208 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



September, 1911 



■: • jvfmSLA^ ' 



Picking Rh ode Island Greenings, Beaver Valley, Georgian Bay Dist., Ont., Avsrage, six barrels a tree 



organization the average f.o.b. price net- 

 ted is two dollars fifteen cents a box. 



In this connection the question might 

 be asked whether Canadian growers are 

 not making a mistake in retaining the 

 barrel as the chief package. It would 

 seem that better prices can be obtained 

 for boxed apples. At present the supply 

 of boxed apples in the United States is 

 not equal to the demand, while the in- 

 quiry for barrelled apples has been 

 small. 



One of the first diflficulties met with 

 in all cooperative societies is to find a 

 way of paying each member a fair price 

 for^ all fruit sold through the organi- 

 zation. All growers do not produce the 

 same quality of fruit. Some are care- 

 less, some indifferent, while others are 

 not content unless they raise reaJly first- 

 class stuff. If all sales are pooled the 

 latter category of growers naturally 

 suffer and do not receive the extra re- 

 ward due to them. 



The only way out of this diflSculty is 

 to have all fruit graded or packed at 

 central receiving stations, and to pool 

 sales of each grade separately, crediting 

 each member with the number of pack- 

 ages of the particular grades delivered. 

 This is a fair way out of the diflficulty, 

 and one that is not difficult to put into 

 practise, as it merely entails the ser- 

 vices at the central station of a receiver 

 who is a good judge of fruit (in the case 

 where the fruit is put up by the grower) 

 and an efficient staff of packers for fruit 

 put up in central stations. 



In the case of berries of all kinds the 

 number of grades should be strictly 



limited to two : First-class berries and 

 poor berries. 



It is poor policy for any individual, 

 and much more so for a large organiza- 

 tion, to market poor quality stuff, and 

 all berries which are not first-class 

 should be sent to the canning factories. 

 It will be found that the factories are 

 prepared to contract with large coop- 

 erative societies at much better prices 

 than with individuals, the reason for 

 this being obvious : They can afford to 

 give a better price, as they do not have 

 to send round a lot of men touting for 

 small contracts among growers. In no 

 case should poor fruit be thrown on to 

 the market, as it merely breaks the 

 price and does not satisfy the consumer. 

 The general Canadian public is wealthy 

 enough and is prepared to pay a fair 

 price for good fruit, but it does not 

 require trash at any price. 



As regards cherries, there is no par- 

 ticular diflficulty in grading. They may 

 be classed conveniently as Number One 

 Sours, Sweets, and Number Two Sours, 

 Sweets. Samples of the same variety 

 will not be found to vary greatly from 

 one orchard to another in the same sea- 

 son, although there may be a good deal 

 of variation from one year to another. 



It is when we come to apples or 

 peaches that the real difficulties begin, 

 since in the case of these fruits the 

 differences ifl quality from one orchard 

 to another are tremendous. Hard and 

 fast rules as regards packing and grad- 

 ing must be made by each organization 

 according to the market in which it is 

 selling. 



In the organization of an apple union 

 the following are the chief points, as 

 emphasized by an expert from the Hood 

 River \'alley, which are essential for suc- 

 cess : The organization must be a large 

 and powerful one in command of a wide 

 acreage. This gives the society a large 

 quantity of apples for sale and enables 

 it to a certain extent to make its own 

 price. It is advisable to sell the whole 

 output to one man, or corporation. In 

 putting up the apples, the packer is the 

 judge and not the grower. Each packer 

 must be registered, given a number, and 

 made responsible for grade and pack. 

 In no case must the packers have any 

 interest in the orchards or in the sale of 

 fruit. 



In the Hood River Vallev the packers 

 are paid at the rate of thirty-five cents 

 an hour, with board ; or if they prefer 

 it, at the rate of seven cents a box. This 

 is a good wage, but a good class of labor 

 is required, as the work is of a respons- 

 ible nature. All members contract to sell 

 the whole output of their orchards 

 through the medium of the union, and 

 every year they come in and sign a paper 

 giving as close an estimate as possible, 

 of the expected return of each variety of 

 fruit. Tenders for the purchase of the 

 crop are invited on this estimate. 



Everv box of apples delivered by the 

 Hood River Apple Growers' Union is 

 guaranteed true to grade and all layers 

 uniform with the top. 



The foregoing simple principles, which 

 have been strictly carried out, have made 

 for the phenomenal success of the Hood 

 River Union: and all fruit selling or- 

 ganizations which have not been equally 

 successful should apply these principles 

 in the future. It does not matter whe- 

 ther the fruit is apples, peaches, or 

 otherwise. All fruit sold must be euar- 

 anteed true to grade and this cannot be 

 done except in the manner outlined. 



THT5 BEST METHODS 



Any well manaeed organization will 

 quickly discover which methods of grad- 

 ing and packing are the best suited to 

 its particular requirements. At the same 

 time it would be a step in advance^ for 

 the fruit industry if all organizations 

 could agree to a universal system of 

 packing and grading. 



There is one point on which Canadian 

 growers and dealers In fruit seem to 

 make a great mistake, and that Is in 

 over-estimating the value of large fruit. 

 A large apple or a large peach has no 

 better flavor than a medium-sized or 

 even a small specimen. Yet in Canadian 

 wholesale markets all peaches which do 

 not attain a certain size are put out of 

 the number one class. The same thing 

 applies to apples in the manner in which 

 they are packed by some of the Canadian 

 organizations. Better prices would be 

 obtained by the grower if less attention 

 was paid to size and more to quality. 



