Page 6 



BETTER FRUIT 



June 



and eminently practical that we com- 

 bine, consolidate and centralize our 

 advertising efforts. We want to adver- 

 tise Northwestern apple, not simply 

 Wenatchee, Hood River, Yakima or 

 Idaho apples, but stick to the one-brand 

 text, namely, "Northwestern Apples." 

 If one district prospers, the other dis- 

 tricts must in consequence, providing 

 they are doing businese legitimately 

 and up to standard methods. Califor- 

 nia is a fair example of this method. 

 Money has been spent freely to adver- 

 tise California products until the magic 

 word "California" whets our appetites 

 and opens our purse strings in response 

 to their educational work. This plan is 

 going to meet with strenuous objections 

 from some Western growers who do 

 not understand Eastern conditions. 

 The grower from the comparatively un- 

 known district will feel that he will not 

 participate in the benefits to be derived 

 through advertising in proportion to 

 his neighbor in the better-known dis- 

 trict and the grower in the well and 

 favorably-known district will feel that 

 the grower in the comparatively un- 

 known district will have the advantage 

 over him, but that is just where they 

 are both mistaken. 



As an illustration, we will take New 

 York City, which is admittedly the 

 largest apple market in the world. The 

 wholesale and retail buyers here know 

 not only the districts that produce the 

 most perfect apples of certain varieties, 

 but they also know the shippers, re- 

 gardless of whether they are individual 

 or co-operative, and their methods as 

 well. They go way beyond this and 

 know the individual growers who are 

 producing either a good product or a 

 poor product, and you may rest assured 

 that this co-operative advertising will 

 tend more than any other factor to 

 bring out and establish a survival of 

 the fittest, which, being interpreted in 

 a broad way, means that the individual 

 or corporation that puts the greatest 

 effort along intelligent constructive 

 lines into his methods will unquestion- 

 ably reap the most reward. 



You may be surprised to know that 

 the Florida citrus people, especially the 

 Florida Citrus Exchange, have carried 

 on this year expensive and constructive 

 advertising campaign; this in view of 

 their extremely short crop. The Cali- 

 fornia people may not have advertised 

 so extensively, but they have been liv- 

 ing, so to speak, upon the great momen- 

 tum generated through years of con- 

 structive advertising. Their selling 

 methods have reached a point near per- 

 fection. In the large cities where 

 auction privileges are to be had they 

 sell practically all of their products 

 through the auction, thereby obtaining 

 the widest distribution possible, with 

 each purchaser on an even basis. Their 

 methods at carlot-points where auctions 

 are not established is to sell at the 

 prices prevailing on that day for the 

 same size and grade of fruit sold at the 

 nearest auction point. They never try 

 to extract from the buyer the last nickle 

 in the box. If there is one thing more 

 than another that this great world war 

 has brought out it is the necessity 



Continued on page 25 



Hood River Apple Box at Tan Che Ssz Temple 



SOUTHERN OREGON EXPERIMENT STATION 



E. C. Reimer, Superintendent. 



A. C. McCobmick, Assistant Horticulturist. 



Talent, Oregon, March 30, 1918. 

 Mr. E. H. Shepard, Editor Retter Fruit, Hood 



River. Oregon. 



I am sending you herewith a picture which 

 I think will he of interest to your readers, 

 especially your Hood River readers. During 

 the past summer and fall I spent six months 

 in the Orient making a special study of 

 Oriental pears. This work took me into the 

 wild and mountainous regions of various parts 

 of the Orient. The favorite abode of the 

 Ruddhist and Taoist temples is in these moun- 

 tains, and often in the most secluded and most 

 inaccessible places. These temples were my 

 favorite lodging places, not because there was 

 anything favorite about them, but because they 

 were often the only places of abode, and be- 

 cause thev were usually better by one or two 

 notches than the dreary and often unspeakably 

 filthv Chinese inns. 



One night was spent at the Hotel Tan Che 

 Ssz temple in the mountains southwest of 

 Peking. While rumaging around this place 

 viewing with awe and subdued reverence the 

 numerous gods, and the live snake which cures 

 all human ills. I stumbled over one of the 

 most unexpected and most amazing things of 



my trip. As vou will see, it is an apple box 

 with one end cut off. When I beheld the in- 

 scription on the side I was so amazed that I 

 fell over and worshiped the nearest idol. For 

 an instant I thought that it was simply a 

 vision. When I recovered my balance I car- 

 ried the box out into the courtyard, placed it 

 beside an enormous urn, made a Ruddhist 

 priest stand beside it, and then photographed 

 it When I asked the priests how this box got 

 to the temple all of them shook their heads 

 and blared "mayo," which means "I know 

 not." Now, it was either carried there by some 

 Chinese spirit or bv someone who used it to 

 carry supplies from Peking to Montikou, and 

 then across the mountains to Tan Che Ssz. 



At any rate this Oregon apple box m this 

 secluded' spot in the mountains of China, and 

 in this land of mystery, and misery, seemed 

 quite strange and even mysterious. 

 Very sincerely yours, 



F. C. REIMER, 

 Southern Oregon Experiment Station, Talent, 



Oregon. 



Do not help the Hun at meal time. 



Honev and syrups instead of sugar 

 vill make victory just as sweet— and 



will make victory just 

 bring it much sooner. 



