119 



cember. Nothing is more demoralizing to the apple market 

 than that first-class fruit be forced into competition with wind- 

 falls and fruit from unsprayed orchards. 



A study of the prices for Baldwin apples covering a period 

 of six years, 1912 to 1917, inclusive, showed average price at 

 harvest time, September 15 to November 15, was $2.45 per 

 barrel. During the same period of years the market price 

 over what makes up the common storage period, December 1 

 to April 1, was $3.75 per barrel. 



As an illustration, assume that a farmer had a crop of 500 

 barrels and that he possessed a good storage cellar, an allow- 

 ance of 10 per cent being made for shrinkage: — 



Value of 600 barrels at harvest price, . . . $1,225 00 



Value of 450 barrels out of common storage, . . $1,687 50 



Gain, $462 50 



Per cent of gain on 500 barrels, 37 



If this comparison were made inclusive of the 1918-19 and 

 1919-20 crops, the percentage of gain would be much higher. 



Fifth, another advantage of storage is the fact that it is a 

 food saver. During the war we were continually urged to 

 save food. It is now necessary to practice the same conser- 

 vation though perhaps a better name for the principle would 

 be thrift. A great many thousands of bushels of apples are 

 annually allowed to go to waste in Massachusetts because the 

 grower has no facilities for storing his crop. This is food 

 waste and could be saved by having proper storage facilities. 



Sixth, good storage facilities help the labor market. When 

 help is scarce at harvest time it is worth while having a storage 

 building or cellar close by the orchard so that the time con- 

 sumed by hauling to the railroad station, if one is shipping to 

 commercial storage, may be saved and these men put to work 

 picking apples. 



Seventh, storage has a large influence in extending the ap- 

 ple market. Many of the summer and fall varieties may now 

 be shipped to distant domestic and foreign markets in re- 

 frigerator cars or even in refrigerator compartments on ship- 

 board. If the fruit has been properly handled between the 

 orchard and the warehouse as well as in the warehouse, the 



