2.3* 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



October, 191 2 



Packing the AppI* Crop in the Orchard of F. A. Fortter, Bowmanville, Ont. 



vesting and packing as he otherwise 

 would have been. This was the grower's 

 mistake, and now he, as well as the 

 trade generally, have discovered, to their 

 sorrow, that as a result of bad practices 

 the consumers of Canadian fruit have 

 been unfavorably impressed with it. In 

 consequence it may take some years to 

 live down the mistakes of the past. 



Within the last few years the trade 

 has undergone a great change in its 

 methods of marketing followed. The 

 numerous cooperative associations or- 

 ganized throughout the province has at 

 last set the grower thinking. Now he 

 knows that he is interested in the fruit 

 until it reaches the consumer, and that 

 the size of his cheque will be regulated 

 by the good or bad sales made. Natur- 

 ally, therefore, he is now interested not 

 only in the quality but also in the pro- 

 per packing and handling of the fruit. 



We come now to the fruit dealer. 

 Some few may say that the dealer or 

 middleman should be cut out. I agree 

 with the majority that there is room and 

 - always will be room for the reputable 

 dealer or middleman. With them we 

 have the two mediums through which 

 to market our fruit, namely cooperative 

 associations and reputed dealers. 



Have the dealers made mistakes? Just 

 have a talk with a dealer of twenty-five 

 years' experience and ask him. Perhaps 

 the greatest mistake made by dealers 

 has been the handling of too large quan- 

 tities of fruit. This involves the hiring 

 of a large number of operators and re- 

 sults in a large percentage of men or 

 boys being engaged who know little or 

 nothing about the work. As a conse- 

 quence, through lack of judgment, large 

 quantities of inferior fruit are placed 

 on the market, shipments are refused, 

 and contracts broken. It also involves 

 on the one hand the picking and mar- 



keting of immature fruit, in order to get 

 the work done, and on the other hand, 

 that which is equally as bad, the leaving 

 on the trees of large quantities of the 

 best fruit until caught by the wind 

 storms or frost. This always has been 

 no small cause of our marketing 

 troubles. 



One dealer informed me that he made 

 a mistake when he took an advance on 

 his shipments, which necessitated his 

 apples all going to a certain quarter 

 whether it was the best market for them 

 or not. Other dealers may have dis- 

 covered that they have made similar 

 mistakes, and it is just possible that 

 some of those who gave the advances 

 have made the same discovery. 



COOPEEATIVE ASSOCIATIONS 



Do cooperative associations make any 

 mistakes? They do. The principle of 

 cooperation is perfect. The practice 

 sometimes faulty. The kingpin on which 

 turns the success or failure of an asso- 

 ciation seems to be the manager. Ac- 

 cepting anyone as manager except a 

 first-class man is the greatest mistake 

 an association can make. 



Some of the associations made the 

 grave mistake the first year of their ex- 

 istence of not making their initial pack 

 such as to give their dealer good satis- 

 faction. As a result they had to look 

 for a new dealer the second year. Chang- 

 ing dealers each year is bad business. 

 It never has been known to give more 

 than ordinary results. 



It has been truthfully said that the 

 best advertisement is a "satisfied cus- 

 tomer." This surely is the key to suc- 

 cessful marketing, and should be the 

 aim of not only the association, but of 

 each of their individual members. 



At first thought we naturally conclude 

 that the higher the contract price receiv- 

 ed for our fruit the better. This has 



proved to Ijc a great inisiake. A man- 

 ager of an association may, by holding 

 at an exorbitant figure early in the sea- 

 son, secure a contract for his pack at 

 his figure. Later, however, when the 

 fruit is delivered, or being delivered, if 

 the dealer finds that he is being loaded 

 up with fruit of only ordinary quality 

 bought at fancy prices, while his com- 

 petitor across the street is putting him 

 out of business with fruit bought at a 

 reasonable price, then there is bound 

 to be trouble. If the fruit is at all de- 

 fective it is refused, or a rebate is de- 

 manded, or perhaps a lawsuit results. 

 I would much prefer a good- reasonable 

 "live and let live" price, with no re- 

 bates and no lawsuits. 



Perhaps the greatest problem yet un- 

 solved, and a requirement that should 

 engage the attention of the shippint; end 

 of the trade, is the pre-cooling of fruit 

 before shipment. It is required in order 

 that the consumer may get a larger per- 

 centage of our fruit at its best. 



There is another general practice in 

 marketing which all growers and ship- 

 pers should war against, and that is the 

 placing on the market of too large a 

 percentage of the lower grades of apples. 



With the higher ideals that now seem 

 to be established in the minds of the 

 growers and the packers, coupled with 

 the facilities that are being placed with- 

 in the reach of all concerned, we should 

 soon be able to eliminate our most 

 serious marketing troubles, and secure 

 for the Canadian fruit industry the high 

 place it is entitled to in the markets of 

 the world. . 



Orchard Cultivation 



T. G. Bunting, C. E. F., Ottawa 



Some of our growers are producing 

 better fruit at harvest time than others, 

 and it is noticeable that these more pro- 

 minently successful ones, when asked re- 

 garding what date they commence culti- 

 vation, invariably say that their aim is 

 to work their orchards as early in the 

 spring as possible, or when the soil is 

 dry enough to plow. They tell us that 

 to conserve moisture, a loose and fine 

 soil mulch must cover the orchard, that 

 it should be from two to four inches deep, 

 and that it must be put there before the 

 ground dries out. 



Plowing should be the first operation 

 practised during the spring on most soils, 

 perhaps on all, with the exception of 

 sand. Sufficient depth of mulch cannot 

 be gotten with the disc harrow or other 

 implement without plowing. 



Both sod mulching and clean cultiva- 

 tion as means of conserving moisture 

 have their exponents. The majority of 

 fruit growers prefer to adopt clean cul- 

 tivation instead of mulching the sod with 

 manure. By clean cultivation, not only 

 is the moisture in the soil held, but also 

 a great work is done in the way of the 

 destruction of many injurious insects. 



