The record-union., 1896-12-04

port had been made He wanted it
called back from the committee and
some action taken that would result in
a report being printed before the Leg
iSlature cOnveneS next month. He
spoke of the condition of the market
in that city at present. The Portll-
gueSe and other foreign fishermen or
ganized and went before the Legisla-
ture and secured action that gave them
free wharf for their use. That was
the result of action and organization,
and the fruit growers can do as much
If they will organize and work prop
erly. He moved that the subject be
called back from the committee.
Motheral said he had formerly ia
vored cooperation, but he had changed
his mind and was opposed. You can
not make a farmer out Of merchant.
or merchant out of a farmer. The
idea of eliminating the middleman is
not practicable and will never work
successfully. He had opposed cooper
alton in his own county this fall, and
succeeded in defeating it. The conse-
quence was that no goods were ship
ped on consignment and the buyers
came and paid cash for the fruit. The
farmers have the cash in their pockets
and are happy, while the fruit that
was consigned by other parties has
been thrcwn on the market and there is
danger that it may bankrupt the men
who bought and paid for the fruit,
which is not wanted by the producers.
When the middlemen came in they bid
against each other and the farmer gets
| the best prices.
Mr. Winter thought the farmer was
fine specimen for the middlemen to
play on and to get rich on. He is
sharper than the farmer and knows
more about business and how to handle
| it. It is his interest to keep the farmer
in the dark as to how things really
are.
The farmer must be educated He
has not sense enough to know his own
good. He does not hang together with
his fellows Why can he not sell from
his warehouse as well as from his
door? The speaker told how want of
unity had cost the Alameda growers
several hundred thousand dollars.
| Mr. Fowler moved that the recon-
mendations made in the paper of Mr..
Adams on Wednesday be adopted by
the convention, and the motion was
carried.
| A Mr.. Begg, who claimed that he had
discovered method of shipping fruit
to the East without using ice, addressed
the convention.
PRUNE CULTURE.
| Mr.. Gordon of San Jose read an essay
on "Prune Culture for Commercial
Purposes
| He spoke of his paper read before a
previous convention, four years ago, in
which he advised all to keep out Of the
| business who did not possess all the
| necessary qualifications to succeed and
said that time had proved the wisdom Of
| his advice. He read figures to prove his
position. Less prune trees have been
| planted since that time and the fall in
prices brought down by the planting Of
trees in unsuitable places. which pro-
duced inferior fruit, and the falling off
in the Importation of foreign prunes
have wrought a great change.
| The placing of inferior prunes on the
market has forced the Santa Clara
growers to adopt a trade mark for their
| production. There Is one thing that the
growers have to learn and that is, not to
| sell goods on consignment. 1t is better
| to sell goods for cash, f. 0. b., and avoid
all disputes and misunderstanding
Then you have the money in your pocket
and no uncertainty as to prices to be
obtained.
| Prune your trees when young to give
| them good strong stocks and limbs
Prune them when old for the purpose
of thinning them out, and it will pay
| you well.
| Prunes have been found equal to bar
| ley as feed for hogs, and produces far
more pounds to the acre. Hogs fed on
prunes and alfalfa will produce hams
equal to the best Westphalia and which
| bring the highest prices. The expert
| ment Of shipping prunes in sacks proved
disastrous and they are now shipped in
| boxes. If put up in attractive shape in
| boxes, with known trade marks, they
will do more to solve the question Of
/ over production than any other one
thing
| E. K. Alsip moved that an evening ses-
sion be held to consider the question Of
marketing fruits.
| r. D. Stephens said that the time had
| been set for discussing that subject at
p. m. 1t had been taken up in discuss
| ing many other subjects that, while i'm
portant in themselves, were not to be
compared to the two questions most
vital TO the growers-transportat and
opening markets for fruits.
| Motheral thought that a committee
should be appointed to confer with the
! Southern Pacific Company and see if it
would not do something to help the
! growers out
! Kimball moved that an evening ses-
sion be held for the reading Of the es-
/ says intended for this morning and that
/ the morning session be devoted to the
questions of transportation and market
! The motion was carried.
! An invitation extended by the Sacra-
mento Electric, Gas and Railway Com
/ pany, through the Chamber of Com
merce by r. D. Stephens, to visit the
| power house was accepted.
! THINNING AND GRADING.
paper on Thinning and Grading
Fruit" was read by Major Berry
| The method advocated by him, he
stated. was radically different from that
advocated by Mr.. Gordon. The paper
gave an outline of his experience In
| pruning and was an interesting one. He
was opposed to heavy winter pruning
and said that the indiscriminate use of
the ak and saw often cost the orchardist
his crop. He planted his apricot trees
twenty-four feet apart They should
have been planted forty y-eight feet
| apart, and his mistake had been the