Oct. 20, 1923 



TIm nfinoi* Agricultural 



Atsodaiion R< 



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Apple Marketing and Transportation 

 Are Big Problems of Ccdhoun County 



the levee at St. 

 lison said. 



Louis," Mr. AI- 



The party will visit the cider mill first, Farm Adviser J. H. 

 Allison announced, and there was a scramble to find jugs. 



The Calhoun County Farm Bureau had invited a little party 

 to tour the county and see the apple industry. In the party 

 there were Professors Lloyd and Brock of the University, Man- 

 ager Leeper and A. O. Eckert, of the Illinois Fruit Exchange, 

 Walton Peteet, Marketing Director of the American Farm Bu- 

 reau, and from the Illinois Agricultural Association, President 

 S. H. Thompson and Earl Smith, executive committee member 

 from the district. 



After ^he cider mill raid, the party drove for nine miles up and 

 down crooked, narrow roads from Hardin to Hamburg, and every 

 foot of the way within a stone's throw of heavy-laden apple or- 

 chards. 



A half million barrels of ap- 

 ples wlU go to market from Cal- 

 houn this season. That comes 

 close to being half of the apple 

 production of the state. When 

 the young orchards of the county 

 get Into bearing, that figure will 

 reach. th« million mark on good 

 productloA years. Mr. Allison 

 told the party. 



No Better QnaUt/ 

 On the question of quality all 

 of the horticulturists agreed 

 there Is nb better to be found 

 any place than in Calhoun. No, 

 not even in the far northwest. 

 Growers opened up barrels to 

 show the quality when we vis- 

 ited packing crews and some Of 

 ~ them took out a stave to prove, 

 that the middle of the barrel 

 was the same as the ends. There 

 was no question about quality. 



Mr. Eckert compared methods 

 with St. Clair county and dis- 

 covered that it takes about half 

 of the spraying In Calhoun that 

 it does in other southern Illinois 

 apple districts. Part of the rea- 

 son for that is because there 

 are no apple orchards full of 

 disease. Mr. Allison thinks. He 

 does not know of an orchard in 

 the county that is not sprayed. 



It' was about noon when the 

 party reached the top of the 

 ridge with a view of the Missis- 

 sippi in the valley. The old 

 gentleman on the ferry boat had 

 told US' there was a ridge from 

 one end of the county to the 

 other. At sdnie points the Illi- 

 nois river can be viewed on one 

 side and the Mississippi on the 

 other. In his description of the 

 county he said there was not a 

 railroad or negro in the county. 

 He might have added, not a 

 half-mile of road without a 

 crook. 



A Marketing Problem 



Down a winding road the 

 party drove, headed tor the river 

 town, Hamburg. Three teams 

 with sixty barrels of apples 

 pulled to a siding to let the 

 party pass. 



On the streets of Hamburg 

 there were six thousand barrels 

 of apples, stacked up in front of 

 business houses right out to the 

 wagon path. "I have apples here 

 on the streets that have been 

 here a week," said Banker 

 Spencer Waldron. Mr. Leeper 

 added that 24 hours In the sun 

 would ripen the fruit as much as 

 thirty days in the cooler. 



With all of the wonderful qual- 

 ity, color and enormous produc- 

 tion, Calhoun county has some 

 problems. Those 6,000 barrels 

 were waiting for boats. The big 

 boats can make only two trips 

 to St. Louis a week and there 

 are more apples than they can 

 carry. The party was told that 

 conditions are better this year 

 than last. "But it they don't 

 stack up here, they stack up on 



by farmers within that county 

 alone. "Marketing is one of 

 those problems," he said. "Trans- 

 portation is another and taxation 

 is a third." 



Mr. Peteet carried a gallon 

 jug of cider with him when the 

 party was loaded Into an auto, 

 ferried across the river and 

 taken to railroad towns. It is 

 said that the cork blew out of 

 the jug while he was in a res- 

 taurant in St. Louis that even- 

 ing. 



APPLES, APPLES EVERYWHERE 



HERE'S a scene at the pier on the Mississippi at Hamburg, Calhoun 

 county, showing hundreds of barrels of apples from that county 

 ready for shipmenr by boat to the St. Louis market. Hamburg is one 

 of the chief shipping points- for apples In Calhoun county. The 

 county has no raUroads> 



Dump On Market 



"The trouble is that we mar- 

 ket the whtfle crop in a very few 

 weeks," stated Mr. Allison in 

 telling about marketing methods. 

 "We dump them on the market. 

 Close to a hundred thousand 

 barrels are shipped out of the 

 county every week for six weeks. 

 Most all of them are consigned 

 to commission men in St. Louis. 

 Only a few are sold In the or- 

 chard or put in the cooler. The 

 buyers take advantage of our 

 dumping and they buy them at 

 their own price." 



The party hurried back to 

 Hardin for a meeting with the 

 executive committee of, the farm 

 bureau. On the way, Mr. Alli- 

 son told about the Farm Bureau 

 Federal Farm Loan Association 

 in the county, the Farm Bureau 

 Mutual Fire Insurance Company, 

 about pruning and spraying dem- 

 onstrations and the purchase of 

 spray material, and he wound up 

 by saying "The future work of 

 the farm bureau must be to im- 

 prove our marketing methods." 



Calhonn Sets Price 



The question was faced square- 

 ly at the farm bureau meeting. 

 Transportation and marketing 

 are the big problems of Calhoun 

 county farmers. Mr. Peteet talk- 

 ed about co-operative marketing 

 for a little while and he promised 

 to come back, and tell the whole 

 county about it. Manager Leeper 

 of the Fruit Exchange said it 

 was a purely selfish mission that 

 brought him there. "Calhoun 

 county apples set the price that 

 we sell on, and we are anxious 

 to see you tackle the marketing 

 problem," he said. 



President Thompson told the 

 Elxecutive Committee that the 

 Illinois Agricultural Association 

 was organized upon the principle 

 that there are problems in every 

 county that can not be solved 



Big Increase In 

 Use of Phosphate 

 Among Producers 



Phosphate shipments over Illi- 

 nois showed an increase of 75 

 per cent in September. 1923, over 

 September last year, according 

 to J. R. Bent, Director of the 

 I. A. A. Phosphate-Limestone De- 

 partment. Limestone shipments 

 show a big increase also. 



Mr. Bent attributes this in- 

 crease to better financial condi- 

 tions among farmers and to the 

 fact that many have learned the 

 value of the use of phosphate and 

 limestone through actual experi- 

 ence. 



A.F.B.F. Receipts 

 Show Illinois 

 At Head of List 



The Illlhois Agricultural Asso- 

 ciation led all other state farm bu- 

 reaus 1ft Amount paid in to the 

 treasury «f the American Farm 

 Bureau Federation from January 

 1 to Septetnber 1, 1923. 



The |. A. A. bad paid in |2S,- 

 562.40. Ipwa ranked second with 

 125,304.70, while Ohio was third 

 with $17,176.29. Illinois headed 

 the list In amount paid in for 1920 

 and 1922. and was third in 1921, 

 being surptissed by Iowa and Ohio. 



GROWERS NET GOOD 

 PRICES THROUGH 

 FRUjTJXCHANGE 



Quincy Organization Beats 



Offers of Local Deai^; 



Makes Market 



Illinois Broom 

 Com Growers In 

 Plan To Organize 



Broom torn growers in the dis- 

 trict of which Coles county is the 

 center hare appointed a commit- 

 tee of seven to formulate plans 

 toward the formation of a perma- 

 nent orgabization for the orderly 

 marketing of the crop raised in 

 that section. 



This is the outcome of a tem- 

 porary organization formed last 

 year for the growers to better 

 Inform themselves on market 

 condiiionS. acreage, and other fac- 

 tors affecting the price received 

 (or the broom corn crop. 



Some ^ery well attended meet- 

 ings hav# been held In Mattoon 

 by the Ifarmers interested, as 

 many as '400 to 600 being in at- 

 tendance., Frank Harry, Mattoon. 

 is chairmkn of the temporary or- 

 ganization, and H. Z. O'Halr, 

 Bushton, is secretary. 



Illinois^ Oklahoma, and Texas 

 are the leading states for the pro- 

 duction bf broom com in the 

 country. Oklahoma growers al- 

 ready have an organization and 

 are co-operatively marketing this 

 year's crop. 



STEERING COMMITTEE 



A mistake was made in naming 

 the American Farm Bureau Steer- 

 ing Committee in the October 6 

 issue of Ithe Record, the name of 

 President O. E. Bradfute as chair- 

 man, being omitted. Mr. Brad- 

 fute, together with Frank App, 

 New Jersey; W. H. Settle. Indiana, 

 J. T. OrB. Texas, and J. F. Burton, 

 Utah, constitute the committee 

 which will make plans for 1924 



Legislative Committee 

 Outlines Plans ofA.F.B.F. 



Members of the American Farm 

 Bureau Legislative Committee, 

 composed of O. E. Bradfute, presi- 

 dent; General E. H. Wood, Ken- 

 tucky; Frank App, New Jersey; 

 W. G. Jameson, Colorado; and 

 Edward B. Reid, assistant Wash- 

 ington representative, luncbed 

 with President Coolidge on Oc- 

 tober 4 and discussed in detail 



with him the farm bureau legis- 'ers warlt a merchant marine and 



lative program for the next ses- 

 sion of Congress. 



Eight Points 

 Here are the eight general 

 points of the program: 



1. Selective immigration as at 

 present, but that the passports 

 should be vised at ports of em- 

 barkation and that the quota 

 should be based upon the num- 

 bers of foreign born in this 

 country as reported in 1890 In- 

 stead of 1910. 



2. Opposition to price fixing 

 and such legislative panaceas, the 

 price fixing position to be further 

 established by referendum. 



Oppose Sales Tax 



has to be raised, the farm bu- 

 reau faTors an excess profit tax 

 and will' fight a general sales tax. 



4. Decision on the proposed 

 plan for consolidation of rail 

 roads is to be reserved until a 

 reterendlum is taken and further 

 studies made by Transportation 

 Department of A. F. B. F. 



5. While believing that farm- 



believe in co-operative effort be- 

 tween t|he government and ship- 

 ping intjerests in keeping our flag 

 on the I sea, the farm bureau is 

 opposed to a direct subsidy. 



6. Favor crop insurance and 

 want Federal Government to make 

 available such information as is 

 now being obtained upon which 

 reliable crop actuarial tables can 

 be formed. 



y^iit Tmth-in-Fabric 



7. Will fight for Truth-ln-Fab- 

 ric legislation. 



8. I'armerB favor Henry Ford's 

 Muscle , Shoals offer — the manu- 

 facture of cheap fertilizer and 

 amorillation of hydro-electric 



3. On taxation. If more money power. 



The Weste^ lUinola Fmtt Ex- 

 change, Quincy, a eubsidi4ry of 

 the Illinois Fruit Exchange, has 

 secured very good results in ship- 

 ping fruits and vegetables (or Its 

 members during the summer and 

 fall. It has viriiially "made" 

 a market for some product and 

 has beaten the prices ofj loeal 

 dealers In handling others. ' 



The Exchange handled 216 ears 

 or 12,810 bushels of potatoes, 

 receiving $12,780.81 In gr^ re- 

 ceipts or an average of 99 cents 

 per budhel. The net price t«- 

 turned to growers was 78 cents 

 per buskel, compared with Hi av- 

 erage «f between SO aAd 60 

 cents per bushel paid by{ local 

 dealers in Quincy ! 



During June and earlyi July, 

 the Exchange handled 2t cars 

 of ttrawtterries, two of cherries, 

 and several smaller shipments of 

 peas and beans. Sales of these 

 commodities toUUed 121.(97.46, 

 and 120,116.67 was returned to 

 growers. A net price of $2.10 

 per trate was paid te growlers for 

 8,320 crates of strawberries. Ac-, 

 cording to A. R. Waite, Manager 

 of the Exchatage, there wa* prac- 

 tically ao local market torjatraw- 

 berries. 



Sells OsblMCM 



The "co-ot" sold 28 ^ars of 

 crated and three cars o( bulk 

 cabbages for members. AiT av- 

 erage of $1.71 gross per orate or 

 tl.04 aet-to-grower was neceived 

 for the cabbage crop. ^t the 

 same time QuiMy dealens were 

 offering an average of ?( cents 

 per crate for cabbages. 



Tbeile was hardly iaf local 

 market for black raspt>er#les. ac- 

 cording to Mr. Waite, and the 

 Exchange shipped out setten cars 

 which^ returned $7,731. 8t net tb 

 groweik. 



"While we beat the prices of 

 local dealers in handling potatoes 

 and cabbages by a considerable 

 margin," states Mr. w4ite, "it 

 must be kept in mind thfct with- 

 out tbe Exchange, these 26 cars 

 of potatoes and 31 cars of cab- 

 bages would have been idumped 

 on the Quincy market abd local 

 markets for these pr«duc^ would 

 have keen much lower tl^an Omj 

 were." 



Tax Conference 

 Upholds Farm 

 Bureau Method 



On the question of ho» to find 

 real values of real estat^ for tax 

 purposes, the - unanimous sentl- 

 ment of tbe National Tai Conteii- 

 ence held at White Sulphur 

 Springs, West Virginia, was for 

 comparison of actual s^les val- 

 ues, John Watson of the! I. A. A. 

 states, upon his return from tbe 

 conference. i 



"Tbe conference disclosed the 

 ver>' method that the I. A. A. and 

 country farm bureaus i^seil this 

 year," says Mr. Watson: "and it 

 upheld that method. Ajny num- 

 ber ot states and even state eom- 

 missions are using this same 

 method. I only wjsh Ithat tbe 

 cotmty boards of review that ob- 

 jected to ottr plan, and the State 

 Tax Commission could b*ve heard 

 this diseussiod." 



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