IQI4 



BETTER FRUIT 



Page II 



profitable figure for all the raspberries 

 grown, and for that reason there is 

 little inducement for the grower to ex- 

 periment with other varieties. The 

 Cuthbert and Antwerp varieties are 

 commonly grown; the former is pre- 

 ferred. Growers probably receive ten 

 cents per pound or better from their 

 shipments to the market. Canners use 

 about 100 tons, but more would be used 

 if prices were nearer to those aecept- 

 table to growers in Oregon and Wash- 

 ington. 



Gooseberries are used in a limited 

 way for jams and jellies. If the large 

 English gooseberry, as grown in Ore- 

 gon, were i)roduceil here canners would 

 be interested and could afford to pay 

 a higher price. Formerly there was a 

 larger demand for the canned goose- 

 berry and canned currant, but there 

 was considerable spoilage, due to the 

 fact that growers were using di-y sul- 

 phur to prevent mildew and using it 

 after the fruit had formed. This sul- 

 phur attacks the steel of the tin i)late 

 and soon destroys the hermetic seal, 

 creating a swell. Because of the high 

 price currants are used commercially 

 for jelly, but to no great extent for can- 

 ning or for jams. 



Calimyrna and White Endish figs are 

 used to some extent, and if handled 

 carefully the small size would bring 

 from four to five cents per pound from 

 the canner and preserve manufacturer. 

 It seems didicult to have them packed 

 and delivered in proper condition. If 

 they are too green they are of little use, 

 and if at all overripe they cannot he 

 used for a high-class preserve or 

 canned article, but merely for a cheaper 

 grade of jam. Texas seems to be able 

 to grow a small white fig of good ((ual- 

 ity and this is canned to a considerable 

 extent. There would seem to be an op- 

 portunity for improvement hei'e. 



Damson plums are needed for pre- 

 serves, jams and jellies. They bring a 

 premium over the ordinary varieties 

 like Gages and Egg plums. There arc 

 very few grown at the present time. 

 Concord grapes are also needed for 

 jams and jellies. The want is partly 

 filled by the Isabella variety. .lam 

 makers can all'ord to pay a premium for 

 the Concord above the ordinary varie- 

 ties obtainable. Quinces, which were 

 for years a di-ug on the fall fruit mar- 

 ket, are now in better demand. Cral)- 

 apples are in short supply connnand- 

 ing a price of 4'i; to ,5 cents per pound. 

 Sour cherries are also used in a limited 

 way, but there is small encouragement 

 for the grower to plant them, as lie can 

 get better iirices for the table and ship- 

 I)ing varieties. Tlie canner is limited 

 in his price by Eastern competition. 



This is primaril\- a gathering of fruit- 

 growers and many would be uninter- 

 ested in any discussion of vegetaiiles 

 used in canning, but it is not too nuich 

 to say that if a variety of tender sugar 

 corn free from worms could be grown 

 it would lead to a tremendous growtli 

 in tlie canning industry, of importance 

 to land owneis, farmers, cannei's, deal- 

 ers and consumers. Various expei'i- 

 ments have been made, but the waste 



and expense arising from the w^orm 

 makes the canning unprofitable. There 

 is need of a smooth, firm, red, hardy, 

 thrift\- tomato. On account of the 

 irregular sliape of the variety now 

 largely grown there is great waste in 

 peeling. 



There are some questions of vital in- 

 terest to canners and growers alike 

 which 1 present from the canners" point 

 of view for your consideration. First 

 of all the reputation of California fruit 

 in Eastern markets. Most people there 

 say, "Oh, yes, your California fruit is 

 large and showy, but it has not the 

 flavor of our Eastern fruit." If you 

 pin them down you find very often that 

 they have been tempted by some showy 

 peaches which had been picked green, 

 before they were fit to eat, and rushed 

 onto the Eastern market. The con- 

 sumer does not stop to think that this 

 peach had to travel three tliousand 

 miles <n- more during a iieriod of a 

 week or ten days. He only knows that 

 it has not the fiavor like the Eastern 

 or Southern peach which may have 

 been picked only the day before he ate 

 it, and so this prejudice arises against 

 all California fruit, whether fresh or 

 canned or dried. I sometimes wonder 

 if the shippers of fresh peaches to the 

 Eastern markets really get satisfactory 

 returns and whether they couhl not be 

 led to see that they could make more 

 money out of pears or plums or other 

 fruits than from shipping varieties of 

 peaches. Under like conditions of 

 harvesting and consumption, I believe 

 we have as fine fiavoretl peaches, pears 

 and plums, yes, and apples too, as are 

 grown anywhere, but you can't make 

 the average Eastern buyer believe it. 



.\nother dilliculty with which the 

 canner has to contend and which lim- 

 its the output is the stui)id prejudice 

 which associates ptomaine jjoisoning 

 with canned foods. Whenever a per- 

 son has a cramp or a mysterious pain 

 in the stomach the average ill-informeil 

 person begins to inquire if any canned 

 foods have been eaten and if at any 

 time within two weeks preceding the 

 person may by any chance have had 

 canned food, this luckless article is 

 made the scapegoat for obvious indis- 

 cretions of the diet for chronic ail- 

 ments and disorders. Newspaper re- 

 Ijorters hail tlie news with delight, the 

 headliner does the rest. The sane ver- 

 dict of the intelligent doctor L'iving tlie 

 actual cause has no news value and no 

 Iiublicily. The facts are thai very little 

 is known of ptomaines by the most 

 skilled iihysicians, but they do know 

 Ihat they are pecidiar to animal jirod- 

 ucts and are practically never found in 

 fruits or vegetables. It is but conunou 

 obvious sense to say that canned foods 

 are a thousand times safer and freer 

 from contamination and infection than 

 the same foods handled fresh from (lie 

 ordinar\' market, and for the simple 

 reason that In processing or mamil'ac- 

 ture file canned goods are necessarily 

 sterilized and lierTiietically sealed. 



The extraordinary heallh standard 

 maintained by our troops in the I'hilip- 

 Iiines was made possible by the use of 



canned foods instead of the fresh fruits 

 and vegetables of the tropics. So says 

 Brigadier-General Sharpe, the head of 

 the Commissary Department of the 

 United Stales Army. Similar conditions 

 have prevailed with the construction of 

 the Panama (^anal. One of the eminent 

 physicians associated with ,lohn Hop- 

 kins University is quoted as saying that 

 in case of any widespread epidemic in 

 a city he would recommend the ex- 

 clusive use of canned foods as a matter 

 of safety, and the amazing fact is that 

 the concern in which 1 am interested 

 has distributed over one billion pack- 

 ages f)f California fruit and vegetable 

 products and there has never been one 

 single aulhenticated case of illness or 

 distress arising from the eating of these 

 products. This is important for you, 

 because if it were not for the unreason- 

 ing, ignorant prejudice of the average 

 consumer the output of the canners of 

 California would be doubled, and this 

 would be to the lasting advantage of 

 the grower. 



Another and very delicate (piestion I 

 wish to present is the matter of foreign 

 markets. Growers of prunes, a])ricots, 

 peaches and pears have long since ap- 

 preciated the need of developing for- 

 eign markets, and yet we find in many 

 countries there is a hostile import duty 

 or tarifi' set against these products in 

 the dried and calined form. We ship 

 approximately 24,(100,000 cans of apri- 

 cots, peaches and pears to England in a 

 normal year. Germany should be al- 

 most as good a market, but we ship to 

 Germany only about two per cent of 

 the quantity shipped to England, largely 

 because of the high prohibitive tariff 

 Germany has set against us. Similar 

 conditions exist in Canada, France, Bel- 

 gium, Holland, Scandinavia, Italy, .\us- 

 tiia, Hussia, .lapan, Xew Zealand and 

 Australia. It must be admitted that in 

 many of these countries the present 

 tariffs were levied against us in retalia- 

 tion for our tariffs upon their iiroducis, 

 and the pity of it is that in our recent 

 tariff law there was no adecpiate pro- 

 vision for maximum and minimum 

 rates so as to give our Department of 

 State the ojiportunity for negotiating 

 reciprocal reductions of tariIVs against 

 our products in exchange for the re- 

 ductions we have given them. The new 

 tariff law, with its many reductions, 

 has been in effect eight months; there 

 have been no reciprocal reductions in 

 any foreign country so far as Califor- 

 nia fruits are concerned, but there have 

 been some advances in the duty on our 

 Iiroducts. If wouhf seem lifting foi- 

 ffiose oC us who produce articles for 

 exi)orf — growers of oranges, lemons, 

 prunes, raisins, apricots, iieaches and 

 pears — to ask our representatives in 

 Congress why we cannot secure some 

 reci])rocal advantage in foreign mar- 

 kets for the reduclion in the tariffs in 

 this counfrN-. 



I'"inall,\', let me urge from the can- 

 ners' point of view the serious menace 

 to the entire fruit industry invidved 

 in the proposed eight-hour law. During 

 the last two sessions of the Legislature 

 canners have taken an active part in 



