The Canadian Horticultunst 



Vol. XXIX 



MAY, 1906 



No. 6 



Fruit Should be Consigned Direct to Retailers 



Now that' Canadian fruit growers 

 are beginning to cooperate, more 

 attention is being given to the 

 marketing end of the fruit industry than 

 ever before. The result is that growers 

 are finding that there is a host of middle- 

 men, both on this and on the other side 

 of the Atlantic, who have been absorb- 

 ing the greater part of the price paid for 

 the fruit by the consumers. The re- 

 turns that ultimately reach the growers 

 are, after all, astonishingly small when 

 compared with the price for which the 

 fruit is finally sold in Great Britain. 



Growers should receive cash for their 

 fruit before it leaves their hands. In- 

 vestigation shows that the most foolish 

 practice is the shipment of fruit to deal- 

 ers in Great Britain to be sold on com- 

 mission. While, probably, the great 

 majority of the dealers are honest, many 

 are not, and these men rob the growers 

 right and left. Cases of this kind have 

 come to light nearer home, at Winnipeg, 

 for instance, and even in Toronto, the 

 good. 



The various cooperative fruit growers' 

 associations in Ontario have had no 

 difficulty sclHng their fruit for cash f .o.b. 

 Most of them could have sold several 

 times the amount of apples they did 

 had they had them. ' ' One buyer offered 

 to purchase 50,000 barrels of apples from 

 us last year," said Mr. D. Johnson, of 

 the Forest Association, to The Horti- 

 culturist, recently, "and we could have 

 sold 100,000 barrels had we had them." 

 Remarks to the same effect have been 

 made to The Horticulturist by offi- 

 cers of most of the other cooperative 

 associations in the province. This shows 

 that when growers cooperate and are 

 able to offer fruit, properly graded, in 

 considerable quantities, they will be 

 able to sell it readily for cash and at 

 satisfactory prices. 



The cooperative associations should 

 now carry their work a step farther by 

 eliminating the middlemen in Great 

 Britain and selling direct to the retailers 

 or groups of retailers. Not only are 

 Canadian growers beginning to realize 

 the need for action in this direction, but 

 the British retailers are awaking to the 

 fact that they can increase their profits 

 greatly by dealing direct with the Can- 

 adian producers. Evidenc of this is 

 afforded by several letters that are in 



the possession of The Horticulturist 

 that were sent to Mr. A. E- Sherrington, 

 of Walkerton, the well-known manager 

 of the Walkerton Fruit Growers' Asso- 

 ciation, by leading retailers in different 

 cities in Great Britain. 



One of these letters, from a fruiterer 

 and florist in Liverpool, shows clearly 

 how the British retailers are waking up 

 and beginning to endeavor to order their 

 fruit direct from the Canadian growers. 

 This letter reads in part as follows: — 



"I think it would be much better if 

 the grower could send his apples direct 

 to the retail man, as I have sometimes 

 paid 12 to 60 cents a barrel profit to the 

 wholesale merchants in addition to the 

 wholesale charges that they had to pay 

 to the auctioneer. You will see, there- 



XKe Best 



Without being asked, I wish to 

 state that I think the April number 

 of The Canadian Horticulturist 

 is the best edition of any horticul- 

 tural paper that has ever been 

 published in the Dominion of 

 Canada. 



G. C. CrEELMAN, 

 Pres. Ont. Agri. Coll., Guelph. 



fore, that there is a lot of profit made out 

 of the fruit between the time it leaves 

 the grower and the time it reaches the 

 retailer. I ordered only 40 boxes from 

 you but I am using about 30 barrels a 

 week. I have bought this morning 

 XXX Greenings from Brighton, Ont., 

 for which I had to pay four dollars each. 

 Barrels of Baldwins also cost four dol- 

 lars, while some barrels of Kings cost 

 five dollars and fifty cents. How do 

 these prices compare with those the 

 Canadian growers probably received for 

 this fruit? I fee! sure that if I can get 

 the apples direct so much cheaper, a 

 big demand will be created for them and 

 I shall be only too pleased to do busi- 

 ness with you whenever vou can get the 

 right quaUty of stuff." 



Another letter is from a firm in an in 

 land city in England asking for 200 bar- 

 rels of XXX Baldwins, subject to gov- 



ernment inspection. A third letter was 

 written by a firm in Leicester and reads 

 as follows: — - 



"Will you please quote me for 25, 50, 

 100 and 200 barrels of apples f.o.b., and 

 rate to Liverpool. I want to induce our 

 local retail fruiterers' association to buy 

 direct from the growers. I will place 

 your reply before the committee as soon 

 as I receive it." 



These letters show what a splendid 

 opening there is for our fruit growers to 

 deal direct with the retailers in Great 

 Britain, if they will only recognize their 

 opportunity. In regard to the first let- 

 ter, growers will realize that if the apples 

 sold for four dollars a barrel to the re- 

 tailers in Great Britain, the middlemen 

 must have pocketed $1.25 to $1.50 on 

 each barrel, as the prices paid the grow- 

 ers this year for XXX fruit ranged 

 from $1.25 to $1.50 a barrel. If to this 

 is added $1.25 for railway, shipping and 

 similar charges, and that is a reasonable 

 allowance, there is left $1.25 to $1.50 a 

 barrel. Most, if not all, of this could be 

 saved were our growers to ship direct to 

 the retailers. 



unsatisfactory features 



Last fall Mr. Sherrington spent a 

 number of weeks in Great Britain, dur- 

 ing which period he made it a point to 

 watch the manner in which Canadian 

 fruit is handled and to talk with retail- 

 ers in regard to direct shipments. His 

 trip has convinced him that Canadian 

 fruit growers lose large sums of money 

 every year by having their fruit sold on 

 commission. He is of the opinion, also, 

 that were a representative of the grow- 

 ers to visit the retailers he could work 

 up a demand sufficient to absorb all the 

 XXX fruit packed in Ontario. 



In a recent letter to The Canadian 

 Horticulturist, Mr. Sherrington speaks 

 olainly on a number of these points. 

 After referring to the many benefits that 

 would follow were our fruit growers to 

 sell their fruit through local cooperative 

 associations, Mr. Sherrington says: — 

 "Last, but by no means least, the fruit 

 should be sold f.o.b. at the packing 

 house, for why, in the name of common 

 sense, should fruit growers send their 

 fruit to anv man, or firm of men, to dis- 

 pose of as he or they please? Are there 

 any other products of the farm that are 



