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BETTER FRUIT 



Oregon Horticulturists in Annual Meeting 



FROM all parts of Oregon fruitgrow- 

 ers met during the early part of last 

 month to attend the 33d annual con- 

 vention of the. Oregon State Horticul- 

 tural Society. A number of valuable 

 papers were read before the conven- 

 tion, while features outside of the reg- 

 ular business transacted were a visit 

 to the plant of the Eugene Fruitgrow- 

 ers' Association and a banquet on the 

 concluding day of the session. 



The meeting was presided over by 

 J. O. Holt, president of the State Horti- 

 cultural Society. In referring to the 

 outlook for the fruit industry in the 

 state at the present time President Holt 

 said that fruit growing as a whole has 

 been profitable during the last two or 

 three years and that this season prices 

 opened up at a very high level. Like 

 those of other commodities, however, 

 prices have been obliged to come down 

 and this downward movement has 

 gained such headway that there seems 

 to be nothing to do but hold unsold 

 fruit until such time as there is a more 

 satisfactory market. 



A resolution of importance that was 



adopted was to the effect that the legis- 

 lative committee be instructed to for- 

 mulate grading and packing rules cover- 

 ing all fruil products after a conference 

 with representative commercial grow- 

 ers of the state. It is planned to have 

 the proposed law conform as closely as 

 possible to the measure now in force 

 in the state of Washington. 



Some of those who addressed the con- 

 vention were John McGee of Orenco 

 who spoke on two new varieties of 

 prunes that are attracting considerable 

 attention, Joseph Nibbler of Woodburn, 

 W. G. Allen of Medford, J. B. Pilking- 

 ton of Portland, A. A. Quarnberg of 

 Vancouver, Wash., C. I. Lewis and R. C. 

 Paulus of Salem, of the Oregon Growers' 

 Cooperative Association, C. A. Parks 

 and Henry E. Dosch of the Oregon 

 State Board of Horticulture. Interest- 

 ing features of the program also was 

 the recital of the history of the society 

 given by Homer C. Atwell, former pres- 

 ident of the society, and addresses given 

 by H. P. Barss, plant pathologist, and 

 W. S. Brown, chief in horticulture at 

 the Oregon Agricultural College. 



OLDEST APPLE TREE IN WASHINGTON. 

 Steps will be taken by the Washington Horticulture Association to preserve 

 the original apple trees in Washington. The oldest tree is believed to be a 

 seedling at Vancouver, Wash., planted in 1824. A question as to second honors 

 in respect to age has arisen between the "Frazier tree" at Walla Walla and one 

 at the mouth of the Alpowa River near Clarkston planted by missionaries SO 

 years ago and still bearing fruit. 



January, 1921 



Forest Grove was chosen as the next 

 place of meeting and the following 

 were elected as the officers of the so- 

 ciety for the coming year: Earl Pearcy 

 of Forest Grove, president; A. C. Brown- 

 ell of Portland, vice-president; C. A. 

 Minton of Portland, secretary and 

 treasurer, and Henry E. Dosch of Hills- 

 dale, trustee. The legislative committee 

 consists of R. C. Paulus, Salem; C. A. 

 Parks, Salem; Albert H. Marsh, Rose- 

 burg; Ira Hutchins, Corvallis; L. T. 

 Reynolds, Salem. 



Market for American Fruit 

 in China 



China has within her boundaries one- 

 quarter of the total population of the 

 world and the mass of her people are 

 fruit lovers. A certain amount of Amer- 

 ican fruit, both fresh and dried, has 

 already found its way into the Chinese 

 fruit stores, but the opportunities for 

 expansion are immense. Hitherto the 

 high-priced imported fruits have been 

 consumed by the wealthy class, but the 

 Bureau of Markets, United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture, points to the 

 significant fact that the wage-earning 

 ability of the Chinese is gradually in- 

 creasing. Market specialists conclude 

 that it will not be long before the mass 

 of the Chinese people will be ready to 

 buy foreign fruits. 



Japan is the sharpest competitor in 

 the Chinese fruit market but should 

 offer small resistance to a well-planned 

 campaign by American fruitgrowers. 

 The Japanese apples are far inferior 

 to the American product and do not 

 command the same prices. The Bureau 

 of Markets recommends that the fruit 

 dealer who seeks business in China use 

 the trade channels already established. 

 The Chinese are extremely conserva- 

 tive and do not welcome new systems 

 to replace the ones they have in use. 



One present drawback to foreign busi- 

 ness with perishable products is due to 

 the fact that the cold storage facilities 

 at the principal Chinese ports are in- 

 adequate. The Chinese have under- 

 stood the principles of cold storage and 

 have practiced its method for centuries, 

 but it has been only in recent years that 

 her foreign business has been of a na- 

 ture to demand large warehouses 

 equipped to hold merchandise from 

 other countries. It will be profitable 

 for the American end of the industry to 

 encourage the building of such ware- 

 houses where fruit can be held subject 

 to the demand of the merchants. 



The rate of duty on fruits is not suf- 

 ficiently high to interfere with the de- 

 velopment of the trade. For fresh and 

 dried fruits the rate is 5 per cent ad 

 valorem plus 5 per cent of the duty as 

 a port charge. A box of apples valued 

 at ?2.00 would pay a custom charge of 

 ten and one-half cents. 



Additional facts of value concerning 

 the opportunities presented to the Amer- 

 ican fruitgrower by this great undevel- 

 oped market can be found in Circular 

 146, United States Department of Agri- 

 culture. The circular gives an intimate 

 :mil extensive report on the condition, 

 customs, and possibilities of China as 

 a market for American fruit products. 



