THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
7 
PENINSULA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
Address by G. Hale Harrison, President 
It is a great pleasure to have an opportunity to speak to you 
today. I consider it a high honor to be President of the Penin¬ 
sula Horticultural Society. This is the thirty-fifth annual meet¬ 
ing of our Society and it is with great pride that I can state that 
the organization has made notable progress each year since its 
inception. 
The past season has been a mast trying one for the orchard- 
ists, truckers and general farmers on the Peninsula. Last fall’s 
economic conditions took a sudden turn downward. Conditions 
grew worse from week to week and during the past season some 
of the lowest price levels ever known have been reached. The 
successive freezes which occurred during the early spring, and 
especially the one on Eastbr Monday night, certainly were the 
most severe shock that the orchardists ever received in this 
section of the country. 
The frosts and freezes ruined the entire peach, pear and plum 
crop from a commercial standpoint and reduced the apple crop 
to the extent that only about five to ten percent of a normal crop 
was produced in this section. The freeze also damaged the early 
strawberries, but the late blooms developed and there was a 
fairly good crop on some varieties. The unfavorable weather 
conditions during the early spring also caused the potato grow¬ 
ers considerable trouble, because it delayed them in planting and 
at the same time quite a large percentage of the early potatoes 
did not come up satisfactorily, thereby making it necessary to 
replant their fields in many instances. 
The loss of the fruit crops together with a period of low prices 
and the re-adjustment of farm values, certainly was a heavy 
loss to practically everyone engaged in the fruit and farming 
industry. 
It is not pleasant to relate these facts but such points should 
be touched on in a meeting of this kind. I fully believe, how¬ 
ever, that the worse stages of the re-adjustment have been pass¬ 
ed and we may all feel confident that the future will be brighter, 
but we cannot expect conditions to be as favorable as they were 
during the war. 
It is a time when every man should see to it that his operating 
expenses are cut to the minimum and when buying his supplies 
he should be sure that he is getting value received. 
There is one point which is paramount—the co-operative sell¬ 
ing of fruits and produce. It is a known fact that where an or¬ 
ganization is so established that it can handle business in vol¬ 
ume and a number of cars daily it is better able to give the 
grower a higher price average for their produce than can be ob¬ 
tained by selling at the local stations. 
By co-operative marketing it is possible for a group of men 
in a certain section to grow certain varieties and standardize on 
the style of package or packages and also more or less standard¬ 
ize their grading. By having the fruits and produce properly 
graded the selling organization can more readily present to 
their respective customers in the various cities definite informa¬ 
tion as to the kind of products they have to offer. These selling 
organizations of course do not show just how much they are 
really worth when business is good and when there is a shortage 
in supply and a tremendous demand, but when a slump comes 
that is the time when a co-operative selling organization proves 
its worth. In many cases the farmers have been saved from 
losses during a slump period on account of the efficient manner 
in which the selling organization handled their products. The 
manager of a co-operative selling organization, which is some¬ 
times called a Fruit or Produce Exchange, is in a better position 
to hold the market steady than a number of men selling the 
products from the same section. 
The standardizing of varieties will make it possible for the 
producer to handle his produce on a larger scale and in an easier 
way. This applies to all kinds of fruits as well as vegetables. 
We should all make our plantings so that it will be possible to 
load straight car load lots of one variety. Cars of mixed varie¬ 
ties never sell for as high prices as those loaded with one variety 
only. 
Our crops should be harvested at the time when the fruit is 
fully developed but not to the full ripe period. In other words, 
the fruit should be left to grow until fully matured, but picked 
in time to allow for packing and arriving in the city markets in 
good condition. By picking our fruit immature we not only re¬ 
duce the yield, but we help to demoralize the market because 
the fruit we are attempting to sell is not edible and it does not 
create a demand among the city consumers. The shipping of 
green fruit and vegetables often cause serious loss to the grower 
because they are refused when they reach the city markets. 
The Government and the co-operative organizations are to be 
commended on the wonderful work they have been able to ac¬ 
complish in recent years through the standardization of pack¬ 
ages. The railroads have played an important part in this be¬ 
cause in certain sections they have demanded that shippers use 
certain styles of package for certain produce. By standardizing 
packages, selling is made easier which is demonstrated by the 
North Western pack and packages which are sold on our East¬ 
ern markets. 
The difference in the freight from the North West to New 
York and from the Peninsula to New York represents a fair 
profit to the Eastern grower. 
During the war the Government established a system of in¬ 
specting car lots of produce upon arrival in the city markets. The 
producer thought that this would put an end to the refusal of 
cars of produce upon arrival in the city markets when they were 
bought on an f. o. b. basis. The Inspection service was inaug¬ 
urated in practically every large city, but as it has worked out 
it has proven a decided disadvantage to the producer. Many of 
the shippers in the beginning were not satisfied with the idea 
of inspection in the city markets, but now practically all produc¬ 
ers are fully convinced that the most feasible way to handle in¬ 
spection is to establish a system by which the Government or 
State Inspectors might examine each and every car of fruit and 
produce at the loading point and issue at that time an affidavit 
as to its contents. When this is done one can sell to a commis¬ 
sion merchant in the city by telephone or telegram, the car to 
be accepted f. o. b. shipping point on the inspection report of the 
Government or State Inspector as to its contents and quality. 
We believe that this feature will greatly aid the producer 
and will eliminate to a great extent so many misunderstandings. 
The railroads during the exegencies of the war were subjected 
to heavy expenditures and they asked on different occasions for 
the freight rates to be advanced. It is a known fact that they 
first advanced their rates 3% then 5% and then 25%. When the 
25% advance was made everyone thought that it would be the 
last one, but almost without notice the Interstate Commerce 
Commission authorized that all freight rates be advanced an¬ 
other 40%. This last 40% is the one which has put a damper on 
business. 
When produce was selling at the highest prices the world has 
ever known the freight rates did not cut such a heavy figure but 
under present conditions when our products are selling at pre¬ 
war levels or even less in many instances, the rates are much 
too high. 
The express rates were advanced in practically the same pro¬ 
portion as the freight rates and they too are entirely too high. 
The refrigerator car service is the key-note to the perishable 
fruit business. As a whole, the Peninsula has been served fairly 
well with refrigerator car service, but of course there is need 
for some improvement. The Fruit Growers Express Company 
have contracted with the railroads over the Peninsula as well 
as in other sections and now handle all of the freight refrigerator 
cars. 
Viewing the subject from a broad-minded standpoint it seems 
that we are all better off by having the large organizations 
handle the freight refrigerator cars, rather than the various 
railroads and numerous icing companies. 
We want better freight and express schedules in order that 
we can get our cars of fruit and produce to the markets quicker. 
It has always occurred to me that it would be an excellent idea 
for the Railroads to inaugurate a system whereby the freight and 
express trains during the fruit season could leave the terminals 
say about seven o’clock in the evening and pick up all of the 
refrigerator cars that evening and carry them to the first junc¬ 
tion point. By doing this it would save on the present freight 
schedule twelve hours and on the express schedule fifteen hours. 
During hot sultry weather each and every hour saved on a car of 
produce certainly counts. All the cars of peaches from Georgia 
move out during the early evening instead of the following 
morning or the following noon. 
You often hear the subject of storage discussed by orchard 
people. The production of fruits and the storage of fruits are 
two entirely separate lines of business, and there are very few 
people who are fully versed on both subjects. In the large pro¬ 
ducing sections it would seem advisable to have local cold stor¬ 
age houses. By doing this the orchardist as well as the trucker 
would be able to regrade and repack their fruits and produce 
before it is shipped to the city markets. Generally speaking, 
through the absence of local cold storage plants, it is necessary 
for the producer to ship his produce to the city and have it 
■stored in the large city storage plants. In that case, it would be 
better for him to sell his fruit f. o. b. shipping point than to let 
