Page 12 



BETTER FRUIT 



October 



The Apple as a Farm Product— History 



M 



By A. Millard, Jr., Hood River. Oregon. 



■AHKETS, "local" and "uncla.ssi- 

 lieil," are then pretty well out 

 of the iiue.stion, except for lo- 

 cally-produced fruit, and for anythin.a 

 like distance .shipment, the grower 

 must turn to the primary niai-ket. The 

 largest primary markets for apples in 

 about the order of their importance 

 may be listed as: New York, Boston, 

 Philadelphia, Chicago, (Cincinnati, Bal- 

 timore, St. Louis, Pittsburg, San Fran- 

 cisco, New Orleans and Seattle. We 

 will leave the (|uestion of domestic 

 markets here and proceed to take up 

 in some detail the foreign markets. 

 The writer realizes that more than pro- 

 portionate emphasis is laid below on 

 foreign markets. However, the sub.ject 

 is most interesting to all fruitgrowers 

 and dealers, and is especially vital to 

 the growers of the Far West, and since 

 their grades of fruit are more in de- 

 mand abroad than the general grades 

 of Fastcrn fruit, the Western growers 

 will do well to follow up this matter 

 very vigorously. 



About 7 per cent of the United States 

 apple crop is marketed overseas each 

 year, and this fruit lends strongly to be 

 the best class of fruit and to be more 

 uniformly and safely packed. This 

 preference has favored the strictly 

 graded Northwest boxed apple, but 

 the handicap of the transcontinental 

 freight rate to the Atlantic seaboard 

 for European shipment has hugely otf- 

 sel this. F'oreign markets seem to pre- 

 fer the boxed fruit, but barreled apples 

 are generally delivered, i)er bushel, 

 cheaper (barrel e(|uals three bushels). 

 In England, always the chief foreign 

 market for apples, there has been built 

 up by many \ears of custom the liking 

 for barreled a|)ples of certain varieties, 

 notably the Baldwin; this is a distinct 

 advantage to Eastern barreled fruit. 

 There are many dilliculties attendant 

 on foreign shipments of apples, as 

 there are in any foreign trade, and de- 



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BRANCHES: 

 New York 



Chicago 



GOULDS 



RELIABLES 



Fruit Burdened ]5rancbes 

 are not injured if you have tlie 

 proper e(iuipineut. An illus- 

 tration on page (> sliows how 

 this is (lone. 



velopment of foreign markets must pro- 

 ceed very slowly, since transportation, 

 refrigeration, storage, and most impor- 

 tant, traile relation facilities, can only 

 be built up in time. Our Yankee 

 methods run into many stundjling 

 blocks as soon as we get away from 

 our own shores, and conservatism is 

 the only successful practice when deal- 

 ers over the seas are to handle our 

 output. 



The markets outside of the L'nited 

 States are briefly considered country 

 by country below. (Much of the text 

 and all of the tables not otherwise 

 specified on the subject of foreign mar- 

 kets here are from R. M. Rutledge, 

 "Better Fruit," Vol. IX, No. 1, anti from 

 S. S. Lamb's article based on consular 

 reports published in "Better Fruit" 

 May, 11)14.) 



Great Britain should be mentioned 

 first. This was our earliest and has 

 always been our largest market. Liver- 

 pool, Lf)ndon and Glasgow have always 

 taken most of our exports of apples. 

 England imports large quantities of 

 apples from the L'nited States and 

 Canada as well as from other coun- 

 tries. Their relative importance is 

 shown by the following approximate 

 percentages: 



Tabi.t-; XV. — English 

 Cjiimtyti 



United States 



Australia 



liclgiuni 



Canada 



France 



Piirtnsal 



All titlu-rs 



Mi'oRTS OF Apples. 



I'll I 



J4';, 



9'/r 



0.8'* 

 41';i 



l.ll'r 



2.(1% 



1 "r 



100'/;. 



:!,.3:!2,H1S 



1912 



43'7r 

 10Sl'/r 

 l.:i'/o 

 42.1'/r 



0.4';'o 



2 ' Y 

 ii.lir^r 



100',;. 



3,881,940 



'I'otal inipoi'ts in e\\ ts. 

 Distribution by the importing fruit 

 brokers is either by private sale or by 

 auction. When large cpiantities are to 

 be dealt with, the latter method is most 

 general, but where the supply is short, 

 private sales are frequently better. 

 Brokers prefer to be in a position to 

 adopt either method according to their 

 judgment of market conditions at the 

 time. The 1912-13 American exports to 

 Liverpool were 3.5% of total United 

 States export barreled apples and 22% 

 boxed apples: London li)% barreleil 

 and 38% boxed; Glasgow 18% barreled 

 and 7% boxed. Of the boxed apples 

 taken into Great Britain, Washington 

 supplies about ()()% and Oregon and 

 Galifornia each about 20%. Appendix 

 tables give exact export figures, etc. 

 England is a large but a very close 

 market for all fruits. There are some 

 strong variety preferences; the Elberfa 

 peach, for instance, is practicalh the 

 only peach marketed in London. The 

 writer has been tcdd b\- M. W. French, 

 apple exporter of New York City, that 

 at a fair i)rice the English market for 

 Baldwins was unlimited, but that the 

 market for any other variety went "all 

 to pieces" as soon as any above normal 

 shipments were made. The heavy ex- 

 pense of jjlacing apples on the Fngli.sh 

 market is rather discouraging; the 

 Panama Canal should materiallv aid 



and Present Status 



the Western grower. In 1912-13 best 

 (luality Yellow Newtowns brought .*1.22 

 to .$1.94 per half box; the red apples 

 •S1.09 to ftl.94; "choice" boxed apples 

 brought from .$2.18 to .$4.80 per box. 

 ,\ustialian Spitzenbergs, in the oppo- 

 site season, brought about $1.1').') per 

 forty-pound box. Newtown "l()4s" to 

 "144s" are the preference Western 

 apple. Gravensteins and Jonathans 

 have been mentioned as well liked 

 early apples: Spitzenberg, Staymen, 

 Winesap and Home Beauties as late 

 varieties, and Ben Davis and Blacks as 

 very late varieties from the West, 

 which are specially desired. Some 

 apples are raised in England, but the 

 climate is unfavorable; they are gen- 

 erally of a very poor quality, and as 

 competitors they are negligible. 



Germany imports large amounts of 

 ap])les, chieflv from the L'nited .States 

 and Australia. In 1912-13, .3(111.1111(1 boxes 

 and 23().(l()() barrels were handled at 

 Hamburg, the barrels coming from 

 Eastern States and Canaila, and the 

 boxes chielly from Washington and 

 (])regon. Hamburg is the distributing 

 center for all Germany. In 1912. what 

 were called low prices prevailed, with 

 three times the usual shipments of 

 apples, the prices per wholesale box 

 ranged from $l.(i6 to $2.14. 



Apples are the only L'nited States 

 fruit sold in France, and practically all 

 these come from the Northwest. After 

 a bad local season, there is a good mar- 

 ket for apples. They sell, retail, on 

 Paris fruit stands for from five to eight 

 cents apiece. The I'rench market de- 

 pends entirely upon the local produc- 

 tion of fruit and for this reason is so 

 unsteady from year to year that ship- 

 ping apples to France steadily is some- 

 thing of a speculation. 



Belgium's imports of apples are con- 

 siderable, through .\ntwerp by w-ay of 

 London and Southampton. The mar- 

 ket is controlled by London, and only 

 the best quality apples sell, local pro- 



Experienced Horticulturist 

 Wants a Position 



.SI years old; German by birth ; graduate 

 of horticulture in Germany. Years of ex- 

 perience in some of the finest orchards in 

 the Northwest. - C. R. VILLMANN, Hor- 

 ticulturist. Walla Walla, Wash. 



WANTFT) Posltlo" as Foreman 



'" -^■■•^~ ± A-i 1-^ or Manager of a fruit or 

 diversified ranch b.v a single man. :iO .vears 

 old. with ti years' experience in Wenatchee 

 \'alle.v. Am familiar with the care and 

 devek)ping of an orchard andean deliver 

 the goods. Atldress 8. Y., care of "Better 

 Fruit." 



Wanted 



Working foreman on 

 SO-ae re apple and stork 

 ranch. Must under- 

 stand pruning, spraying and packing, also 

 knowledge of general farming. House, 

 milk and garden furnished. State age, 

 experience and wages expected in first 

 letter. Address H. A., care "Better Fruit." 



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