THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 363 



have been satisfied with meager returns for poor fruit, that they will not be able to 

 sell under our present laws. Such orchards as these that will now be sprayed and 

 better cared for in general, will add a considerable amount to the sum total produc- 

 tion of marketable fruits, much of which would otherwise have rotted because of 

 disease and insect attack. 



In passing the standardization laws, one relating to the packiug of apples, the 

 other to the packing of deciduous fruits, exclusive of the apple, the recent legislature 

 took action which, it is believed, will result in far-reaching benefits to the fruit 

 industry of the state, an industry which has long suffered because of the poor 

 grade of fruits that have been placed in the markets for sale. Much of this fruit 

 has been green, diseased, insect-infested and of inferior quality in general. Such 

 fruit is not only of little value to the consumer who buys it, but frequently is unfit 

 for ci nsumptiou, and from a health standpoint should he condemned for use as food. 



The feeling has existed among a certain class of fruit growers that it should he 

 their privilege to sell anything that the public will buy. This narrowminded view 

 has been a boomerang in the business and has come back against the grower so that 

 he suffered through poor prices and a slow demand, even for high grade fruit that 

 ordinarily sells for a good price. 



BENEFIT TO CONSUMES. 



One of the principal arguments that has been advanced against standardization of 

 our fruit packs is that it will increase prices to such an extent that an undue hard- 

 ship will result to the class of consumers of very moderate means who can not afford 

 to pay for a good article. There are three good reasons why this argument will not 

 hold. First, the grades provided for in the standardization laws are such as to 

 permit the packing of practically all fruits that are fit for consumption ; secondly, 

 accurate grading is required so that the consumer, when buying a box of packed 

 fruit, is assured that deception has not been practiced in packing and the product 

 is uniform throughout the container; thirdly, it seldom pays to buy the very low 

 grade fruits, for the waste is often sufficient to justify the purchaser in paying one- 

 fourth or one-half more for a good product. This point may be well illustrated by 

 wormy apples. In the removal of all portions unfit for use of an apple infested with 

 the codling moth, it is not at all uncommon to cut away from one-fourth to one-half 

 of the edible portion. The elimination of wormy apples from the markets where 

 they are now sold in large quantities would thus protect the consumer against this 

 heavy loss. The same argument applies to misshapen, diseased or otherwise inferior 

 fruits, and when the fruit business of California reaches the point where the different 

 grades that are packed are uniform, free from insect pests, disease and injurious 

 imperfections, and are labeled so that the consumer can tell what grade he is buying, 

 his money will go further and he will have better fruit to eat. 



BENEFIT TO THE GROWKK. 



Widely-fluctuating markets have made the fruit business hazardous in the past, 

 and anything that will tend to stabilize the market and at the same time assure the 

 grower of enough more than the cost of production so that he can make a fair 

 profit on the money invested, will be beneficial. Standardization is expected to do 

 this, and already results that are altogether satisfactory and far-reaching have been 

 attained. Especially noticeable benefits have resulted to the shipping grape industry. 

 It was long the practice to ship grapes of the Malaga variety before they contained 

 enough sugar to make them palatable. Such grapes have sold on the Eastern 

 market early in the season, because of the scarcity of fruit at that time, and because 

 they were the first grapes in the market. Their inferiority has had a very bad 

 effect on the future market for grapes, and California growers have been the losers. 

 With the present fruit standardization law in effect, the grower can not ship until 

 his grapes reach a sugar content of 17 per cent, or 16 per cent in the case of 

 Emperors, Gros Coleman and Cornichons. This provision of the old law passed in 

 1915, and which is also embodied in the 1917 law, was found highly satisfactory, and 

 the testimony of the grape growers is to the effect that their business has been greatly 

 enhanced by standardization. What has been found helpful with grapes will be 

 helpful with all other fruits, and the standardization movement, now in its infancy, 

 will grow, until all California fruits will be of such quality and packed in such 

 manner that thev will alwavs be in demand in the markets everywhere. 



G. P. W. 



