Too Many Prunes. 299 



California apples, just as they will learn eventually the difference between the 

 evaporated Oregon prune and the sun-dried insipid California prune. ISIost 

 of the prunes displayed were the California product, while but few were 

 Oregon prunes. Imagine my surprise when I read the prices. Several lioxes 

 of Oregon prunes, of size 40's, were marked "two pounds for twenty-five 

 cents" ; a large box, containing sizes 80's to 9<)"s, were marked "three pounds 

 for a quarter" ; while small Californias. running sizes lOO's to 140's, were 

 marked at the low figure of five pounds for twenty-five cents. These were uni- 

 versal figures at Winnipeg, St. Paul, Chicago, Milwaukee. St. IjOuIs, and other 

 cities. Yes, even in this very city of Portland, the home of the prune, you can 

 see ten-pound boxes marked one dollar, or ten cents per pound. Now do you 

 wonder why there is an apparent overproduction of prunes? At the price paid 

 the producer, which is, or was, two and three-quarters to three cents per pound 

 for the four sizes, these small prunes should retail ten pounds for a quarter, and 

 the others proportionately less. Then the consumer would feel that he could 

 afford the luxury of prunes, and the demand would increase in such proportions 

 that the cry of "Too Many Prunes" would be a thing of the past. But above 

 all things the consumer should be properly educated as to the difference in 

 these prunes and as to the superior quality of the Oregon prune. 



Many of you will remember that at the convention held here three years 

 ago I read a paper on "Generals in Horticulture." In this paper I said that 

 the Pan-American Exposition offered an excellent opportunity to demonstrate 

 and exploit the fine qualities of our Oregon prune over all others, and further 

 said that if the prunes were furnished I would have them properly stewed and 

 served in dainty dishes by still daintier maidens at the Exposition without 

 further expense to anyone. Then and there I was promised, and even received 

 many letters afterward, that all the prunes required would be furnished : l)Ut 

 it ended like many resolutions and promises usually made between Christmas 

 and New Year. Only a few hundred pounds were furnished, not enough to 

 last a week, so we gave them away to visitors to eat as a confection, out of hand. 

 The opportunity to educate the masses to the superiority of tne Oregon prunes, 

 and the vast difference between them and the California prunes, was most 

 excellent, as our horticultural exhibit was right alongside of that of California. 

 which served out its stewed sun-dried prunes every afternoon, and we had to 

 sit still and allow such a golden opportunity to pass just for the want of a few 

 tons of prunes, while California distributed three carloads. 



We are now approaching the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, to be held at 

 St. Louis, and I would suggest that some of the "too many prunes" be sent 

 there for demonstration, as I outlined for Buffalo. ' St. Louis offers a splendid 

 field for that purpose, as thousands of foreign-born people will be there, who 

 know the Fellenberg prune from childhood in the fatherland, and, like all good 

 Missourians, must be shown that this delicious fruit can be had here at prices 

 within their reach. Then the demand will rapidly increase. 



The best field, however, for education and a market for our Oregon prune 

 is the Orient, for this prune, as I intimated above, has medicinal properties 

 which prevent and cure scurvy. There is perhaps, no nation on earth among 

 whom scurvy is more prevalent than the Japanese, owing to their mode of 

 living on rice and fish. While at the exhibition at Osaka last summer, I called 

 the attention of the government officials to this fact, and distributed a lot of 

 prunes from our exhibit among them. They seemed very much interested, 

 notably the Emperor and the Empress, who have taken the matter under 

 advisement. It should be followed up, and they could be induced to make the 

 Oregon prune a part of tlie army and navy ration. As military duty in Japan 

 is compulsory, every soldier whose service is ended would become a living ad- 

 vertisement in his home village. They soon would take so pleasant a medicine, 

 provided the price is within their means, and the demands from there would 

 soon be greater than the supply, especially for the smaller sizes. 



The statement, recently made by a correspondent of the Oregonian. that 



