Ontario Fruit Growers in Convention^ Discuss Problems 



ONTARIO fruit growers are in favor of 

 the suggestion made in the last issue 

 of The Canadian Horticulturist that 

 their chief product, the apple, should 

 be generally recognized throughout the 

 Dominion of Canada as the national 

 dish of its people. At the fifty-fifth 

 annual convention of the Ontario Fruit 

 Growers' Association, held in Toronto, 

 November 11th to 13th, President Robert 

 Thompson, of St. Catharines, brought the 

 matter before them in his anmual address, 

 when he pointed out that England had 

 roast beef, Scotland oatmeal, and Ireland 

 the ijotato. "We in Canada," said Mr. 

 Thompson, "might well take the apple as 

 our national dish, as in no other country 

 does the apple flourish as it does in Can- 

 ada." Later the Presidemt's suggestion 

 was embodied in the following resolution : 



"As the apple reaches the highest state 

 of perfection in Canada ; is both beautiful 

 to look uix)n and ver>- pleasing to the 

 taste ; is popular with both rich and poor ; 

 is one of the most health-giving and stim- 

 ulating articles of diet ; it is therefore the 

 opinion and wish of this Association that 

 the apple henceforth will be regarded as 

 the national dish of Canada." 



The resolution was adopted amidst ap- 

 plause. Who knows but that in later years 

 this may be regarded as the most impor- 

 tant act of the Fifty-fifth Annual Conven- 

 tion of the Ontario Fruit Growers' Asso- 

 ciation. 



The discussions at the convention showed 

 that all has not gone well with Ontario 

 fruit men this past season. Severe frosts 

 in the spring practically destroyed the 

 peach crop. A general money stringency 

 seriously interfered with the marketing of 

 earlier fruits, and war conditions have now 

 somewhat demoralized the apple market. 

 But the fruit growers are not discouraged. 

 They have adopted the national motto, 

 "Business as Usual." 



The past year has accentuated a situa- 

 tion that has beem developing for many 

 years — the difficulty of marketing the apple 

 crop with economy and efficiency. Growers 

 now realize that this rather than the pro- 

 duction of fruit is their most difficult pr.o^ 

 blem, and they have set themselves resol- 

 utely to solve it. Discussions of a business 

 nature took first place in practically aU 

 sessions of the convention. Fruit Commis- 

 sioner Johnson opened the discussion that 

 held an important place in the proceedings 

 of three days. 



GREATER PRODtTCTION AS8TTRED 



"If we don't find some way to increase 

 consumption," said Mr. Johnson, "we will 

 soon have over-production. We iave 

 25,000,000 fruit trees in Canada. In the 

 Annapolis Valley not 50 per cent, of their 

 trees are in bearing. New Brunswick is 

 also planting. Quebec is coming in once 

 more with Mcintosh and Fameuse. Two- 

 thirds of the orchards in British Columbia 

 are under five years of age, and the other 

 one-third are only beginning to bear." 



The Commissioner was not pessimistic. 

 He pointed to great possibilities of market 

 extension right in our own cities. One- 

 half of our urban population, he estimat- 

 ed, do not eat apples at all, and not one- 

 quarter of the amount that should be con- 

 sumed is now marketed. It was to bring 

 the merits of the apple before city con- 

 sumers that the Government conducted its 

 advertising campaign this fall. The re- 

 sults were gratifying. Mr. Johnson stated 

 that fully 30,000 inquiries had been received 

 at Ottawa as a result of the campaign. 



"More apples would be consumed were it 

 not for the price," was his comment. He 

 recommended the bulk car method of ship- 

 ment adopted extensively for the first time 

 this season. He contrasted the desirability 

 of two methods of handling these bulk ship- 

 ments by using as illustrations two cars 

 shipped to Ottawa this fall. In the first 

 instance the apples were purchased at 

 twenty-five cents a barrel, loaded on the 

 cars in bulk, carried one hundred and fifty 

 miles to Ottawa, and sold at one dollar to 

 hucksters. The dealer made forty cents 

 profit on the shipment. The hucksters 

 sold to consumers at two to three dollars 

 a barrel. Hence the economy of this me- 

 thod of handling fruit did not redound 

 largely to the benefit of the consumer. 



In another instance the City Council of 

 Ottawa interested themselves in the mar- 

 keting problem. They bought the apples 

 in Western Ontario, paying the truit 

 grower forty cents delivered at the car. 

 The bottom of the car was protected with 

 six inches of straw, the sides were padded, 

 and the apples piled in to a depth of three 

 feet. At Ottawa the apples were bagged 

 at a total cost of seven cents, and delivered 

 in the consumer's cellar at sixty-five cents 

 a barrel. A single notice in the paper was 

 sufficient to sell the whole car. 



"In this case," said Mr. Johnson, "the 

 producer got all he asked, and consumers 

 had their apples at less than one-half what 

 it usually cost them. Had more apples 

 been available at this price, twice as many 

 would have been used." There will always 

 be a demand for good barrelled and boxed 

 fruit. But for the marketing of inferior 

 goods even in the best of seasons, Mr. 

 Johnson recommended the bulk shipment. 



MARKETING PROBLEMS 



Prof. J. W. Crow, O.A.C, Guelph, car- 

 ried on the discussion. He drew a sharp 

 distinction between the responsibility of 

 the grower and the consumer. Retail mar- 

 keting by the producer he did not consider 

 either practicable or desirable. "When the 

 grower follows his apple to the wholesale 

 market," said Prof. Crow, "from then on 

 it is the consumer's problem." He attri- 

 buted high retail prices, not to the im- 

 mense profits that are being made by re- 

 tail dealers, but to the multiplicity of fruit 

 stands, each with a very small turnover. 

 He saw very little hope of giving the con- 

 sumer fruit as cheaply as he should have 

 it until municipal governments recognized 

 that fruit distribution was a subject for 

 Government regulation and did something 

 to curtail injurious competition among re- 

 tail dealers. 



The idea of growers advertising their 

 products more extensively appealed to Prof. 

 Crow. He believed that through season- 

 able advertising it would be possible to 

 educate consumers to call for the different 

 varieties in their season and not to limit 

 their demand, as many do, to Snows and 

 Spies. A more immediate duty of the 

 grower, however, is to place on the market 

 a product of higher uniform quality. No 

 one operation, he contended, would con- 

 tribute more to this end than thinning, and 

 he gave figures estimating increased re- 

 turns on one hundred barrels of fruit at 

 twenty-three dollars and forty-nine cents, all 

 as a result of thinning the fruit on the trees. 



Marketing from a cooperative standpoint 

 was dealt with by F. C. Hart of Toronto, 

 who enunciated some of the principles 

 which lead to success in cooperative deal- 

 ing, such as a sufficient supply of capital, 

 the establishment of a surplus fund for 



294 



permanent improvements and a real busi- 

 ness manager. He scored some associa- 

 tions severely for their laxity in keeping ac- 

 counts, and announced that his department 

 was prepared to audit the books of any 

 society that desired to take advantage of 

 his offer. 



Mr. G. E. Mcintosh, of Forest, the asso- 

 ciation's transportation expert, embodied 

 some of the general ideas laid down by Mr. 

 Hart in one concrete suggestion. He be- 

 lieved that Ontario fruit growers should be 

 organized, as are those of Nova Scotia, 

 British Columbia, and the citrus growers 

 of California. He suggested organizing 

 local societies into district societies, a dis- 

 trict covering one or more counties. The 

 districts in turn would be organized in a 

 central body, through which the main busi- 

 ness of all the fruit growers of the province 

 would be transacted. This, he believed, 

 was in harmony with the modem spirit of 

 centralized enterprise. . 



The "direct to the consumer" aspect of 

 the marketing problem was handled by Mr. 

 W. H. Bunting of St. Catharines, who told 

 of his success in building a "direct to the 

 consumer" trade through the medium of 

 newspaper advertising. This method of 

 marketing Mr. Bunting characterized as "a 

 remunerative side line." He emphasized 

 the fact that much of his fruit is still sold 

 to the commission man and reaches the 

 consumer through the medium of the re- 

 tail dealer. In his belief the greater por- 

 tion of Ontario's crop must continue to be 

 so marketed for a long time to come. To 

 fully round out the discussion on mar- 

 keting, a retail grocer of Toronto, Mr. L. 

 W. Clark, was given an opportunity of 

 presenting the retailer's case. Mr. Clark 

 apparently proved to the satisfaction of all 

 that retailers work on a narrow margin. He 

 took occasion to call attention to some of 

 the abuses of the trade, such as partially 

 filled berry boxes and the shipping of im- 

 mature fruit. In his experience he has 

 found that Canadian shippers were more 

 addicted to these forms of dishonesty than 

 were growers in the United States. 



THE TRANSPORTATION PROBLEM 



Unsatisfactory service by express com- 

 panies has long been a source of irritation 

 and of considerable loss to Ontario fruit 

 growers, and the subject was again up for 

 discussion at the convention. Member after 

 member told of losses that had been sus- 

 tained through rough handling, pilfering, 

 and delayed deliveries. Suggestions for 

 reform were embodied in a series of resolu- 

 tions, the most important of which called 

 for the extension of the powers of the Rail- 

 way Commission to cover the regulation of 

 all transportation agencies doing business 

 in Canada. They all asked for the pas- 

 sage of Bill 85, now under consideration at 

 Ottawa, the provisions of which have been 

 given in a previous issue of The Canadian 

 Horticulturist. 



Other resolutions bore directly on the 

 marketing problem. One expressed appre- 

 ciation of the enterprise of Sir Geo. E. 

 Foster in conducting the advertising cam- 

 paign this year, and asking that the cam- 

 paign be continued next year. Legislation 

 was asked allowing the use of a box the 

 same length and width as the standard 

 apple box, but only five inches in depth, 

 for use in the export trade. The conven- 

 tion again placed itself on record as favor- 

 ing such additions to the staff of fruit in- 

 spectors as will make possible inspection 

 of fruit upon shipment during the packing « 

 season, the inspectors to issue certificates W 



