19^5 



BETTER FRUIT 



Page 7 



of cold storage in the same for the 

 average season would be somewhere 

 from 5 to 10 cents per box, which 

 would mean a saving to the fruitgrower 

 of at least about 10 cents per box on 

 storage cost alone. 



In addition to this there are othei- 

 items of expense connected with East- 

 ern cold storage, such as reloading, 

 switching and inspection. Frequently 

 there is extra freight on back-hauls or 

 where apples do not go through direct 

 to destination points on in-transit rates. 

 These items will be a further reduction 

 in expense of several cents per box. 



Our crop comes on pretty quickly 

 and frequently, as this year, ripens 

 very rapidly. Without a sutTicient 

 amount of cold storage at home, par- 

 ticularly when there is a shortage of 

 cars, our fruit is held too long in com- 

 mon storage, and consequently be- 

 comes too ripe when it reaches desti- 

 nation and therefore, not being fit for 

 cold storage, it has to be sold on the 

 market, and if the market is glutted 

 our profits have to be sacrificed. But 

 do not misunderstand me. I do not 

 mean that we ever will or can expect 

 to build sufficient cold storage houses 

 to cold storage all of our crop. Neither 

 do we want to. We always have and 

 always will have to use a good quan- 

 tity of Eastern cold storage. This is 

 necessary because we must maintain in 

 future years a supply of apples in cold 

 storage near big consuming points in 

 order to be able to supply the trade 

 quickly as demand will require. 



In connection with home storage, 1 

 trust it will also be in place to make a 

 few remarks about packing houses and 

 community packing houses. I believe 

 that every fruitgrower who has 40 

 acres is justified in having a packing 

 house sufficient to care for his own 

 crop. Such a packing house should be 

 built so that it will be cool in the early 

 part of the season and prevent the 

 apples from ripening too fast; it also 

 should be built so that if we are de- 

 layed in packing it will afford ample 

 protection against the apples freezing 

 if exceedingly cold weather comes on 

 before our crop is packed completely. 

 I believe that growers who have less 

 than 40 acres can build community 

 packing houses to advantage. In this 

 way they can make arrangements for 

 handling their crop on a much smaller 

 investment and at a much less expense 

 than if they were compelled to build in- 

 dividual packing houses. 



Sixth — Greater Consumption 



The fruitgrower is just beginning to 

 realize that greater consumption is an 

 important feature in securing better 

 prices. Two samples of greater con- 

 sumption near at home are striking 

 illustrations. During the National Apple 

 Day celebration a campaign was waged 

 in the City of Poi-tland and in about 

 two weeks 80,000 boxes of apples 

 were consumed. In the City of 

 Seattle, which lias a population of about 

 300,000, a cami)aign was put on during 

 National Apple Day week and (id.OOO 

 boxes of apples were sold in one week. 

 The City of Seattle has 300,000 popula- 



Lighthoiise made of apples. Entered bv Cashmere Fruit Ciioweis' Union at the Seventh National 



Apple .Show, held November 16 to 21, 1911, in Spokane. This exhibit won second prize of $100 



among the feature displays entered by organizations. 



tion. The ijopuhition of the United 

 States is !)0,0(M),(1(I(I, and therefore it 

 is three hundred times greater than 

 Seattle. If apples were proijerly dis- 

 tributed all over the United States, 

 arrangements made to sell at a reason- 

 able retail price, with the right kind of 

 publicity and ailvcrtising, on the above 

 basis the I'nited States would consume 

 18,000,000 bushels of apples in one 

 week. I do not believe the croj) of 

 apples this year in the I'nited Stales 

 will exceed (and I think it will he much 

 less) l.')0,()(lll,(l(l(l bushels, or ,')I1.(MI(I,(I0() 

 barrels. At the above rate it would be 

 possible for the I'nited States to con- 



sume the entire crop of apples of the 

 year 1914 in eight weeks, or less than 

 two months. 



On this basis of figuring, it seems 

 evident to me that our systems of sell- 

 ing, distributing, publicity anil retail 

 prices are far from satisfactory and a 

 long way from perfection. 



Seventh — Exorbitant Retail Prices 



Exorbitant prices prevent consump- 

 tion. Moderate prices increase it. 

 livery one of you fruitgrowers know, 

 and it is a fact, that the retail prices 

 on apples in the past years have been 

 almost equivalent to extortion. The 



