168 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



July, 1916. 



Four acres of raspbeirries on the fruit farm of V. Bell & Sons, Burllng?ton, Ont. 



for his goods, establishes the price ait 

 which the goods must be sold by the 

 wholesaler to the retailer, and by the 

 retailer to the consumer, and never 

 fails to protect the interests of all dis- 

 tributors who handle their product. 



Now, this may sound like a "com- 

 bine," but it is not. It is a method 

 whereby the interests of the consumer, 

 the producer, and the distributor are 

 protected. The fixed price to the con- 

 sumer is based on the cost of produc- 

 tion ; the manufacturers and dis- 

 tributors are assured a fair margin of 

 profit, and the speculative or gambling 

 element has been removed. 



Although this method of control of 

 sale of staple products has been em- 

 ployed in a measure to market citrus 

 fruits, it would be a much more diffi- 

 cult matter to market the tender fruits 

 of Ontario in the same way. To fix 

 the price to the consumer would be 

 practically an impossibility. 



If, then, we must make use of the 

 already established trade channels for 

 the distribution of our fruit, what are 

 we as fruit growers doing to enlist the 

 lioarty, sympathetic co-operation of the 

 distributors? "What are we doing to 

 encourage the distributor to increase 

 liis sales of fruit? 



It is not encouraging to the dis- 

 tributor, who buys ci-ates of strawber- 

 )Jes, to find that the bottom rows con- 

 tain boxes which are only half filled 

 with green or over-ripe berries, or it 

 is necessary for him to use the con- 

 lents of six boxes in each crate to fill 

 the remaining eighteen boxes, in order 

 to make them saleable. 



It is not encouraging to the dis- 

 Iributor to find that fhe baskets of 

 peaches, tomatoes or apples he bQught 

 had but one good layer of fruit, and 

 that on the top. 



It is not encouraging to the dis- 

 tributor to find that what he purchased 



for Green Gages were immature green 

 Jiombards. 



It is not encouraging to the dis- 

 tributor or the consumer to find that 

 the baskets of grapes they bought 

 were immature and practically woitti- 

 less. Many such were marketed last 

 season. 



It is not encouraging to the dis- 

 tributor to find that the car of fruit 

 ^v'hich he purchased f.o.b. must compete 

 with one or more cars which the same 

 shipper from whom he bought con- 

 signed (without control) to his com- 

 petitor. 



It is not encouraging to the whole- 

 sale distributor to find, after he has 

 bought and received a car of fruit, that 

 the same shipper has sold to the retail 

 distributor in his own district. 



These are not rare occurrences, and 

 although the percentage of the whole 

 marketed in this way may not be very 

 great, nevertheless the quantity is suf- 

 ficient to stamp the business as unre- 

 liable. 



Has the distributor been exacting an 

 excessive toll from the tender fruit 

 grower? Our present unorganized 

 methods of marketing make it possible.. 



Has the tender fruit grower been con- 

 tributing to the cost of marketing some 

 manufacturer's staple product? If it 

 costs the distributor 17% to 19% to do 

 business, and if he is selling some staple 

 commodities at an advance of 10%, 

 the difference must be made up on 

 other commodities if the distributor is 

 going to continue business. Do not our 

 fruit-marketing methods make this 

 possible ? 



IIow can these difficulties be over- 

 come? I suppose that if "cooperation" 

 was not here mentioned, one would 

 think the writer had missed the mark, 

 but the term "cooperative" has been 

 used to describe so many different 



methods of operations tliat to-day it is 

 liatdly recognizable in its true .sense. 



We may call it cooperation, amal- 

 gjimation, joint stock company, a re- 

 ciprocal marketing organization, but 

 by whatever name it may be called it 

 means that fruit growers must be or- 

 ganized at least to the extent of ccn- 

 tializing and eontroUing the consigned 

 shipments of tender fruits. Just as 

 long as the shipper indiscriminately 

 consigns his fruit, just so long will wo 

 have "glutted" and "overstocked" 

 markets, with unsatisfactory returns. 



To some of the shippers, no doubt, 

 the problem of marketing tender fruit 

 has been solved, but they are a very 

 small percentage of the whole. To the 

 great majority, the marketing problem 

 is one in which they are very keenly 

 interested. To overcome the several 

 difficulties now attendant on our pre- 

 sent marketing methods would be an 

 individual impos.sibility ; the cost to the 

 individual grower or shipper would be 

 prohibitive and out of all proportion to 

 the value of his crop. When growers 

 and shippers more fully realize what it 

 means to control their product from 

 point of production to consumer 

 through the already established trade 

 channels, eliminating the unnecessary 

 middlemen, then our present methods 

 of indiscriminate consigning and mar- 

 keting will be done away with. 



Seasonable Reminders 



Trees which grow late in the sum- 

 mer and have not thoroughh- ripened 

 wood are very liable to be injured by 

 winter, particularly in parts of Canada 

 \\ here the season is relatively short. It 

 is important, therefore, to stop cultiva- 

 tion as early as possible without danger 

 of the fruit suffering from drought. 

 The time of stopping cultivation will 

 vary from the latter part of June in 

 j)laces having the shortest summers to 

 the middle of July where seasons ai-c 

 long. It is desirable for many reasons, 

 as soon as cultivation ceases, to sow 

 seed for a cover crop, and among the 

 best plants foi- this purpose are the 

 clovers aijd vetches, although rape, mil- 

 let, buckwheat, and other plants all 

 linve their value. 



Vegetables. 



As soon as the cutting season is over, 

 the asparagus bed should Veceive a good 

 lop dressing of barnyard manure. Do 

 not wait until autumn, a.'5 an application 

 then will not benefit the next year's 

 crop. Keep the celery plants well 

 covered with bordeaux mixture to pre- 

 vent the plants becoming diseased. Save 

 as- much of your own vegetable seed as 

 possible. Good seed may be scarce in 

 1917. 



