mall fruits
are handled in the sixteen quart crates and are not repacked. The
grower delivers them as up to grade on his reputation, which will not
last long if he does not furnish good berries. The grower usually tells
the wholesaler when they were picked and the condition they are in. They
do a cash business only.

Very little has been handled through the commission men of other cities.
A few carloads have been shipped to Minneapolis, but returns were not as
satisfactory as when sold to the wholesale houses. In shipping the
grower has to take more risk and do more work, such as packing and
loading the car, than when he sells to the wholesaler. Most growers
prefer to sell to the houses than to do this extra work, which they are
neither used to, nor capable of handling. Besides this, most growers do
not have enough fruit at any one time to load a car.

There is no co-operative association at the present time, but the
growers were trying to organize one last winter. In a certain way there
is an agreement among the small fruit growers, in that nearly all of
them agree to market their fruit in the sixteen quart crate and stick to
certain prices as far as possible, and not to cut prices under other
growers. This applies especially to the "direct to the consumer" trade.
There are no street venders to whom the growers can sell nor with whom
they would have to compete, and there is no city market at Mankato.

Storage conditions have not been developed. The wholesale houses have
small storage rooms of their own, but do little storing of home grown
products, as they ship them out as soon as they get a carload. The
stores store a few days in case they get an over-supply on hand. The
growers store apples in their own cellars, often keeping them until the
following spring. A few city people buy apples in the fall and store for
winter use, but it is not very satisfactory for the storage houses do
not regulate the temperature accurately enough.

* * * * *

PRUNING OF CURRANTS AND GOOSEBERRIES.--The main reason that
currant and gooseberry bushes do not yield satisfactory crops from year
to year is due to the lack of proper pruning.

Both currants and gooseberries produce their fruit on canes that are at
least two years old, the first season being generally utilized for the
growing of the canes, the second for the formation of fruit buds or
spurs, and the third a full crop may be expected. These can