THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. ]5 



THE NEED OF A STATE-WIDE DRIED APRICOT 

 GROWERS' ASSOCIATION. 



By Robert E. Harrington, Siml, Ventura County, Cal. 



With a very large aereaue of yoiiiifr apricot trees eomin.f? into bearing, 

 with tlie foreign market for dried apricots seriously injured by the war, 

 and with many apricot growers selling their product at less than the 

 cost of production, the future for the dried apricot grower looks very 

 unpromising, unless he is willing to co-operate with his fellow growers 

 in the organization of a state-wide dried apricot association. 



INCREASED ACREAGE. 



According to statistics furnished by the State Commission of Horti- 

 cultiu-e there Avere -t-ljSSS acres planted to apricots within the State in 

 1914. Of this number 10,195 acres are under bearing age, 6,859 acres 

 being in southern California alone. As there is no report of the non- 

 bearing acreage in Los Angeles County it is quite likely that consider- 

 able of the nonbearing acreage was not included in these figures. Plant- 

 ing was very heavy this year, and it is safe to estimate that there are 

 15,000 acres of nonbearing apricot orchards in the State at the present 

 time. 



FOREIGN MARKET. 



Europe used to take about three-fourths of the dried apricots pro- 

 duced in California, and Germany was the heaviest buyer. Even if the 

 Avar should end soon, it would be many years before Europe could take 

 many dried apricots, for they are costly to produce and necessarily sell 

 for a higher price than other food products, and the warring nations 

 will be very poor for a long time. 



COST OF PRODUCTION. 



What does it cost to produce a pound of dried apricots? R. L. Adams, 

 Professor of Agronomy at the University of C'aliforni.i, after careful 

 figuring makes the following statement in regard to the cost of produc- 

 tion of the various dried fruits : 



Growers should get the following prices for their crops, if 

 they are to cover all items entering into a businesslike manage- 

 ment of their affairs : 



Usual crop of Good crop of 



5 ton per acre 1 ton per acre 



Apricot _ 12* cents 7i cents 



I'rune 2* cents 2 cents 



Pciich G^ cents 5 cents 



Pear Oi cents 5i cents 



Prom the above it will be seen that the cost of production is very high 

 when compared to that of other dried fruits. 



