COMPETITION— LAWS OF PRICES 61 



that can utilize the by-product to the nth power. 

 The inherent weakness in the Western or- 

 chard was the one-crop system. The distance to 

 market was a further limiting factor, for only 

 high-class fruit could be shipped across the 

 continent ; and thus we have the orchardist lim- 

 ited not alone to one crop but to one grade of 

 that crop. Westerners are natural boosters and 

 the apple growers proceeded to advertise their 

 wares and to create a market for them. With 

 fine business they utilized the box pack and set 

 a standard in grading apples that put the 

 Oregon fruit on a pedestal. It is not especially 

 difficult to raise apples. Your neighbors and 

 the local experiment station can supply you 

 with all needful information. If there is an 

 organization for packing and selling the fruit, 

 anybody can raise high-grade apples. Inevi- 

 tably there was a rush to the apple field. City 

 men, without the first idea of agriculture, staked 

 out claims in this field of gold. " Apple land" 

 brought hundreds and even thousands of dollars 

 an acre. Competition was unrestricted ; but the 

 market for high-grade fruit was limited. When 



