OUTLOOK FOR BEEKEEPING 23 



Experience of Orange Growers 

 Back in 1895 the orange situation was much what the 

 honey situation is to-day. Though at that time our 

 national population was over 65,000,000, nearly two-thirds 

 of what it is today, the California citrus growers found it 

 difficult to sell at a fair profit an orange crop which was 

 one-ninth the size of the crop they sell at a good profit 

 to-day. These figures are absolutely authentic. The Cali- 

 fornia citrus production in 1895 was less than 5000 car- 

 loads whereas the normal crop to-day is 45,000 carloads. 

 The orange crop has increased 900 per cent., while the 

 population has increased 50 per cent, and this indicates 

 what is an actual fact, namely, that the people of the 

 United States eat to-day seven or eight times as many 

 oranges in a year as they did in 1895. What has changed 

 their habits, in this regard.^ Xothing more nor less than 

 advertising. 



In 1895 they not only sold fewer oranges per capita, 

 but they received a smaller profit per box. 



In 1895 orange growers were every year afraid of 

 over-production. 



About that time the California Fruit Growlers' 

 Exchange was formed, because the growers realized that 

 something w^ould have to be done to develop a future for 

 their business. To say that it began working miracles right 

 from the start would hardly be an exaggeration. It 

 studied the science of selling, and soon had the marketing 

 end of the industry on a business basis. It began put- 

 ting agents in the various market centres, and when a car- 



