60 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



Floral Edition 



ment from that point. Packed in boxes, 

 Niagara's flne tomatoes would more than 

 hold their own in the markets of Montreal, 

 Toronto, and the West. He advocated the 

 use of boxes entirely and the packing of to- 

 matoes in central packing houses. 



For improving the efficiency of the com- 

 pany, a number of recommendations from 

 the old board of directors to the new board 

 were read by Chairman Cralse. These are 

 published In full on page 59. 



Some Resolutions 



That the company was forced to market 

 its fruit at a disadvantage, through lack of 

 cold-storage facilities, was emphasized In a 

 resolution designed to remedy this state of 

 affairs, if the Federal authorities saw fit 

 to carry it out, as follows: "That this 

 meeting of the Niagara Peninsula Growers, 

 I>imited, realizing the necessity of cold- 

 storage facilities In order to market our 

 fruit crop profitably, and to secure our 

 share of business^ on the export markets, 

 hereby petition the Federal Department of 

 Agriculture to amend the regulations re 

 granting assistance to cold-storage ware- 

 houses, in order that co-operative market- 

 ing companies may be eligible for such fin- 

 ancial assistance as is now available to 

 municipalities." 



Another resolution, heartily endorsed, ex- 

 pressed appreciation of the efforts and in- 

 terest of Hon. Manning Doherty, Minister 

 of Agriculture, in the association and 

 trusted that the minister would continue to 

 favor the association with no abatement in 

 such interest and work. The absence and 

 illness of Col. Roberts were sincerely regret- 

 ted, as already mentioned, in a resolution 

 adopted unanimously by standing vote. 

 Hon. Manning Doherty 

 Congratulations on the success of the 

 first year's business were tendered the mem- 

 bers in an encouraging talk by Hon. Man- 

 ning Doherty. Only by organization could 

 the stabilizing of markets be effected. The 

 Niagara Peninsula Growers, Ltd., had cut 

 its first teeth, he said and had made a 

 success of Its life already. The Minister 

 made special mention of the great services 

 rendered by Col. Roberts. Ontario needed 

 more men, he averred, who unselfishly 

 worked in the interests of the community. 

 Growers outside the association have 

 claimed in some cases that they secured as 

 high prices as those obtained through the 

 company. "What price would I have got if 

 there had been no association?" the Min- 

 ister advised such men to ask themselves. 

 That alone was the important question. 

 There have been criticism also of the man- 

 agement, he continued, but no organiza- 

 tion, so large and so full of promise, should 

 be expected to run smoothly the first year. 

 It may take three years, perhaps five, to 

 perfect the organization in all details. No 

 grower could afford to stay outside the asso- 

 ciation and every man inside should be 

 loyal. 



Referring to the discussion on salaries, 

 Hon. Mr. Doherty said that more co-opera- 

 tive associations had failed through under- 

 paid officials than overpaid. Men of calibre 

 were needed, he declared, and the company 

 should be prepared to pay them. "I look 

 for you to have a turnover of two or three 

 million dollars this coming season," he said 

 "I expect one million dollars in apple busi- 

 ness alone. To do that kind of business, you 

 must have wide-awake capable men." The 

 amount of salaries was of small concern. 

 The big matter was the net returns to the 

 growers. Regardless of the shortcomings 

 of the past year, of criticisms from outside 

 and of all other Initial obstacles, the mem- 

 bers should allow no one or nothing to In- 

 terfere with the working of the organiza- 



tion. "Be loyal!" the Minister advised, 

 "and after another year or two's experience 

 you'll be proud of the company and its 

 achievements." 



James E. Johnson, SImcoe, manager of 

 the Norfolk Fruit Growers' Association, also 

 spoke, and referred to the difficulties of co- 

 operative marketing. Words of advice were 

 offered which were much appreciated. 



Throughout the various addresses and 

 discussions special mention frequently was 

 made of the efforts of T. J. Mahony, Drys- 

 dale Carpenter and Elsdon Carpenter, the 



three prominent figures in the orgranlzatlon. 

 Their work was considered in a large mea- 

 sure responsible for the success of the year. 

 After the meeting, Mr. Mahony told The 

 Canadian Horticulturist that an announce- 

 ment respecting the handling of supplies 

 had been inadvertently overlooked. The 

 company was in a position to handle for Its 

 members orders for fertilizers, packages, 

 spraying materials, spray pumps, and other 

 ordinary necessities. J. W. Hewitson was 

 now in charge of the supply department. — 

 A. B. C. 



1st Annual Sales Report, N.P.G., Ltd. 



C. D. Carpenter, Sales Manager, Grimsby 



I WISH to present the first annual sales 

 report of the Niagara Peninsula Grow- 

 ers, Limited, for the season 1921. Our 

 fiscal year ended December 31. Figures for 

 sales to that date have already been given 

 out by our general manager, but total sales 

 to date, which include final sales of ap- 

 ples, amount to $1,501,156.48— a little more 

 than $1,000 over our objective set last 

 March 1, which was very creditable, taking 

 several things into consideration, such as 

 lack of public buying, unemployment, short 

 crop, short marketing period of fruit, two 

 or three weeks ahead of proper ripening 

 period, extreme hot weather during that 

 period and no advertising done to advise the 

 public, except through our weekly or semi- 

 weekly quotations and a little free adver- 

 tising in local papers, advising them that 

 the fruit was on and would be gone before 

 the householder had a chance to preserve 

 for winter use. Furthermore, it was also 

 the case that the householder In most cases 

 was still on her vacation — the reason of 

 the big demand and high prices paid for 

 late and inferior fruit. 



On Couunission and on Sales 



Next, I will give figures for the total busi- 

 ness on commission, including guarantees, 

 $236,995.13, or 15.78 per cent. With guar- 

 antees deducted as near as can be ascer- 

 tained, brings our total on commission down 

 to 10 and 11, per cent, in "money and our 

 total percentage of baskets on commission 

 to 14 to 15 per cent. The business done 

 in the larger centres, where we did both 

 wholesale and commission, was confined to 

 Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa, and, on ac- 

 count of unforeseen circumstances, some 

 fruit sold in Winnipeg on commission. Of 

 course, in other years shippers used almost 

 any town of importance for commission 

 shipments, which I have no hesitancy in 

 stating stopped the wholesaler or retailer 

 from buying, because he never knew what 

 was on the way for him and also was al- 

 ways willing to take a chance that he did 

 receive something on the morning express. 

 The figures for four cities are as follows: 



Montreal, $256,401.97, approximately 65 

 per cent, on sales; Toronto, $226,610.46, ap- 

 proximately, 45% per cent, on sales; Win- 

 nipeg, $143,553.04, approximately 98 per 

 cent, on sales; Ottawa. $44,735.41, approxi- 

 mately 70 per cent, on sales. 



Cars Shipped and Provincial Percentages 



The next figures I have to present are 

 the approximate total number of cars ship- 

 per last season, giving the chief varieties 

 with the balance grouped as miscellaneous: 

 Rhubarb 3, asparagus 9, cabbage 10, can- 

 teloupes, 54, cherries 49, apples 105, cur- 

 rants 10, cucumbers 8, eggplant 6, goose- 

 berries 3, grapes 336, Kittatlnnies 7, 

 strawberries 75, raspberries 40, toma- 

 toes 133, plums 74, peaches 564, pears 119, 

 peppers 11, miscellaneous 30; a total of 

 1636 cars. Dividing total number of cars 



into districts, the west or three prairie pro- 

 vinces handled 135 cars; Maritime, 51; Que- 

 bec and Ontario, 1,407; Great Britain 40, 

 and U. S. A., 3. I have also the figures of 

 the percentage of fruit business done In 

 each province, as follows: Alberta, .2; Sas- 

 katchewan, 1.3; Manitoba, 8.4; Ontario, 

 62.6; Quebec, 21.4; New Brunswick, 1.1.; 

 Nova Scotia, 1.8; P. E. I., .1; Great Britain, 

 2.8; V. S. A., .3 per cent. 



Conditions, Both East and West 



Regarding our western conditions this 

 year, to say the least, they were very bad, 

 owing to British Columbia's very hea\'y 

 crop and the superior way in which they 

 pack their fruit. In other seasons, with a 

 B. C. smaller crop, we have been able' to 

 compete to some extent, but the last season 

 hardly anything was shipped Into Alberta 

 and Saskatchewan, and then again it is the 

 first time in the history of Manitoba that 

 they were able to ripen their own tomatoes 

 in large quantities and sell them on the 

 Winnipeg market for Ic per lb.; in fact, 

 tomatoes were reshipped from Winnipeg to 

 outlying cities. In other years, Ontario al- 

 ways supplied Manitoba, principally with 

 a lot of late tomatoes and vegetables. The 

 lower provinces business was affected the 

 same way. Also by the express companies 

 stopping our distributing privileges and, in 

 both cases, the advance In Icing and freight, 

 and express charges, curtailed our shipping 

 to distant markets considerably. Our esti- 

 mates show on fruit shipped by the N. P. G. 

 this last season that It cost us over $50,000 

 this year more than last. 



Sales by Divisions 



Our sales by divisions are as accurate as 

 is possible to take off, as you are all aware 

 that there is considerable trucking from 

 one point to another and also fruit put in 

 cold-storage, which when shipped out gave 

 that point credit. These figures have been 

 carefully gone into and are as follows: 



Burlington $,185,631.55. 



Stoney Creek, $63,875.66. 



Winona and Fruitland, $173,830.91. 



Grimsby, $138,150.39. 



Grimsby East, $81,297.87. 



Beamsville, $114,139.32. 



Vineland, Jordan. $246,318.98. 



St. Catharines, $171,252.63. 



Peachland, $66,004.43. 



Fenwick and Fonthill, $25,261.28. 



Queenston, St, David's and Stamford, 

 $61,641.98. 



NIagara-on-the-Lake, $67,617.45. 



Next the figures deal with percentages of 

 fruit sold to wholesalers and retailers. The 

 total percentage of fruit sold to wholesalers 

 as near as can be figured is 44 per cent. 

 This includes jobbers No. .1 and jobbers No. 

 2; that is to say, a wholesaler in Toronto 

 we figure a jobber No. 1 and a wholesaler 

 in a town approximately the size of Lind- 

 say, a jobber No. 2. This figure includes 

 both. 



Next, the amount of peaches shipped out 



