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THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



Floral Eddtioo. 



Better Net Returns for Local Associations' 



Dr. A. J. Grant, Manager Thedford Fruit Growers' Association 



THEIR'E are many ways in which the 

 memibers of iVuit growers' associa- 

 ■ilons can increase their net returns, 

 Such as by decreasing many of the expense 

 Items in coanection with the production 

 and haudl'iug of apples. Few mem'bers of 

 local associations reahy understand the sell- 

 ing siiaadards for apples, and yet the stand- 

 ards are the bame as those governing the 

 saie of aty other commodity, viz.: quality. 



Anybody can understand lliat a barrel or 

 box of No. 1 apples will sell for more than 

 the same quantity of No. 2 stock, or that 

 good Spya and Snows will &eU for more than 

 lieliefleure, but when it comes to the sale of 

 a car-load or several car-loads or perhaps 

 the entire pack of an associaiioa, then we 

 are liable to lose sight of the fact that it 

 Is the complexion of the entire lot of ap- 

 ples, from the standpoint of quality, which 

 governs the price. Uenerally speaking, the 

 greater the percentage of No. 1 red fruit, and 

 ithe fewer poor varieties, the greater the sell- 

 ing price per package. I know a man who in 

 the season of 1914, when low prices prevail- 

 ed, exported one car of very excellent Bald- 

 wins, making a net return of some $3.30 par 

 barrel. The price was noised about the dis- 

 trict and ucibody took the trouble to ask for 

 the details of the sale, so that much dissatis- 

 faction arose among the members of several 

 associations because they did not receive at 

 least $3.30 per barrel for their entire out- 

 put, including varying quantities of inferior 

 Tarieties as well as low percentages of No. 

 1 apples. This brings us to the first point 

 that I would like to drive home. If you ex- 

 pect your managers to get you in on the top 

 notch prices which you hear quoted from 

 time to time, give them the necessary per- 

 centage of good No. 1 red fruit and a first 

 class variety list. These are the elements 

 which make for high prices. The packs with 

 a low percentage of No. 1 and with perhaps 

 a lot of poor varieties, must accept lower 

 prices, under the same market conditions. 



Thorough pruning, intelligent cultivation 

 and persistent spraying are the things which 

 we must look to, if we v^ish to raise our per- 

 centage of No. 1 apples. The poor variety list 

 must be assisted by liberal grafting to good 

 commercial sorts. Many growers are afflict- 

 ed with inferior varieties in the orchard and 

 oftentimee none too freely blessed with 

 quick selling varieties, bet us graft those 

 kinds which are deprecaating the sale of our 

 pack and get at it quickly. When you im- 

 prove your variety list you will improve 

 your returns by no small margin. 



In our association we found it such a dif- 

 ficult thiing to get thorough pruning that we 

 have started out a pruning gang to make a 

 complete circuit of every orchard in the 

 organization. If the grower wishes, we pay 

 the pruning expenses and charge it up to 

 next season's apples. You can't talk good 

 prices for apples from unpruned trees. 

 Prune well first, then spray, as the season 

 demands it, at least three or four times, and 

 you have taken a big stride toward putting 

 more money in your pocket at the end of 

 the season. I cannot pass such a topic as 

 spraying without emphasizing thoroughness 

 and a sufficient number of applications. We 

 take It for granted that all apply the three 

 standard sprays, but there is a most critical 

 (period just after the apples are nicely form- 

 ed, and lasting several weeks. If the weath- 

 er at this time Is damp and cool then set 



•A paper read at the recent annual conven- 

 tion in Toronto of the Ontario Fruit Growers' 

 Association. 



busy with tlie spray pump, and you virill be 

 making money pretty fast. Drench your 

 trees with abundance of good chemicals and 

 save money by anUcipatmg your wants in 

 spray material and ordering in suUicient 

 quantity at the proper time to get in on the 

 best price. We can save some money by 

 using a cheaper and more easiUy packed con- 

 tainer for our lower grades. 



By producing good fruit which sells for 

 more money, you increase your returns in 

 another way. It costs less money to grade 

 and pack a good run of apples than It does 

 to handle a rpoor run. We sometimes hear 

 association members complaining about the 

 cost of packing; here is the very place to 

 lessen the cost by produoing better apples. 

 I have frequently noted. In our own packing 

 house, the remarkable difference between 

 the time required to go through a good run 

 of apples as compared to that required for 

 apples which were grading low with a lot of 

 culls. 



One of the best ways that I know of assur- 

 ing yourself a ready market for your pack, 

 at a good price, is to establisn standards for 

 your various grades, (getting well in advance 

 of the requirements of the fruit-marks aot) 

 and then guard these standards most zeal- 

 ously. One of the greatest shortcomings oi 

 the apple buUn-ess is summed up right hera 

 Most of us are too easily satisfied with the 

 ideal apple for a particular grade. We have 

 in mind siimply what will pass inspection, 

 and forget the really important thing — what 

 the consumer is going to think about it after 

 he has paid some real good money for the 

 barrel or ibox of apples. 



Why is it that we can walk down the 

 streets of Toronto and see such an abund- 

 ance of high class apples on sale which have 

 been brought in from the Western United 

 States, and far away British Columbia? You 

 will find the same conditions in other On- 

 tario cities. The quantity Imported is 

 steadily increasing because there is a de- 

 mand for a high class, reliable apple, pro- 

 perly packed, and we fruit growers will per- 

 sist in blinding ourselves to this big out- 

 standing fact. What usually happens any 

 line of business which refuses point-blank 

 to supply what people are demanding? The 

 business has difiiculties, and mighty serious 

 difl^culties, if a san^ line of policy is not 

 adopted. Our grading of apples, generally 

 speaking, is much too low and for this rea- 

 son the trade demanding high class stock 

 must seek its requirements elsewhere, there- 

 by losing for us the cream of the business 

 with the accompanying high prices. We have 

 some progressive individual growers and 

 some associations who have been packing 

 iiigh class grades and doing well in the in- 

 dustry. Why not every grower and associa- 

 tion emulate the example of these few, and 

 bend every effort toward producing first class 

 apples. Let every one of us broaden our 

 sphere of vision as to what is really a first 

 class No. 1 apple, and a first class No. 2 ap- 

 ple. 



We have associations in Ontario who can 

 always sell their pack at a good advance 

 over the common herd. Why? Simply be- 

 cause they have es-tabllshed a reputation 

 with the trade for a high class, uniform 

 pack. Let every association try to estab- 

 li?h standards of grading which will assure 

 them a good reputation with the trade and 

 whem you are fortunate enoueh to win this 

 reputation, guard it carefully as one of your 

 best assets. 



The famous Climax fruit box, which was so 

 thoroughly discu.ssed at the recent convention 

 of the Ontario Fruit Growers' Association is 

 here shown. It la cheaper than the standard 

 box and allows the buyer to see what he pur- 

 chases. As no standards for it have been set 

 by law, one of the objections raised to its use 

 is tliat this type of box will soon be made of 

 many different sizes and widtii and thickness 

 of slats, and thus result In confusion, as has 

 been the case to some extent in British Co- 

 lumbia, where it Is used extensively. It Is a 

 box that evidently has come to stay, and, there- 

 fore, should be standardized as soon as possible. 



One of the best ways to lose the reputa- 

 tion of a good pack is to become economical, 

 in the wrong direction, and employ some 

 cheap, unreliable labor; you save a few dol- 

 lars in the pay roll and lose many hundred, 

 as well as getting in wrong with the trade — 

 a loss which cannot be estimated in money. 

 There are two brands of economy, '"Business 

 Economy," or "Stopping Leaks" and "Fool- 

 ish Economy." Let me commend to you the 

 former as one of the key-stones of success 

 in the apple business or any other busdness, 

 but foolish economy is doing more right 

 now to hold back fruit growers' associations 

 than many other agencies combined. Com- 

 MenDug at your manager, who should have 

 a thorough knowledge of the business, down 

 tnrough the whole staff, you must have com- 

 petent men. The ideal combination is 

 "Brains," and "Energy," hard to get, but 

 when you get such a staff, pay them first 

 class wages and they will show results 

 everytime, if the growers will give them the 

 proper fruit to handle. They will bring 

 your brand of apples to the surface so that 

 you will be sure of a ready market at fair 

 prices, regardless ol overhead conditions. 

 There Is always a demand for the good 

 article. 



The market for apples is a very unstable 

 one and it is our business as growers, to do 

 ail possible toward writing the word "apples" 

 indelibly upon the want-list of every house- 

 wife. How are we going to do this? First 

 and foremost — give the consumer a run for 

 his money by supplying him with good, re- 

 liable, uniform fruit at a reasonable price; 

 pare your cost of production and overhead 

 expenses to the lowest possible limit, but 

 don't do it at the expense of quality or uni- 

 formity of grade. I would like to see every 

 association using central packing houses, as 

 It is then possible to get uniform grading. 

 Keep to your standards. The central pack- 

 ing method is cheaper than the orchard 

 pack, and it is easier to get one good capa- 

 ble foreman, Who will stick to his grades, 

 than it is to get several foremen to handle 

 orchard gangs. In the latter you cannot get 

 the same uniformity, as you have too many 

 individual opinions. 



Much can be accomplished along educa- 

 tional lines. Everybody Is now clamoring 

 for Northern Spy; we won't deny the fact 

 that it is the best general purpose apple 

 that we produce, in its season; but there 

 are other apples of merit which we are pro- 

 ducing in large quantities, the virtues of 

 which are largely unknown to the public. 



