THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 507 



To what extent the State, acting as middleman, will relieve the fruit 

 situation, including, of course apple shipments, has yet to be deter- 

 mined. It is, perhaps, problematical whether we will come ultimately 

 into a better situation by throwing the responsibility of the business 

 management of our products into any organization in which our per- 

 sonal interest is in no way a factor. However, the State's efforts in our 

 behalf need not interfere with private enterprise. 



If the future held no more of promise for apple growers than has the 

 past season, they might lay down the shovel and the hoe, as far as 

 orchard cultivation for profit is concerned. Apples for stock feed do 

 not require thorough spraying, careful picking and boxing, and three 

 months or more in cold storage. But so long as over half of our people 

 never get more than sight of an apple, there is room for better things, 

 provided the remainder of our people are supplied with the apples it 

 should be their privilege to eat. 



California is not notably an apple consuming state. The apple has 

 many other fruits with which to compete, with the difference in trans- 

 portation rates proportionately again.st it. Its varied adaptability to 

 table needs, both as a supplement to other foods and as a delicacy, 

 should give it a value to the housekeeper above all other fruits. To this 

 end an educational campaign to promote apple eating should be under- 

 taken, as systematically organized and as thoroughly carried out as was 

 the raisin campaign a few years ago. An "apple day" of general 

 observation, like the "raisin day" and the "olive day," might not 

 directly increase the sale of apples, but it would educate people in 

 regard" to the various uses of apples. Our own State should consume 

 every apple we raise this year, for our orchards produce, at best, less 

 than one and one-half boxes per capita of population. But in many 

 sections the fresh apple is almost unknown, and in others even in its 

 dried state, it is used but little. Even where the apple is procurable, a 

 brown Betty, or an apple cobbler, is almost unheard of, and city hotel 

 menus give scant recognition to our plebeian fruit. Talk of stuffing an 

 apple with citron, raisins, and nuts before baking it, to a man who has 

 tasted a Gravenstein or a Duchess of Oldenburg baked to a creamy puff, 

 or a White Winter Pearmain, quartered and baked without sugar to a 

 conserve, and he would laugh you to scorn ! 



Along with the production of good and better fruit, and broader and 

 more discriminating distribution, must be greater economy in handling. 

 This should begin in the orchard where the fruit should be packed. 

 Hauling apples to a distant packing house, at 1 to 5 cents per loose box, 

 means a cost of 2 to 10 cents per packed box ; commission charges are 

 31 to 34 cents per box ; commission, freight, and cartage, 20 cents, a total 

 of 50 to 70 cents per box. Add retailers' charges and you have a box 

 of fruit too costly for those who need your apples most, and— nothing 

 for yourself. 



The experience of the past two years should be rich with results, one 

 of the first being the rem.oval of all orchards which are unproductive 

 from any cause not remediable. Varieties should be planted, or devel- 

 oped, suited to location and market. 



