Page 



14 



BETTER FRUIT 



HOOD RIVER, OREGON 



omcial Organ of The Nortliuest Kniit Growers' Association 

 A Monthly Illustrated Magazine Published in the 

 Interest of Modem Fruit Growing and Marketing 



All Communications Should Be Addressed and Remittances 

 Made Payable lo 



Better Fruit Publishing Company 



K. H. SHEPHERD. Editor aiui Publisher 



STATE ASSOCIATE EDITORS 



OREGON 



C. I. I-e\vis. Horticultiirtst Corvallis 



H. S. Jadison. Patliologist Corvallis 



WASHINGTON 



Dr. A. L. Melander, Enlomologist Pullman 



O. M. iMorris. Horticulturist Pullman 



W. S. Thoniber, Horticulturist Pullman 



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 Moscow 



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 



ADVERTISING RATES ON APPLICATION 



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



Postofflce at Hood River, (.Oregon, under Act 



of Congress of .March 3. 1S79. 



"Revolving the Consumer's Dollar 



Bnckwards." — A year ago in the May 

 edition of "Better I^^ruit" appeared an 

 article on this same subject by Mr. G. 

 Harold Powell, general manager of" the 

 California Fruit Cirower.s' Exchange. 

 Those who read the article last year 

 will be doubly interested in Mr. 

 Powell's contribution on this subject 

 this >ear, as his article which appears 

 elsewhere in this edition .shows the 

 dilference between the results in 1914 

 and 1915 for the orange growers of 

 California. AMiile it is not necessary 

 or the intention in this editorial to go 

 into this subject in detail, it seems im- 

 portant to call the attention of the 

 fruitgrowers to a few important facts 

 brought out by Mr. Powell in a com- 

 parative way on the 1914 and 1915 

 crops. In 1014 the orange grower re- 

 ceived §1.2896 per box for oranges on 

 the tree — 27"/io per cent of the con- 

 sumer's dollar. In 1915 he received 

 $2.1890 per box, which is 90 cents per 

 box more, or 40yi,i per cent of the con- 

 sumer's dollar, or 12';io per cent more 

 of the consumer's dollar; the harvest- 

 ing, packing and selling costs, freight 

 and refrigeration per box were the 

 same. It is important, however, to note 

 in connection with this statement that 

 on the increased price the percentage 

 of cost of the consumer's dollar is re- 

 duced for the year 1915. The jobber's 

 margin in 1914 was 42 cents; in 1915 

 it was 44 cents per box, however, 

 showing a reduction of nine-tenths of 

 one i)er cent in favor of the grower. 

 But perhaps more important than any 

 of the above transactions in handling 

 is the fact that the retailers' profit, 

 which "Better Fruit" and the editor 

 have for years claimed lo be too large, 

 was reduced from -$1.49 per box to 

 $1.35 per box, or 14 cents per box less. 

 In other words, the retailer received 

 32M(i per cent of the consumer's dollar 

 in 1914; in 1915 the retailer received 



BETTER FRUIT 



24-;i„ per cent. In other words, the 

 retailer made Hi per cent less profit, 

 which went to the profit of the fruit- 

 grower, whom we all know needed 

 it mighty badly. While it must be 

 taken into consideration that these 

 results are obtained in the orange in- 

 dustry, nevertheless they serve as a 

 valuable object lesson to the apple 

 grower, for the reason the orange 

 grower has been getting a much greater 

 per cent of the consumer's dollar for 

 his fruit on the tree than the apple 

 grower ever received, and on top of 

 this in 1914, under the able manage- 

 ment of Mr. Powell, in co-operation 

 with the dealers and retailers, through 

 whom the orange growers did business, 

 the grower's per cent of the consumer's 

 dollar last year was increased from 

 27'ifi per cent in 1914 to 40''i„ per cent 

 in 1915, which, in connection with the 

 increased price received by the orange 

 grower, gave the orange grower for the 

 year 1915 90 cents more per box for 

 oranges on the tree. 



Just what this would mean in the 

 apple business in a general way for the 

 Northwest is dithcult to say at the 

 present time, for the reason that no 

 average figures have ever been com- 

 piled showing definitely what the apple 

 grower got out of the consumer's dol- 

 lar, neither is the percentage for the 

 apple industry paid for harvesting, 

 packing, selling, refrigeration, jobbers' 

 and retailers' portion known in a defi- 

 nite way. Some work along this line 

 would be the most valuable kind of 

 work that could be done for the in- 

 dustry in the Northwest. There is no 

 question but what it would result in 

 some costs which are now exorbitant 

 being reduced, which would mean that 

 the fruitgrower would receive a greater 

 proportion of the consumer's dollar 

 than he has ever received in the past. 

 Without question it is a fact that the 

 apple grower does not get the same per- 

 centage of the consumer's dollar as the 

 orange grower. One apple grower who 

 put out a high-class product of high- 

 priced varieties received an average of 

 00 cents ])er box in 1914. If the apple 

 industry showed the same improvement 

 in 1915 in the way of prices that the 

 orange industry showed, the apple 

 grower would get 90 cents more per 

 box in 1915, or, in other words, he 

 would get $1.50 per box. If this apple 

 grower gets $1.25 per box he will prob- 

 ably consider himself fortunate. The 

 apple industry .should be able to secure 

 for the grower just as high a per cent 

 the consumer's dollar as the orange 

 industry. This is a great big problem 

 that is before the apple imhistrx of the 

 Northwest today. It is a problem that 

 everybody .should interest himself in 

 solving. It is a subject which every 

 fruitgrower, every salesman, every 

 banker and business man and everyone 

 connected with the industry should 

 study and endeavor to solve. It can be 

 done because the orange growers have 

 done it. It must be done before the 

 apple grower will get what he is en- 

 titled to. 



May 



Community Packing House. — The 



subject of community packing houses is 

 being discussed in many fruit districts 

 of the Northwest. Therefore it is 

 with considerable pleasure that "Better 

 Fruit" presents a timely article, which 

 appears elsewhere in this edition, by 

 Mr. S. V. Beckwith, manager of the 

 Rogue River Fruit and Produce Asso- 

 ciation, which contains some very in- 

 teresting and valuable information. The 

 grfiwers are fully impressed with the 

 necessity and importance of standardi- 

 zation, uniform grading and jjacking. 

 Associations and fruit operators lintl it 

 very difficult to get uniform grading 

 done when the packing is done in indi- 

 vidual packing houses by small grow- 

 ers. It is impossible to provide a sys- 

 tem of inspection and a force large 

 enough to keep continual watch over 

 several hundred small growers. The 

 community packing house is the logical 

 method for uniform grading and stand- 

 aid packing. In addition to this it is 

 a well-establi.shed fact that packing in 

 conniiunity packing houses can be done 

 at a much lower cost. Where the 

 grower has five, ten, or possibly fifteen 

 or twenty acres, it is dillicult for him to 

 provide himself with the necessary 

 e(|uipment, introduce elliciency meth- 

 ods and conveniences, which are neces- 

 sary to keep the cost down to a mini- 

 mum. If a grower has forty acres, 

 turning out twenty cars or more a year, 

 his business is large enough so he can 

 keep down the cost by introducing the 

 necessary system of efiiciency and in- 

 spection to put out a uniform pack and 

 standard grade, but where acreages are 

 much less the community packing 

 house seems to be the only solution for 

 the problem of more perfect stand- 

 ardization, which is without doubt an 

 absolute necessity for the future in 

 marketing the fruit crop to the best 

 advantage. 



Apples on Cold Storage. — According 



to the United States Department of 

 Agriculture bulletin issued April 7th, 

 the amount of box apples on cold 

 storage March 1, 1910, was 1,995,970; 

 Ajjril 1st, 1.287,452, showing a reduction 

 in March of about 700,000 boxes. With 

 the present number of boxes on hand 

 April 1st, it will take nearly two 

 months, April and May, to clean out 

 the ])resent holding. As everybody 

 knows, fresh vegetables and strawber- 

 ries from the Southern States come on 

 the market in April; it is therefore 

 evident that the amount of box apples 

 on storage the fii'st of April is too large. 

 It is also evident, after the 1915-10 ex- 

 lierience, that a movement should be 

 made to retluce the cold-storage hold- 

 ings earlier and more rapidly. In ref- 

 erence to the combined holdings of 

 barrels and boxes, expressed in barrels, 

 on cold storage March 1, 1910, was 

 3,248,019; April 1, 1910, 2,017,512, or a 

 reiluction of about one million. At the 

 rate of sales during the month of 

 March it would lake April and May to 

 clean up the holdings, which again 

 illustrates the fact that there are too 

 many apples on cold storage, of both 



