328 The Commercial Apple Industry 



The secret of success in the distribution of the California 

 orange crop has been its sale in every cross-road village in 

 the country. The production and sale of oranges in recent 

 years has increased much more rapidly than has popula- 

 tion. By organized effort, wider distribution into the 

 smaller markets, the orange-growers have been marketing 

 a constantly increasing production. The same may be 

 accomplished by the apple-growers and shippers if they 

 will employ similar methods of advertisement and dis- 

 tribution. 



Whether the growers market their apples cooperatively, 

 through private brokers or by private sales service, there 

 must be campaigns of education and advertisement in 

 order to effect distribution. The futility of trying to work 

 out broad comprehensive plans for distribution when each 

 grower or shipper acts independently is evident. Such 

 plans lend themselves best to cooperative effort. The bur- 

 den of expense incident to the working out of better plans 

 of distribution must be widely distributed in order that 

 it will not fall too heavily on any one individual. 



The question of advertisement presents an interesting 

 field. Notable examples of the establishment of brands 

 of commercial grades are seen in the efforts of different 

 associations in the Pacific Northwest. By assessing each 

 box sold under a given brand with a small charge for 

 advertisement, large sums are secured to carry out adver- 

 tising campaigns. By limiting the varieties sold under a 

 given brand to those of high dessert quality, by including 

 only the highly desirable sizes and zealously enforcing 

 grading rules, shippers can develop a brand of superb 

 marketable quality. Whether such a system can be recom- 

 mended for general adoption remains to be seen. Such 



