ever, were very small. The practice of spreading shipments "thin" over 

 all of the markets in contrast to sending large volumes to a few markets 

 is probahly explained by the nature of California's apple production. 

 During the 1958 and 1959 seasons, California accounted for 50 percent 

 of all summer apples produced. Following the maximum profit motive 

 in this situation, shippers offered only small quantities for sale in many 

 markets in order that high prices might prevail. 



It is quite apparent that the principle direction of long hauls is from 

 West to East. This is because Washington is the primary surplus fresh 

 apple region. With the exception of shipments from the Washington 

 and California areas most other shipments are to nearby areas. 



Apple Storage 



The annual production of orchard fruit cannot at present be con- 

 trolled to any great extent by human forces.* Total apple production 

 in any given year can, therefore, be considered as predetermined. Once 

 the crop is produced, the apple industry has the choice of harvesting 

 all or any portion of it dependent upon such factors as harvest costs, 

 size and condition of total crop, production of competing fruits, and 

 storage facilities. After a given portion of the total crop is harvested, 

 decisions must be made concerning methods of marketing to be em- 

 ployed.^ These decisions concern the relative use of fresh or processed 

 outlets. Following these decisions, the individual grower (or the in- 

 dustry) is left with a certain quantity of apples to be sold through fresh- 

 use outlets. One additional major marketing decision is yet to be made. 



Cold Storage of Apples 



This concerns the alternatives of selling immediately or storing apples 

 for sale at a later date during the marketing season. What is usually 

 developed is a selling schedule involving heavy sales at harvest followed 

 by a rather stable movement out of cold storage tempered by short- 

 term price fluctuations. During the period 1957 to 1960 an average of 

 42 percent of the harvested commercial crop went into cold storage in 

 the fresh farm. Of the apples sold for fresh use, 64 percent had been 

 in cold storage before final sale at the retail level. 



Apples are stored at the farm and at the wholesale level, in both pri- 

 vate and public warehouses. "Public warehouses" are considered to be 

 those in which storage space is rented by the user; "private warehouses," 

 those owned by the user. In many cases, warehouses are considered to 

 be "semi-private," because the owner uses space and also rents space. 

 These three classes of warehouses appear at both the farm and the 

 wholesale level. There has Ijeen a recent trend away from public to 

 private warehouses caused by factors of both physical and economic 

 natures. On the physical side, it has been found that apples require 

 quite exact temperature and humidity conditions if high quality is to 



* Technological innovation is making some progress in this area through such devel- 

 opments as spray materials to control set and drop of fruit, irrigation, systemics, rain- 

 making, etc. 



s This compares with the statistic "commercial production having value" appearing 

 in various crop reports. 



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