502 THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



any crop, Avhetlier it be prunes or peaches or apricots, vitally affects the 

 market for the coming crop. If we are awake we Avill not allow this 

 situation to develop. 



I Avould cpiote you the following from a circular issued by the First 

 National Bank of San Jose : 



"AVe have an enormous American consuming power and in 

 former years this took the bulk of our product, but we neglected 

 this when Europe overbid in prices and our domestic demand has 

 become dormant. 



"American trade follows advertising and 'breakfast foods' have 

 l)ecome the popular demand because they have been advertised 

 lar^^ely. 



"We can build up a similar demand for our dried prunes and 

 apricots (of which we produce the best) by systematic advertising. 

 If the Board of Supervisors and Chambers of Commerce would 

 spend their advertising funds this year on such a campaign, it 

 would do those Avho put up the money more good than a continua- 

 tion of bidding for tourists." 



There is good solid food for thought in this article. Consider for a 

 moment the vast field there is for advertising your prune as a breakfast 

 food in conjunction with its other food purposes, but make breakfast 

 food the leader. Consider, again, for a moment that the most successful 

 advertising in recent years has been advertising done on breakfast 

 foods. Then consider that today in certain districts of the United 

 States the prune is being universally used for a breakfast food and that 

 those markets in which it is being used for this purpose are the best 

 markets in the United States today. In many other markets there is an 

 indifference toward the prune, simply because it is not pushed properly. 

 Proper advertising Avould push it. The field for advertising the prune 

 is tremendous. 



The prune producer can not expect, however, boards of supervisors or 

 cliambers of commerce to fight his entire battle for him. Inasmuch as 

 those localities in which prunes are the main production and the prin- 

 cipal source of income upon which not only the producer, but the mer- 

 chants and business men of the community expect revenue, and owing 

 to the fact that improvement of the land has increased the assessed 

 valuation of the county, it would seem no more than right that, if it 

 were possible for the board of supervisors to subscribe toward an adver- 

 tising campaign, they should do it. However, if growers are going to 

 advertise, they will have to make up their minds that the larger part of 

 the money must be raised among themselves. There has been no more 

 opportune time for the prune producer to consider this situation than 

 the present. During the past few years we have realized good prices 

 and Providence in many instances has taken care of us and has seen that 

 we have not produced crops in excess of the demand. The time to pre- 

 pare for the continuation of prosperity is while we are enjoying pros- 

 perity. 



