Marketing Problem as a Whole — Present and Future Outlet 59 



orchard is also sold in the Valley, although considerable quantities were 

 shipped in small express lots of from 2 to 15 pounds to eastern mar- 

 kets in 1917. Many of those shipped out of the State, however, were 

 sold on orders placed in the Valley. The 191 7 crop was packed in ordi- 

 nary berry cups holding one pound each. After being hand picked, the 

 fruit was pasteurized for a short period and then packed in layers into 

 square berry cups which were lined with paper, topped with an at- 

 tractive, colored lithograph and tied with colored fiber ribbon. These 

 small baskets were then placed in crates holding from 2 to 15 pounds 

 and were ready for shipment. Practically all of the crop in 191 7 was 

 sold at a uniform price of 20 cents per pound packed at the orchard. 

 The dates retailed on the local markets in Phoenix, Tempe and Mesa 

 at from 30c to 35c per pound. No attempt was made by the manage- 

 ment of the orchard to secure higher prices, since this orchard is main- 

 tained for experimental purposes. The demand far exceeded the sup- 

 ply in 191 7 and the same condition has prevailed in previous years. 

 The date crop in the Valley is normally an excellent one. while the 

 market is always active. The only real limitation to the expansion of 

 this industry is the difficulty of securing a suitable number of off- 

 shoots of desirable varieties. It requires some care and experience to 

 get a young grove started, but having once become thoroughly estab- 

 lished the date palm is easy to care for. Should it be possible in the 

 future to import any real quantities of desirable offshoots from the 

 Orient, it is probable that there will be a decided expansion of date 

 growing in the Valley. 



In 191 7 about 475 acres were devoted to olives, while a number 

 of young groves have been set since the beginning of the season. The 

 olive does well in the Salt River Valley, but the production of this 

 commodity is relatively small. Practically all of the crop is sold locally 

 to pickling factories, which normally put up considerable quantities of 

 this product. Most of the crop is pickled in a ripe or semi-ripe con- 

 dition. 



THE MARKETINa PROBLEM AS A WHOLE 



Present and Future Outlets Agriculture in the Salt River 

 Valley has not been built around a national market and producers have 

 not learned to consider the distant market as a logical outlet for any 

 great quantity of their produce. In this respect this district is more or 

 less unique among the important irrigated districts in the far West. 



