford of San Francisco. The title is 

 "The Latest Development in Fig Culture." (Applause.) 



MR. RIXFORD. I would like to have it understood. Mr. President 

 and ladies and gentlemen, that the subject of my paper, the fig, is as 

 old as Mr. Dargitz' almond. It figures in the Bible as well as the 

 almond. We don't want to play second fiddle to the almond. Perhaps 

 he is more familiar with the Bible than I am. 



THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN FIG CULTURE. 



By Walter T. Swingle and G. P. Rixford of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



For the first time in the history of Smyrna fig culture in California, 

 the markets have this fall been partially supplied with home grown 

 Smyrna figs that many experts pronounce equal to the product of the 

 famous fig district of Asia Minor. We say partially, because the quan- 

 tity offered is not one quarter part of the requirements of even the local 

 markets. The writers know one buyer who never handles any but the 

 best of everything, who wants ten tons of a certain pack put up at Reed- 

 ley, Fresno County. This particular producer could furnish only about 

 four tons from his young ten-acre orchard. This is certainly an 

 encouraging outlook for the industry, and holds out the promise that 

 when enough such figs are packed to supply the American market, the 



