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BETTER FRUIT 



HOOD RIVER, OREGON 



Official Organ of The Northwest Fruit Growers' Association 

 A Monthlj' lUustrateti Magazine Published in the 

 Interest of Modem Fniit Growing and Marketing 



All Communications Should Be Addressed and Remittances 

 Made Payable to 



Better Fruit Publishing Company 



E. H. SHEPARD. Editor and Publisher 



STATE ASSOCIATE EDITORS 



OREGON 



C. I. Lewis, Horticulturist Corvallis 



H. S. Jackson, Patholoeist Coryallis 



WASHINGTON 



Dr. A. L. Melander, Entomologist Pullman 



O M. Morris. Horticulturist Pullman 



W. S. Tliomber. Horticulturist Pullnian 



COLORADO 



C. P. Gillette. Director and Entomologist Fort Collins 



E. B. House, Chief of Department of Civil and Irrigation 



Engineering. State Agricultural College Fort Collins 



E. P. Taylor. Horticulturist Grand Junction 



IDAHO 



W. H. Wicks. Horticulturist SIoscow 



UTAH 



Dr. E. D. Ball. Director and Entomologist Logan 



MONTANA 



O. B. Whipple. Horticulturist Bozeman 



CALIFORNIA 



C W. Woodworth, Entomologist Berkeley 



W H. Volck, Entomologist Watsonville 



Leon D. Batchelor. Horticulturist Riverside 



BRITISH COLUMBIA 

 R. M. Winslow, Provincial Horticulturist Victoria 



SUBSCRIPTION PRICE: 



In the United States, $1.00 per year in advance 



Canada and foreign, including postage, $1.50 



AD\'ERTISING RATES ON APPLICATION 



Entered as second-class matter December 27. 1906. at tlie 



Postofflce at Hood River. Oregon, under Act 



of Congress of March 3. 1879. 



1916 Apple-Crop Estimates. — Every 



year there i.s agitation in the fruit 

 world in the Northwest. In the winter 

 of 1914 the agitation was all ahoiit the 

 low prices obtained by the mnrketing 

 concerns. The lOl.i crop has brought 

 the fruitgrowers good money, so they 

 have now turned their attention to the 

 lOlfi apple crop. Many of them are 

 busy in figuring what the crop may be. 

 Mr. Corbalay of Spokane, Washington, 

 sent out a number of letters to all the 

 principal districts of the Northwest for 

 the purpose of ascertaining the amount 

 of bearing acreage and estimates on 

 the yield for 1916. As a result of his 

 investigation he gives two sets of fig- 

 ures for the tonnage on the apple crop 

 in the year 1916 — one minimum and 

 the other maximum. Both were so 

 large that many fruitgrowers have 

 already been scared over the possible 

 crop of 1916. The editor says "pos- 

 sible" advisedly. For many years the 

 editor of "Better Fruit" has sent to the 

 most reliable and conservative peo])le 

 in the Northwest, beginning early in 

 the year, for the purpose of securing 

 estimates for the coming season: at 

 various times, beginning early in the 

 winter, again at blossoming time and 

 again after the fruit had set. The re- 

 sult of his observations are all worthy 

 of consideration in connection with 

 the estimates that are being given now 

 for the 1916 crop. One district at this 

 time of year has frequently reported 

 as high as 7,000 or 8,000 cars on a con- 

 servative basis, but actually only ship- 

 ping about .'5,000 cars. Another district 

 has estimated as high as 8,000 cars and 

 in the same year shipped less than .'i.OOO 

 cars. Another district has estimated 

 1,500 cars and not shipped over 200 

 cars. In 1912 one of the oldest selling 

 agencies of the Northwest stated during 



BETTER FRUIT 



the blooming time that the crop of 

 Hood River Valley would be 2,000 cars, 

 adding "if the fruit set well." The edi- 

 tor of "Better Fruit" estimated the crop 

 at about 1,200 cars, which was about 

 correct for that year. In fact nearly 

 every district in the Northwest has 

 annually estimated the crop early in 

 the season far in excess of the actual 

 yield. The editor of "Better Fruit" has 

 contended that no estimate should be 

 given out at this time of year, or at 

 blossom time. In fact estimates should 

 not be given out until after the June 

 drop is over. The editor has seen many 

 orchards ihat in blossom looked like 

 a snowbank that did not produce half 

 a crop. The editor has seen many 

 orchards with a splendid set of fruit 

 before the .lune drop produce only .50 

 per cent of a crop. These bumper 

 yields that everybody talks about have 

 onlv come twice in the last twenty 

 years— in the years 1896 and 1914. It 

 is impossible to estimate a crop of 

 apples with any degree of accuracy at 

 this time of year. In fact it is impos- 

 sible to estimate a crop with any degree 

 of correctness until after the June 

 drop. Even then it is impossible to 

 estimate the crop of commercial apples 

 that will be shipped, due to the fact 

 that heavy losses may occur after that 

 time from scab and from codling moth, 

 which occurred last year, damaging 30 

 per cent of the crop of the Northwest, 

 making it unfit for commercial pur- 

 poses. There is no reason why fruit- 

 growers of the Northwest should cross 

 a bridge before they get to it. There 

 is no reason why they should be scared 

 before they are hurt. On the other 

 hand, there is every reason why every 

 marketing organization should prepare 

 for handling a probable or possible 

 crop to the best of their ability in ad- 

 vance. The value of preparedness is 

 thoroughly illustrated more forcefully 

 by the war in Europe than by any 

 other thing that has ever happened in 

 the world. \ man today can no more 

 .guess the apple crop of the United 

 States, or of the Northwest, for 1916 

 than he can guess correctly when the 

 present war will end. At the begin- 

 ning of this war financiers of Wall 

 Street, who are the ablest of the 

 United Slates, closed the Stock Ex- 

 change on the ground that if it was 

 kept open that Europe would unload 

 United Stales securities on this country 

 so rapidlv Ihat it would shake all values 

 and drain the United States of gold. 

 When llie Stock Exchange opened, 

 values remained at par, and instead of 

 Euro])e draining the United Slates of 

 gold, gold has continued to pour in 

 from Europe, so that at the present 

 time the United States has more gold 

 than any other nation in the world. 

 If the financiers of Wall Street are 

 unable to predict any more correctly 

 than this it does not look wise to give 

 out estimates of so uncertain a thing 

 as the apple crop this time of year, 

 because we all know that when once 

 big estimates are given out these im- 

 pressions cannot be eradicated from 

 the trade, and we all know Ihat if the 



Febniarv 



impression exists that the crop will be 

 heavy that it is the most demoralizing 

 opinion that can exist in affecting 

 values. So the editor of "Better Fruit" 

 says go slow on giving out estimates 

 of the crop of the Northwest until the 

 apples are half grown and you know 

 what you will have instead of guessing 

 at it. No exception can be taken to 

 figuring on probabilities and preparing 

 ourselves to handle any possible crop 

 that may be harvested in 1916, but 

 mighty good .judgment should be used 

 about giving any figures on estimates 

 at Ibis time of year wide publicity. 



Selling Organizations. — The North- 

 west has been passing through a great 

 evolution in determining a marketing 

 system adequate to handle the crops 

 of the Northwest. After three years' 

 experience it appears that no single 

 organization has been able to control 

 over 50 per cent of the tonnage. In 

 nearly all of the different fruit dis- 

 tricts there has existed for a number 

 of years a number of selling concerns 

 which, apparently, have established 

 themselves so firmly that they have 

 continued to hold about the same per- 

 centage of tonnage during the last few 

 years as they held before any plan for 

 one general marketing organization 

 was undertaken. Inasmuch as the situ- 

 ation at the present time does not indi- 

 cate that any of these marketing con- 

 cerns will go out of existence, and for 

 the further reason sufiicient progress 

 has not been made to indicate that in 

 the near future any one marketing con- 

 cern will control the entire Northwest, 

 which is claimed by many would be 

 ideal, but we will not argue this point. 

 It seems that at the present time our 

 policy should be, first, to prevent any 

 increase in the number of marketing 

 concerns. There is already enough 

 competition. Second, we should sup- 

 port and maintain the present market- 

 ing organizations, particularly those 

 wiiich are giving the growers satisfac- 

 tion. Third, that every fruitgrower 

 should use his influence to persuade 

 all fruitgrowers to go into one of the 

 good existing marketing institutions, 

 strengthening them in every way pos- 

 sible. It is the universal opinion of 

 all men connected with existing mar- 

 keting concerns that prices have been 

 affected more seriously by irregular 

 shipments, lack of orderly control anil 

 independent consignments of individ- 

 uals who possess little or no knowl- 

 edge of the markets to which they 

 shipped, and in many cases who were 

 entirely unacquainted with the house 

 to whom Ihev consigned. 



"Influence of Supply on Prices" is 



the title of an arlicle by Mr. A. U. 

 Chancy, appearing elsewhere in this 

 edition, which should be read by not 

 only every man connected with the 

 marketing and selling of fruits in the 

 Norlliwest, but by every grower, for 

 the reason it contains much important 

 information and gives many valuable 

 suggestions. Mr. Chancy is one of the 

 big men engaged in marketing, having 



