BETTER FRUIT 



STATE ASSOCIATE EDITORS 



OREGON — C. I. Lewis. Horticulturist. Corvallla. 



WASHINGTON — Dr. A- L. Melander. Entomologist: 

 O. M. Morris. HortlcuIturlBt; W. S. Thoniber. Horticul- 

 turist. Pulluian. _ . „ . ^ . 



COLORADO — C. P. Gillette, Director and Entomologist: 

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

 Engineering. State Agricultural College. Fort ColUns. 



ARIZONA — E. P. Taj'lor. Hortlculturtst. Tucson. 



WISCONSIN — Dr. B. D. Ball, Director and Eutomologlflt. 

 Madison. _ „ 



MONTANA — 0. B. Whipple. Horticulturist. Bozeman. 



CALtFORNIA— C. W. Woodworth. Entomologist. Berke- 

 ley; W. H. Volck. Entomologist. WatsonvUle: Leon D. 

 Batchelor. Horticulturist. Riverside. 



INDIANA— H. S. Jackson, Pathologist, Lafayette. 



An lUustiated Magazine Devoted to the Interests 



of Modern, Progressive Fruit Growing 



and Marketing. 



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Entered as second-class matter April 22, 1918, 



at the Postofflce at Portland, Oregon, under 



the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879. 



VOLriNIE XIII 



Portland, Oregon, October 1, 1918 



Number 4 



Apple Standardization Work in California 



By Geo. P. Weldon, Chief Deputy Commissioner of Horticulture, Sacramento 



WITHOUT doubt the apple is the 

 most cosmopolitan of all our 

 fruits, being adapted to the 

 various climatic conditions throughout 

 the Union. Practically every state 

 boasts of some section where this fruit 

 reaches its prime. The Bureau of Crop 

 Estimates of the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, in reporting upon 

 the commercial apple crop of the 

 Union, lists 41 out of the 48 states as 

 having a suflicient amount of this fruit 

 to be considered commercially pro- 

 ducing states. The backbone of the 

 industry has been in the East, as the 

 production of New York, Pennsylvania, 

 Virginia, Ohio and the New England 

 States has far exceeded any other other 

 section of the country. Of recent years 

 the Northwestern and Rocky Mountain 

 States have seen a tremendous increase 

 in acreage and production, until at the 

 present time they rank a close second 

 to the Eastern apple belt mentioned. 

 Statistics of the Bureau of Crop Esti- 

 mates published July 10, 1918, show that 

 the commercial apple crop of the 

 United States for the year 1917 was 

 67,257,000 boxes. Of this amount the 

 States of Arizona, Montana, New Mex- 

 ico, Utah, Colorado, Oregon, Idaho, 

 California and Washington produced 

 25,689,000 boxes, or 38 per cent of the 

 total apple crop of the United States. 

 In this list of states Washington is by 

 far the heaviest producer with a crop 

 in 1917 amounting to 13,860,000 boxes. 

 Its rank among the various apple-pro- 

 ducing states of the Union is now sec- 

 ond, New York only exceeding Wash- 

 intgon production. These figures are 

 not only of great interest but are also 

 of such magnitude that we cannot help 

 but pause to think of the possibility of 

 the apple industry developing to a 

 point where there is danger of its be- 

 coming unprofitable. It is estimated 

 that the crop for 1918 will be some- 

 what larger than that of 1917, or, to 

 quote the exact figures of the Bureau 

 of Crop Estimates, there will be 77,- 

 133,000 boxes produced this year. 



With no other fruit is there the same 

 chance of overproduction as with the 

 apple. Fortunately from a market 

 standpoint there is a great variation in 

 the size of the crop from season to 

 season and during seasons of light pro- 



duction prices are very apt to be satis- 

 factory. On the other hand, during sea- 

 sons when the crop is generally good 

 prices are not apt to be good. There- 

 fore during seasons of a light crop the 

 marketing question solves itself, but 

 during seasons of a heavy crop some- 

 thing must be done in order that the 

 producer of apples may receive suffi- 

 cient returns to pay the expenses of 

 harvesting. Everyone recognizes the 

 fact that it pays to put up a good pack. 

 Good fruit practically every season 

 sells for good prices, while poor fruit 

 may be a drug on the market. Another 

 fact is recognized by everyone who is 

 familiar with the fruit industry and 

 that is that large quantities of inferior 

 fruit in any market have a tendency to 

 lower the prices of good fruit, and even 

 during seasons of a light crop the mar- 

 keting of the inferior grade may not be 

 profitable. We have in California a 

 large market in San Francisco. For 

 years it has been considered one of the 



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poorest markets with respect to the 

 quality of fruit that is handled therein 

 that may be found anywhere in the 

 country. The reason for this is that 

 California fruit growers have long 

 since recognized the fact that it does 

 not pay to ship the inferior grades of 

 fruit into the Iiastern market. Conse- 

 quently they have used San Francisco 

 as a dumping ground for all of their 

 wormy, scabby and otherwise trashy 

 fruit. This condition is so bad that it 

 has been claimed by many who are in 

 close touch with fruit marketing prob- 

 lems that San Francisco will not buy 

 good fruit. An investigation will re- 

 veal the fact that it is not because she 

 does not want good fruit, but because 

 in the past it has been almost impos- 

 sible for her to get it. At the present 

 time a serious attempt is being made 

 under our present fruit standardiza- 

 tion law to improve the condition of 

 San Francisco's market and we are 

 pleased to report that in this already 

 we have been very successful. 



Standardization of the apple pack by 

 law began in California in 1915. After 

 operating under the act passed during 

 that year for two seasons it was found 

 to possess many weaknesses which 

 made it very diflicult to enforce. Con- 

 sequently in 1917 the legislature 

 amended the previous act, and as a 

 result we are now operating under a 

 law which we believe will prove very 

 satisfactory and of inestimable benefit 

 to the apple industry. The present act 

 requires that only three grades of 

 apples may be packed. These grades 

 are to be known as "California Fancy," 

 "B" grade and "C" grade. In the case 

 of apples packed in other states for 

 shipment to California exactly the 

 same grade requirements must be met. 

 However, instead of the first grade 

 being California Fancy the designation 

 would be "Fancy" in the case of apples 

 packed in other states. The California 

 Fancy grade consists of well grown, 

 properly matured specimens of one 

 variety, hand picked, with stems re- 

 tained, well colored for the variety, 

 uniform in size, well packed and free 

 from insect pests, diseases, etc. A vari- 

 ation from this standard is allowed, not 

 to exceed 10 per cent total defects in 

 one package, nor to exceed 3 per cent 



