10 THE APPLE IN COLD STOKAGE. 



differentiating into two distinct lines. In many of the principal fruit- 

 growing districts the handling of the crop and its marketing are con- 

 trolled largely by fruit organizations or by apple merchants who buy 

 the fruit in the orchards and who, through the special development of 

 fruit and market statistics, are better able than the fruit grower to 

 regulate its distribution and sale. This greater stability and special- 

 ization in apple growing is accompanied by a large amount of specu- 

 lation. Through a combination of the buyers the fruit may not 

 always sell in the orchard for its real value, but on the other hand the 

 severe competition in buying in those sections where the industry is 

 especially well developed frequently brings the grower the highest 

 prices. 



Apple storage is not always profitable. It is an insurance against 

 the premature deterioration of the fruit, but when the picking season 

 is unusually hot and there are delays in getting the fruit into storage, 

 the subsequent losses are sometimes very heavy. On the other hand 

 the autumn may be unusually cool and favorable for storing large 

 quantities of apples in common storage. As a result the markets are 

 well supplied with this fruit through the winter, causing the cold- 

 storage stock to be held back till late in the season, when it has to be 

 rushed on the market and sold at a sacrifice on account of the approach- 

 ing warm weather and the free use of southern early fruits. 



On the whole the development of the cold-storage business is prov- 

 ing beneficial to the apple industiy in encouraging the development 

 of apple growing over large territories, in making the investment of 

 capital in it safer, in developing it as a highly specialized type of agri- 

 culture and trade, and in making a valuable food product available to 

 an increasing number of people over a greater part of the year. 



THE EXTENT OF THE COLD-STORAGE WAREHOUSING INDUSTRY. 



The magnitude of the cold-storage warehousing business and its im- 

 portance to the fruit industry are not generally recognized. Accurate 

 statistics are difficult to obtain, but in 1901 it was estimated a that the 

 capacity of the cold-storage warehouses, including meat, egg^ and but- 

 ter storage, was 150,000,000 cubic feet of space, of which 50,000,000 

 cubic feet, distributed in 600 houses, were devoted to fruit storage. 

 Since 1901 there has been a large increase in the number of fruit- 

 storage houses, especially in the apple-growing districts, where many 

 plants, with a capacity of 5,000 to 30,000 barrels, have been erected in 

 or near the orchards or at the railroad stations. 



The cold-storage business has developed most extensively in the 

 large cities and in towns conveniently located for distributing the fruit 

 later in the season to domestic or foreign markets. 



«Bul. Amer. Warehouseman's Ass'n, Nov., 1901, ex N. Y. Sun. 



