Page 36 



BETTER FRUIT 



June 



and btraightwa}- buj'S an orchard and 

 devotes himself to the raising of apples. 

 He cannot help it; the very air is charged 

 with apples; the theme of all conversa- 

 tion is apples; the apple orchard is ever 

 before one's vision, and it is a strong 

 man who can resist the call." 



It is our climate, our soil, our spirit of 

 enthusiasm, as indicated above, which is 

 making the Northwest the greatest apple 

 producing section in the world. Our 

 enthusiasm, aggressiveness, energy and 

 ability cannot help but spell success. 



j\Iy position in the fruit world is some- 

 what unique. While I am a grower and 

 am a director of the Apple Growers' 

 Union at Hood River I am also the 

 editor and publisher of "Better Fruit." 

 It has been my aim, my ambition, if you 

 please, to make "Better Fruit" not only 

 the best, but the most influential fruit 

 growers' paper in the world. I do not 

 believe this can be accomplished unless 

 it is absolutely fair and square with 

 everybod}' connected with the fruit busi- 

 ness. It is my desire to bring the fruit 

 dealer and the fruit grower closer 

 together. To do this the good will and 

 esteem of both the dealer and the grower 

 must be secured. This cannot be done 

 without being fair with both. If "Better 

 Fruit" can help you in your business it 

 will help the grower. On the other hand. 



REEDS 



if it helps the grower it will help you 

 in your business. "Better Fruit" is help- 

 ing the grower to grow better fruit, to 

 grade it better and to pack it better. 



We fruit growers are in a state of evo- 

 lution. We are developing, and I believe 

 frankly more improvement has been 

 made in the growing of fruit in the last 

 few years than in marketing and sell- 

 ing fruit. 



Just a few words about over-produc- 

 tion in general and over-production of 

 apples in particular. We have all heard 

 this over-production talk for years. I 

 have heard it ever since I was a bo}'. 

 and yet it is a well recognized fact that 

 there has never been a continued over- 

 production of any food commodity. When 

 vast areas were planted to wheat in the 

 Northwest the cry went up, "Over-Pro- 

 duction," but today the price of wheat 

 is higher than it has been for years, and 

 authorities who have given the matter 

 careful study state that in a few years 

 the United States will not grow enough 

 wheat to feed its own people. I will 

 not worry you with statistics about the 

 apple crop. You all know them. Suffice 

 it to say, however, that from 69,000,000 

 barrels of apples in 1896 we have fallen 

 to an average of 2.5,000.000 barrels during 

 the last three years. It seems strange to 

 fear over-production with a decreasing 

 crop on an increased acreage. You must 

 bear in mind further, for it is a matter 

 of fact, that only ten per cent to twenty 

 per cent of the orchards that are set ever 

 make commercial orchards. The popula- 

 tion of the United States in the last ten 

 3'ears has increased to over 90,000.000. 

 The apple crop has decreased in a greater 

 ratio. But the consumption of fruit, I 

 mean all kinds of fruit, during the last 

 thirty years in the United States has 

 increased five times as rapidly as the 

 population. However, we may have a 

 temporary condition of under-consump- 

 tion, arising from a lack of proper dis- 

 tribution and prohibitory prices. The 

 success of the whole fruit industry seems 

 to depend on a proper distribution and 



intelligent marketing. Again, gentlemen, 

 this is your end of the business. Con- 

 sumption can be created by proper dis- 

 tribution if the prices are right. To 

 illustrate what can be done in the way of 

 increased distribution I want to tell you 

 that the Hood River Apple Growers' 

 Union, which depended almost entirely 

 upon New York to take its output in 

 previous years, this year has sold to 

 twenty-four states, sixty-five cities and 

 eighty-seven different buyers. 



Just a word about the so-called 

 immense boxed apple crop of the Pacific 

 Coast. It is estimated, perhaps an exag- 

 geration, that the crops in Colorado to 

 the Pacific was 15,000 cars of apples dur- 

 ing 1910. At 600 boxes to a car and 100 

 apples to the box this would mean 

 900,000,000 apples. If this crop was so 

 distributed and the price right, so that 

 every inhabitant of the United States 

 could eat one apple a day for ten 

 days, they would eat up this so-called 

 "immense" apple crop of the Northwest 

 in just ten days. The California orange 

 growers howled "over-production" when 

 they shipped 1,400 carloads of oranges in 

 one year, but that crop has increased, 

 and they are now selling over 40,000 

 cars per year, and I am told the orange 

 growers today are making better money 

 than in previous years. Apparently the 

 Citrus Exchange has been successful in 

 properly distributing their fruit, regulat- 

 ing prices in a way to increase consump- 

 tion sufficiently to care for their increased 

 output. 



I believe the jobbers should unite in 

 demanding quality of fruit and proper 



PYRAMIDAL ARBORVITAE 



