226 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



September. !913 



An Essential Point in Good Marketing 



F. E. Ellis, B. S. A., Peterboro, Ont. 



IT was an interesting- group that gather- 

 ed together in front of the Norfolk 

 county exhibit at the last Horticul- 

 tural Fair in Toronto ; interesting because 

 it represented the two classes concerned, 

 the producers and the consumers. With re- 

 presentatives of these two classes whose 

 interests are so often considered antagon- 

 istic, with the fruit all around them, the 

 remarks exchanged are apt to be enlight- 

 ening. I joined the group. 



"Yes, we are getting marketing down to 

 a science in our county," the Norfolk man 

 was saying. "Practically all the growers 

 worth considering have joined our asso- 

 ciation and wn have put the old-time apple 

 buyer out of business. As we progress we 

 will probably go even further towards elim- 

 inating the "middleman : and that will be of 

 advantage to you as well as to me," he 

 added turning to the City Man who stood 

 at my right. "Cooperation is the whole 

 thing for both of us." 



The Norfolk man's enthusiasm when he 

 spoke on cooperation was contagious, but 

 the Citv Man still looked doubtful. "Don't 

 you think," he suggested, "that you are 

 putting cooperation on a pedestal that is a 

 trifle too high? I don't know much about 

 fruit, but I do know something about mar- 

 keting and I should say that the very first 

 essential for the consideration of the grow- 

 er is to produce and pack fruit that will be 

 most satisfactory to the consumer. If you 

 don't please the consumer then your coop- 

 eration will be all for nought." 



Finding that his audience was interested, 

 the Citv Man was encouraged to continue. 

 "I can' remember," he said, "when fruit 

 and apples were almost synonymous terms. 

 We had to buy apples or go without fruit. 

 You fruit growers have now more competi- 

 tion. Bananas can now be had at very 

 reasonable prices, thanks to the pedlar, at 

 any time of the year. Oranges too have 

 gotten down where they are within the 

 reach of everyone in moderately good cir- 

 cumstances. If apples are not put up to 

 suit us we have bananas and oranges to 

 fall back on." 



* "But aren't we putting the apples up to 

 suit vou?" interposed the Norfolk man. 



"No, you are not," was the immediate 

 retort. "I should judge from this show 

 that you have discovered the value of the 

 box pack for displaying your fruit at the 

 fair. You haven't got wise to its value 

 as a market package. You send your com- 

 missions abroad to study cooperation.^ I 

 have never heard of a commission coming 

 to Toronto to study the way people live. 

 Take myself for instance. I, my wife and 

 two children live in a flat of four rooms. 

 Our kitchen is not as big as the ordinary 

 farm pantry. Where could we store a bar- 

 rel of apples ? We can handle a box quite 

 nicely. We can stand it up on end and 

 use it for a seat if stuck for room. The 

 whole tendency of city life nowadays is 

 more and more towards the flat. I'll guar- 

 antee that while the majority of people in 

 my city can handle a box of apples nicely 

 there is not one in five that wants a barrel. 

 How do you pack your apples?" 



The Norfolk man admitted that the most 

 of them went into barrels. 



" When you get your cooperation down 

 so fine that you want to get right next the 

 consumer," remarked the City Man as he 

 turned away, "you will have to change to 

 the box." 



It was later in the day that I ran across 

 the Western Man. Here it was even more 



natural that we should talk fruit as it turn- 

 ed out that he was a large dealer in Sask- 

 atoon. Strangely enough in his first re- 

 mark he struck exactly the same chord as 

 the City Man had done. 



"Do you know," he said, "that the fruit 

 growers of British Columbia, Oregon and 

 Washington are ousting the Ontario pro- 

 ducer from the prairie markets just be- 

 cause they are not meeting the consumers' 

 demands. I am afraid that your Ontario 

 men don't study the consumer as much as 

 they should." 



The Western Man was full of his sub- 

 ject. When I asked him for his ideas on 

 packing and meeting the consumers' de- 

 mands generally he was right ready to 

 talk. 



"Ontario fruit men," said he, "would be 

 wise to adopt a standard box of about sixty 

 or seventy pounds for the apples and hard- 

 ier pears. For many reasons the box is 

 preferred. The barrels from my standpoint 

 as a dealer are altogether unsatisfactory. 

 They are too heavy for one person to 



handle and have to be rolled or dropp' d 

 to the place required. 



"Then take the consumer's side of i' 

 the Western Man continued. "Many peoj 

 prefer to buy two or three kinds of app. 

 or one or two boxes of apples anj} one box 

 of pears. Or they may be driving many 

 miles into the country with a buggy, : 

 which a box of pears or apples is all tl 

 can accommodate. Another and altogt 

 er too frequent reason why the box is p 

 ferred, is that many have only $2 or $2...;. 

 which they feel they can spare to buy 

 apples. All of these appeal to me as valirl 

 reasons why the producer should com; 

 with the requirements of the consumer.' 



The Western Man had much more lo 

 say. He talked of dishonest packing, of 

 unattractive packages and of the shipping _ 

 of poor varieties. But all of his talk came 

 back to the same point— the demands of 

 the consumer must be considered first. He- 

 had spent all of his business life dealing 

 directly with the consumer. He knew 

 what they wanted and realized even more 

 keenly than does the grower, that the most 

 essential point in marketing is to market 

 so as to please the man who must pay the 

 price for the product. 



Canadian Peaches on the British Market 



J. A. Ruddick, Dairy and Cold Storage Commissioner, Ottawa. 



There is a market for a considerable 

 quantity of peaches in Great Britain if they 

 are properly packed and shipped just in 

 the right condition under careful super- 

 vision. If that market were the only out- 

 let Ontario peach growers have in addition 

 to the local market it would probably be 

 developed to a considerable extent, but with 

 the Northwest market available, and con- 

 stantly expanding, the attention of the 

 .growers is naturally turned in that direc- 

 tion. I am of the opinion that the returns 

 on the whole from the West will be quite 

 as satisfactory as any from the Old Coun- 

 try. 



Mr. C. A. Dobson, who has been the 

 largest shipper of peaches to Great Britain, 

 is turning his attention to the northwest 

 trade, and Mr. Dobson has been as suc- 

 cessful in his shipments to the Old Country 

 as any one could hope to be. I have not 

 been able to learn any particulars of the 

 financial returns from Mr. Dobson's ship- 

 ments, but I presume they have been fairly 

 satisfactory, or he would not have contin- 

 ued to make shipments year after year. 



As far as the actual transportation of the 

 peaches is concerned we feel that we have 

 now pretty accurate information. 



To thoroughly test the market for Cana- 

 dian peaches in Great Britain, as describ- 

 ed in one of our bulletins, the department 

 made a few trial shipments in 1910 in or- 

 der to procure accurate data respecting the 

 proper degree of maturity ;'t picking time, 

 the best method of packing, proper tem- 

 peratures during transportation, etc., es- 

 pecially as the acreaB'e under peaches in 

 Ontario has been increasing rapidly in re- 

 cent years. 



It was decided to make shipments during 

 the weeks endinar September 17, 24 and 

 October 1, to London, Liverpool and Glas- 

 gow, and one shipment to Bristol on Sep- 

 tember 15. In all twelve hundred and 

 eighty-four cases were shipped. 



All the peaches were closely watched by 

 our cargo inspectors at Montreal. Care 

 was taken to see that the peaches were 

 promptly loaded in the steamers and that 

 proner care was exercised in hnndline' the 

 packa.gcs and in stowing them in the cham- 



bers. The cases were well dunnaged in thr 

 steamers (by dunnage is meant the placing 

 of strips of wood between the tiers of cases, 

 both horizontally and vertically, so as to 

 insure a good circulation of air) and ther- 

 mographs were placed in . each chamber. 

 .At London, Liverpool, Glas.gow and Bris- 

 tol our inspectors were also on the alert, 

 and remarkably quick deliveries were made. 



All the peaches shipped by the depart- 

 ment were disposed of by private sale, ex- 

 cepting the two Liverpool lots of fifty-one 

 and one hundred and two cases, which were 

 sold under the hammer. Cardiff made the 

 highest price, viz., 6s. 6d. ($1.58) per case 

 of 23 'Crawford' peaches, while the highest 

 average price received was $1.45 per case 

 for 72 cases 'Old Mixon,' sold in London. 

 At the same time 78 cases of 'Elbertas* 

 made an average of $1.39. In Cardiff 25 

 cases 'Crawfords' averaged $1.30 per case; 

 Manchester made $1.33 per case for 12 

 cases, and Leeds $1.^. On the other hand 

 198 cases 'Elbertas' sold in London for 94 

 cents per case, 24 cases sold in Birming- 

 ham for 83 cents per case, and 177 cases m 

 Glasgow for 85J4 cents per case. The 

 whole shipment of 1,284 cases sold at an av- 

 erage of $1.04 per case, while the charges 

 averaged as follows : — 



Freight from St. Catharines to Montreal, 

 four cents per case; ocean freight, 9.6 

 cents ; selling charges in Great Britain, in- 

 cluding commission, 9.7 cents ; total 

 charges, 23.3 cents per case, leaving an av- 

 erage net return f.o.b. cars St. Catharines 

 of 80.7 cents per case, or about 13;4 cents 

 a pound. From this must be deducted of 

 course the cost of the package, packing 

 material and extra labor. 



It is obvious that if any plan can be de-, i 

 vised whereby the chilling of fruit can be ; 

 accomplished in a few hours instead of 

 taking days, the fruit will carry much 

 farther and in a better condition. — J. A. 

 Ruddick, Dairy and Cold Storage Com- 

 missioner. 



The bulk of our apples are sold in green 

 grocerj- stores and every buyer knows what 

 a barrel contains. I should like to see a 

 standard barrel for Ontario. — Eben James. 



