166 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



Jaly, iaX5. 



Uiii ul" the many young orchards in British Columibia that is now in buaring. 



— Photo by R. Leckle-Bwing, Okanagan Landing, B.C. 



civilization is the fact that large' crops 

 of fruit, which should bless both the 

 producer and the consumer, often do 

 not bless either, at least to the extent 

 they should, because they result in 

 prices which while so low as to leave 

 the producer little or no profit, are not 

 low enough to bring the fruit within 

 the reach of most of the working 

 classes of our large industrial centres. 

 Let us see how this condition works 

 out. 



Divisions of Wealth. 



In a large city like Toronto there are 

 different degrees of wealth. Supposing 

 peaches were a short crop and hard to 

 obtain. Ten families in Toronto might 

 be able to pay as high as $50 a basket 

 and not feel the price. Fifty other 

 families might be able to pay $25 a 

 basket ; 100 families $10 a basket ; 200 

 families $5 a basket; 2,000 families 

 $2.50 a basket and 5,000 families $1 a 

 basket. Should the crop be a large 

 one and the price of peaches drop to 

 50 cents a basket there might be 10,000 

 families who could afford to buy 

 peaches at that price. Below this num- 

 ber there might be 40,000 or more 

 families who after paying for their 

 clothes, fuel, rent and other absolutely 

 necessary expenses, could not afford 

 to buy peaches even when as low as 

 50 cents a basket. 



How the Market Price is Set. 



At this point a factor enters which 

 should be recognized : That is that the 

 market price of fruit in effect is al- 

 ways fixed by the lowest price the bulk 

 of it is sold for. If there were only 

 enough peaches to supply the demand 

 of the 10 families who could pay $50 

 a hasket for them, the price of 

 peaches would be $50 a basket. When, 

 however, the supply exceeded such a 



demand but did not exceed the require- 

 ments of the 100 families who could 

 pay $10 a basket, then the price of 

 peaches M'ould drop to $10 a basket 

 and the 10 families who could pay $50 

 a basket and the 50 families that could 

 pay $25 a basket would pay only $10 

 a basket for their fruit. In other 

 words, the amount produced de- 

 termines the selling price. When 

 peaches are so plentiful that in order 

 that they may be sold the price drops 

 to 50 cents a basket, all families alike 

 pay only 50 cents a basket for their 

 peaches even if many families can af- 

 ford to pav much more. Should there 

 be more than enough peaches to sup- 

 ply the demand at 50 cents a basket, 

 then the growers are forced to seek 

 for a market amongst the 40,000 

 families or more who cannot afford to 



jjay 50 cents, and in consequence the 

 price must drop to 40 cents or 30 cents, 

 or to whatever point is within the 

 reach of those people. Supposing this 

 price should be 30 cents a basket it 

 means that the fruit must be sold at a 

 loss to the fruit grower or, as some- 

 times happens, not be marketed at all. 



Where the Trouble Lies. 



Here then is where the real basis of 

 the marketing question comes in. The 

 level of a large part of the possible 

 home market for fruit has sunk below 

 the cost level of production. The 

 trouble is not that too many peaches 

 are produced, but once more in the 

 words of Mr. Lick, "there is such a 

 large percentage of people who are 

 unable to buy fruit at any price." It 

 is this condition which knocks the bot- 

 tom out of the market whenever there 

 is a large production of fruit, for if all 

 the families in our cities could afford 

 to pay 75 cents a basket there would 

 not be enough fruit to go round. 



In time we will realize that the only 

 real and lasting cure is to so change 

 the conditions of the masses that they 

 will be able to pay a price for fruit 

 that will ensure growers receiving a 

 profit for their product. This then is 

 where the fruit grower's interest in 

 the economic condition of the so called 

 working classes comes in. When such 

 a condition is brought about the bug- 

 bear of large crops will lose much of 

 its terrors for the producer. To many 

 this problem seems incapable of solu- 

 tion. There is, however, no certainty 

 of this. When we, in common with 

 other classes in the community who 

 are equally affected by it, approach 

 this sidie of the m.arketing problem 

 with the same earnestness we have dis- 

 played in other matters a remedy for 

 it will be found. 



Harvesting and Marketing the Berry Crop 



Grant S. Peart, Burlington, Ont. 



FOR years fruit growers have de- 

 voted their attention mainly to 

 increasing their production. The 

 problem of marketing our fruit to ad- 

 vantage is now forcing itself upon our 

 attention. At present, the trend of 

 opinion among fruit growers favors 

 an increased effort in advertising our 

 products through government agencies 

 and in other ways. The Niagara Pen- 

 insula Fruit Growers, for example, 

 have subscribed money for the purpose 

 of advertising their fruits. This is 

 good, as far as it goes, but growers 

 can supplement these efforts to no. lit- 

 tle extent, by individual effort in the 

 direction of placing more attractive 

 packs on the market. We refer more 

 especially to the small fruits. 



It is deplorable how careless many 

 growers are in the proper marketing of 

 their fruit. Having taken pains to de- 

 velop a first-class strawberry bed or 

 raspberry plantation they seem to loose 

 their grip when they try to sell their 

 fruit, and therefore sell it at a disad- 

 vantage both to themselves and to the 

 trade. When we visit the markets 

 during the fruit season we are sur- 

 prised to note the quantity of inferior 

 grades of fruit offered for sale. These 

 are inferior because the boxes or bas- 

 kets are slack, the berries soft, or there 

 may be too many green berries. These 

 are the principal troubles found in 

 many packs. Such defects tend to dis- 

 courage the consumer. We can hardly 

 blame him, therefore when, after paj-- 



