2 BULLETIN 587, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
This is approximately equal to the 2,672,100 bushels which, according 
to the census, comprised the entire apple crop of the whole State of 
Washington in 1909. The production has increased greatly, not only 
in the counties mentioned but also in Yakima, Spokane, Klickitat, 
and other counties in Washington, in the Hood River and the Rogue 
River valleys of Oregon, in eastern Oregon, in the Bitter Root Valley 
of Montana, and in southwestern Idaho. 
The total car-lot shipments of apples from the four States of 
Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana for the 1915-16 ship- 
ping season amounted to approximately 11,166 cars. The total car- 
lot shipments from these States for the shipping season 1916-17 to 
March 19, inclusive, amounted to 16,625 cars. The shipments of 
apples still in storage at that time would increase this amount 
considerably. 
The proportion of each year’s crop from these States that is placed 
in cold storage, either at points of production or in the East, is some- 
what difficult of determination. The actual storage holdings neces- 
sarily will fluctuate each season with the production, market condi- 
tions, and prices. In 1911 something over 225,000 boxes were held in 
either common or cold storage in the three States first mentioned, as 
compared with almost 1,000,000 boxes in cold storage in 1914. These 
figures are indicative of the increasing importance of cold storage in 
the successful distribution and disposal of the northwestern apple 
crop. No reliable figures are obtainable regarding the amount of the 
crop produced in the Northwest and stored in Middle Western and 
Eastern States during the last few years. Storage facilities in the 
producing States of the Pacific Northwest are adequate for only a 
small proportion of the crop. As a considerable proportion of the 
production consists of late fall and winter varieties, it is obvious that 
by far the greater portion of the crop must be held in storage for 
shorter or longer periods either in the producing States or in the 
East and Middle West. Whether these holdings are the property of 
the growers, the shippers, or the buyers does not minimize the 1m- 
portance of cold storage in the profitable production and disposal of 
the northwestern apple crop. 
The rapid increase in acreage and production of apples in the 
Northwestern States has made the wide distribution and profitable 
marketing of the northwestern apple crop a problem second in im- 
portance only to the successful growing of the crop. Cold storage 
permits a wider and more equitable distribution of apples than is 
possible when it is not employed, and it extends the season during 
which apples may be marketed in good condition. Any system which 
aims at an equitable and economic distribution of the northwestern 
apple crop must employ cold-storage facilities for the successful 
preservation for a longer or shorter period of a considerable pro- 
