Page 8 



BETTER FRUIT 



June 



The Cheviolet Model Four-Ninety Touring 



f'.ar of five-passenger type, stream line 



with deep cowl. A pojuilar eai- at a 



medium price. 



had not the government un(lertal<en a 

 new.spapcr campaign in paid .space in 

 which the goodnes.s of the Canadian 

 apple was advertised to Canaihans and 

 a recipe bool< telling new ways to serve 

 apples nflered. A series of twelve ad- 

 vertisements in sixty dailies and week- 

 lies brought in (50,0(10 intiiiiries for the 

 recipe book, and the resulting pur- 

 chases of apples by the public con- 

 sumed the entire surplus. 



There is no question l)Ul what apple 

 consumijtion can be increased by a 

 proper advertising campaign. To the 

 writer's way of thinking there certainly 

 is not. The great problem seems to be 

 to secure concerted action, and that 

 can only come following concert of 

 opinion. I have not space here to de- 

 scribe the inter-working of the local, 

 district and central bodies in the Cali- 

 fornia Fruit Growers' Exchange, but 

 there is nothing of importance in those 

 functions that is dependent on the 

 growers being geographically so close 

 together. The same form of organiza- 

 tion could be secured by the apple 

 growers of the Northwest, despite the 

 fact that they cover larger territory — 

 and an apple association could perform 

 all of the imi)ortant services iierformed 

 by the California Fruit Growers' Ex- 

 change and its branches. Those serv- 

 ices consist, broadly, in maintaining a 

 national sales organization, increasing 

 demand through advertising, furnish- 

 ing a daily market report to local asso- 

 ciations, pooling and standardizing out- 

 put, operating a supply company, a 

 traHlc department and attending tn 

 minor matters on a co-operative, and 

 therefore more economical, basis. The 

 traffic department alone, through oli- 

 taining reductions in freight rates <in 

 oranges and lemons, and in refrigera- 

 tion rates, saved the Exchange growers 

 in the period from 1904 to 1012 nearly 

 five million dollars. Representing so 

 many growers it is alile to drive a hard 

 bargain with the railroads. Again, esti- 

 mating in advance the season's produc- 

 tion has been done with great accuracy 

 by the Exchange, because it is able to 

 secure confidential reports from every 

 section of the orange-producing terri- 

 tory; and this is a great advantage in 

 that it enables gi'oweis to distribute 

 shipments evenly over the shipping sea- 

 son anil never allow supply to become 

 too heavy for demand. The operating 

 cost of the Exchange represents the 

 selling cost of the growers and is the 

 lowest known in the agricultural world, 

 being less than 3 ])er cent on gross sales. 



Now suppose that a new Northwest 

 Apple Growers' Exchange should be 



formed, or one of the old ones revived, 

 and instead of adopting a name under 

 which all the best-grade product should 

 be included some such mark as the fol- 

 lowing should be adopted to identify 

 fruit packed under the direction of the 

 Exchange: 



CIH^ 



Such a mark as this could be fea- 

 tured very nicely in dark-green outline 

 letters on a tissue-paper wrapper, the 

 apijles of the best grade could be pooled 

 accortling to varieties, well cleaned and 

 wrai)ped, the name of the variety ap- 

 pearing in red letters above the green 

 trade-mark, while the name of the local 

 association, if desired, could also appear 

 in red below the trade-mark. The 

 wrajipers could be given a small value 

 of their own by means of a premium 

 offer. This is important, as it necessi- 

 tates the retailer leaving the fruit 

 wrappetl, and only in that way can an 

 apple be identified to the consumer. It 

 also furnishes an extra inducement to 

 the consumer to specify the special 

 brand. Then the advertising slogan 

 might be something like this: "Insist 

 on chaXnge apples." It could be ex- 

 plained that this trade-mark indicates 

 the best grade of fruit of the different 

 varieties from the greatest apple-pro- 

 ducing countrx in the world, the 

 Northwest; and that all chaXnge 

 apples are packed by the Eden Ex- 

 change and guaranteed to be extra 

 quality. The various varieties packed 



by the Exchange could be listed, and 

 that these apples are cleaned in a sani- 

 tary way and wrap])ed so that they 

 will stay clean and unmarred could be 

 emphasized. The value of the wrap- 

 pers would of course be explained and 

 a recipe book offered. By featuring 

 prominently the name of the exchange, 

 whicli shoidd be sliort and easy to re- 

 member, the consumer could be made 

 to understand that the trade-mark 

 chaXnge does not mean a particular 

 variety of apple but is used on all 

 varieties packed by a certain exchange. 

 1 think tills would not be then so much 

 a brand name as a device to identify 

 the various products of a single pack- 

 ing organization. 



It seems certain that such a program, 

 with all of the minor details carefully 

 worked out, would result in a wider 

 consumption of apples and in a special 

 demand for the advertised brand. Of 

 course the little things count high in 

 the success of any co-operative plan, 

 and the importance of investigating the 

 methods of such organization as the 

 California Fruit Growers' Exchange 

 cannot be overestimated. Success would 

 not come in a day, but it is fortunate 

 that it would not, for when success 

 becomes pronounced imitation by com- 

 petitors begins. Where success re- 

 quires several years of preliminary 

 work the organization which is first 

 and gains that much of a start over its 

 competitors is very apt to retain its 

 lead and to increase it. Circumstances 

 can never rob the first organization of 

 its extra years of experience. 



The above picture shows the exhibit 

 of the Hydraulic Press Manufacturing 

 Company, Mt. Gilead, Ohio, at the 

 Panama Pacific International Exposi- 

 tion. The exhibit was a splendid tribute 

 to the enterprise of this well-known 

 firm, that had the distinction of win- 

 ning high honors at the Exposition. 

 This ilhistiation should be interesting 

 to apple growers, particularly at the 

 present time, for the reason this com- 

 pany manufactures a large number of 

 cider and vinegar pi-esses of all sizes, 

 made for the use of the small individual 

 grower or the large manufacluring 

 plant. "By-Products" is a subject that 

 every fruitgrower should be interested 

 in, and one that every fruitgrower 

 should investigate. It is becoming a 



well-known fact that fruitgrowers in 

 the East have preserved the waste for 

 many years, and it is now admitted 

 that fruitgrowers of the Northwest 

 must do so to assist in making their 

 business a profitable one. There are 

 many grades and varieties of apples 

 that will not justify shipping east or to 

 other consuming jioinls on account of 

 the freight. They should be saved in- 

 stead of being allowed to rot. It is to 

 be hojied that this wonderful exhibit 

 will indicale to the fruitgrowers of the 

 Northwest how extensive the business 

 of cidei' and vinegar making is carried 

 on in the East and induce them to save 

 the fruit they cannot ship, instead of 

 feeding it to the hogs or allowing it to 

 lot on the ground. 



