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BETTER FRUIT 



An Illustrated Magazine Devoted to the Interests 



of Modern Fruit Growing and Marketing. 



Published Monthly 



by 



Better Fruit Publishing Company 



703 Oregonian Building 

 PORTLAND, OREGON 



Competition In Apples. 

 The announcement of the United 

 States Bureau of Markets that the 

 Northwest box apple industry has ex- 

 panded from a shipment of 3,722 cars 

 in 1916 to 8,378 cars in 1919 is most 

 encouraging to those who have fol- 

 lowed the business from year to year. 

 A very significant point in the market- 

 ing of last years' box apple crop also 

 is its much wider distribution. It is 

 shown that whereas a few years ago 

 New York and Chicago were looked 

 upon almost as the beginning and end 

 of the market for box apples, in 1919 

 large increases in the sales of box fruit 

 took place in 10 of the largest cities 

 in the United States while cities of 

 smaller population, in some instances 

 located in the heart of the barreled 

 apple districts sold large quantities of 

 the box article in direct competition 

 with barreled fruit. 



In fact the increase in box apples 

 sales over the period mentioned have 

 been so noticeable that the Bureau of 

 Markets in sizing up the situation says 

 that the consumption of barreled apples 

 seems to be decreasing, as 25,941 cars 

 were marketed in 1916 as compared 

 with 17,798 cars in 1919. While this 

 statement is cheering to the box apple 

 grower and handler we believe it ought 

 to be discounted a little on account of 

 the smaller barrel apple crop last year. 

 The main point, however, is that the 

 demand for box apples has grown won- 

 derfully and is very evidently due to 

 grow still more by concerted action in 

 making not only the excellence of the 

 fruit but the package itself known in 

 every section of the country. Many 

 persons will buy a box or a basket con- 

 taining a bushel of apples that will not 

 or cannot buy the cumbersome quantity 

 of a barrel. 



In this connection the statement of a 

 well known eastern horticultural writer 

 made several years ago is interesting. 

 In writing of box apple competition 

 with barreled apples he remarked: 

 "How about the competition of the fa- 

 mous orchard sections of the great 

 west, middle west and Pacific Coast. 

 For myself I have no fears of serious 

 competition from western fruit grow- 

 ers, enterprising as they are, when I 

 consider that it costs about $300 to 

 ship by freight a carload of apples 

 across the continent, whereas the fruit 

 growers of New York, Pennsylvania 

 and Massachusetts may ship a carload 

 of fruit to New York, Boston, or Phila- 

 delphia for from $25.00 to $40.00 per 

 car." 



And yet despite this handicap in the 

 way of freight charges the demand for 

 the box apple is growing and growers 

 in some of the districts in the states 

 mentioned in the foregoing paragraph 

 have adopled the box pack. With the 



BETTER FRUIT 



proper methods pursued there is no 

 reason why the entire output of North- 

 western apples cannot be disposed of 

 on a permanently profitable basis, no 

 matter what the competition may be 

 against them. 



The "Come Back" of the Prune. 



The question is frequently asked, 

 "has the prune industry come back to 

 stay?" Perhaps the best answer to this 

 query can be found in the recent state- 

 ment of the California Prune and Apri- 

 cot Growers' Association that on May 

 15th the association notified its brokers 

 that a limited quantity of the new crop 

 of prunes would be booked at the as- 

 sociation's prices. Within 24 hours the 

 association had received orders for so 

 many carloads of prunes that it had to 

 withdraw its offer fearing that it would 

 not be able to fill them. 



This is interesting news to prune 

 growers generally and particularly to 

 prune growers of the Northwest as no 

 phase of fruit growing has had so many 

 ups and downs in this region as prune 

 growing. When the prune growing in- 

 dustry sprang into prominence in the 

 Northwest the demand was strong and 

 prices were good, due to the limited 

 supply. Profitable prices caused the 

 planting of many prune orchards with 

 the result that the supply exceeded the 

 demand and prices fell. As a result 

 hundreds of acres of prunes were grub- 

 bed out and set to other fruits. Later 

 the demand for prunes was renewed 

 and has continued almost without in- 

 terruption since. During the last three 

 years prunes have been big money mak- 

 ers and indications are that they will 

 continue to be. 



In the early days of the industry 

 prunes, like other fruits, were marketed 

 by haphazard methods. Now they are 

 being sold on a business basis. Mar- 

 keting organizations that insure a wide 

 distribution and the advertising of the 

 product have taken hold of the game. 

 The product is being put up into at- 

 tractive packages of various weights 

 and prunes are taking their place in 

 every household along with the other 

 fruits. 



Therefore the prune has come back 

 and evidently come back to stay. 



July, 1920 



ing a movement to secure cars now 

 something should be accomplished 

 when they are most needed. A presen- 

 tation of the needs of each district to 

 the railroad companies far in advance 

 of the shipping season would at least 

 be a great help in allowing them time 

 to apportion the cars as equitably as 

 possible. 



What the Papers Interested In Fruit 

 Are Saying. 



Another sure way to increase production anil 

 speed the back-to-the-farm movement would 

 be to place the burden of taxation on idle 

 lands held by speculators and sportsmen in- 

 stead of upon cultivated lands and farm im- 

 provements; to equalize freight rates on farm 

 products; to open and develop new water- 

 shipping routes and to extend the Farm Loan 

 system so as to make it easier to borrow 

 money and own farms than it is now. — Fruit 

 Trade Journal. 



Getting Cars. 



Realizing that the car shortage will 

 not be adjusted without considerable 

 pressure and that the time to try and 

 avert it is several months before the 

 time to commence the heaviest ship- 

 ping of fruit the Yakima Traffic and 

 Credit Association representing Yakima 

 shippers and the Yakima Commercial 

 Club, representing the business inter- 

 ests of that section have entered on a 

 campaign to secure as many cars as this 

 district needs. To carry on this move- 

 ment and also to keep up the fight 

 against the proposed increase in 

 freight rates on apples amounting to 

 almost 24 per cent a fund of $15,000 

 has been raised. 



As other fruitgrowing districts are in 

 the same position as Yakima they 

 would do well to form a similar organ- 

 ization for a similar purpose. By start- 



Ye Editor in a grocery store in San Jose 

 bought a pound of prunes for just 30 cents 

 the other day. The weight was accurate, and 

 there were 53 prunes in the pound. They were 

 good prunes. They had not been processed, 

 and presumably were bought direct from some 

 grower. The association's opening selling price 

 for that size in bulk was a fraction over 13 

 and one-quarter cents. If he paid 15 cents he 

 is making 100 per cent as his gross profit. 

 He is getting more for handling that pound of 

 prunes than the average grower got for pro- 

 ducing and delivering its kind to the packing 

 house. — Sunsweet Standard. 



Believing that more complete pollenization 

 of apple blossoms would strengthen the set of 

 the fruit, W. B. Armstrong, L. J. Shadbolt and 

 a number of neighbors in the Lower Naches 

 this spring rented 150 stands of bees from an 

 apiarist and placed them at central points in 

 the orchards. Just before the calyx spray the 

 owner of the bees was notified, and removed 

 them. "I am not prepared to say," says Mr. 

 Armstrong, "that the result will increase our 

 crop by any definite percentage. But the in- 

 dications are that through the whole district, 

 the set of fruit is stronger, and the drop less, 

 than it has been in previous seasons. In fact 

 it looks as if we would get a real crop this 

 year. We think enough of the results so we 

 are planning to make a similar arrangement 

 next year." — Big Y Bulletin, Yakima. 



New York state fruit growers are unques- 

 tionably becoming interested in the matter of 

 auto truck trailers. Men who say they are 

 qualified to speak for the trailer industry, 

 make the positive statement that auto trucks 

 may have their capacity doubled by the use 

 of trailers with only the expense of 10 per 

 cent more gasoline and a lessening of the 

 ordinary speed by only 10 per cent, as well. 

 If these statements are correct, — and there is 

 no substantial reason for questioning them.— 

 then the fruit grower who has an auto truck 

 or is contemplating purchasing one for the 

 convenient and expeditious transportation of 

 his perishable products, might well give seri- 

 ous consideration to the additional investment 

 required for a trailer which will accomplish 

 so much at such little additional cost. — The 

 .Veil' York Slate Fruitgrower. 



Yakima Union Buys Graders 

 Mechanical apple graders will be used 

 in the Yakima Valley this year on a 

 wider scale than ever before. The 

 Yakima Horticultural Union, which 

 handles thousands of boxes of apples 

 has purchased four graders which will 

 be installed in its various warehouses 

 throughout the valley. Three of these 

 machines are Cutlers of the new im- 

 proved type, capable of handling a large 

 number of boxes per day and one of 

 them is a Price. The graders will be 

 distributed at the points in the valley 

 where the union is handling the great- 

 est tonnage and are expected t<> greatly 

 facilitate the work of packing oul the 

 crop which has heretofore been largelj 

 handled by belt graders. 



