o Zi 
SEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE 
did not go through the Grape Growers’ association, and I got 
what would be considered for an orange grower about three 
and a half cents a box. I do not think they paid over that. 
You pay the express company four cents and you pay four 
cents for cultivation, packing, etc., and then sell for ten cents 
a pound. I cann*»t for the life of me see where the profit 
comes in. 1 failed to find a dollar in it. I agree with Mr. 
Mellish that the grapes on the high lands are the grapes that 
will stay on the stems. If an 3 r man is paying four cents a 
pound to transport his grapes, and four cents more to have 
them picked, and carried to his packing house and taken on 
board the car, he can do more than I can if he makes any¬ 
thing out of the grapes. At these prices I do not believe he 
can do it. This great hue and cry they are raising at St. 
Augustine about grapes is misleading. It is going to carry 
people into the business and they are going to get hurt when 
they go into that business. I got hurt, and got hurt badly, 
and a surgical operation could not put me on my feet. I met 
Mr. Terry at St. Augustine; he then had sent off two carloads 
and had one at the depot. They were badly packed. They 
were not as good as the South Florida grapes. He had not 
received any returns, but that night, at the hotel, he received 
a telegram stating that they had been received in bad order, 
and he stopped shipping. He is now going int > making 
wine. Now, the objection I make to all this is that we are 
rgoing to lead some poor fellow into this business to put his 
last dollar where I put mine. Look at the ridiculous posi¬ 
tion ! To invite the horticulturists of Florida to go into 
the grape growing business ! It is a mistake to induce the 
horticulturists of Florida to go into something out of which 
they will not get a dollar. The institution at Lockport 
(Niagara Grape Company) got all the loose change I had, 
and I do not want anybody else to go the rond that I have 
gone. Look at my vineyard and look at my bank account. 
Mr. Cooper — I was crippled a little in the grape business. 
I swallowed a bait on the grape question. I got Col. Bailey 
to look at my ground. He said it was a splendid place for 
grapes. I put out about eight acres. Last year I shipped 
some grapes and my profit was two 2-cent stamps. I have 
framed those stamps and have them hanging in my office. I 
have plowed all my grape vines up. I tried to give the vines 
away but nobody would take them. For goodness sake never 
say grapes to me again. 
Mr. Healy—T he matter of associations has come to my 
m nd. Where I marketed most of my grapes I was obliged 
to ship to an association house. I was guaranteed 8 percent, 
commission, but was charged 12 per cent. If I had been 
