American Agriculturist, November 3,1923 
303 
Marketing Fruit Is a Grow¬ 
er’s Problem 
(Continued from page 295) 
ber locals—some forty in number. As 
with most other cooperative organi¬ 
zations, which are blazing a trail and 
undertaking new systems of market¬ 
ing with growers inexperienced in this 
phase of their business, many diffi¬ 
culties have been encountered. Some 
of these have already been overcome. 
The organization is in process of deal¬ 
ing with others, but there are still 
many unsolved problems which must 
be worked out. 
Handling too Many Varieties For 
Efficiency 
Not the least of the problems which 
this marketing organization has had 
to deal with is the enormous number 
of varieties of fruit, most of which are 
of small importance, but which have 
to be handled by someone. In 1922, 
this association marketed approximate¬ 
ly 340,000 barrels of apples which in¬ 
cluded 140 varieties. Sixteen of these 
varieties, or the principal ones, repre¬ 
sented 88 per cent of the shipments, 
while the other 124 constituted but 12 
per cent. • 
In many respects, the bookkeeping, 
pooling and accounting was practical¬ 
ly as much for the small varieties as it 
was for the large. Can this great num¬ 
ber of varieties be marketed efficiently 
by any organization? Is it necessary 
or worth while to attempt it? Would 
it not be better to graft all the less" 
valuable sorts to other more useful 
kinds, cut up the trees for fire wood, or 
sell the apples by the hundred weight 
for drying stock or ciders? Would not 
the association be warranted in offer¬ 
ing contracts to its members to market 
their sixteen standard varieties only 
and leaving members to dispose of 
these odd, or more or less worthless 
sorts, himself, as the most efficient 
and economical way of handling them? 
Already the association has made 
progress in this problem by eliminat¬ 
ing certain varieties in the locals and 
by grouping all varieties of similar 
sorts and values in one pool. But 
this does not solve the whole problem. 
What shall be done? 
Standard Grades and Brand Adopted 
The association has adopted the State 
grades, but has raised the standard 
for these grades by adopting the policy 
of the sizing all A-grade fruit in 14- 
inch sizes and selling it under one 
brand—Cataract, which has become well 
enough known in the principal markets 
so that it brings a premium over ordinary 
A-grade fruit. But because as yet this 
premium is often not large enough to 
much more than cover the cost of mak¬ 
ing the brands. The problem is to sim¬ 
plify the grading and sizing and so 
organize packing houses and the inspec¬ 
tion and supervision that Cataract 
Brand will be made with a maximum of 
efficiency and at the lowest possible 
cost, and yet with such accuracy and 
dependability that it will command a 
constantly increasing premium in the 
markets. It is relatively simple to 
understand the need, but most difficult 
to put the remedies into effect with so 
many packing houses and so many in¬ 
dividual growers hauling their fruit 
to these houses. A great deal of prog¬ 
ress has been made by the association 
in solving this problem, although much 
still remains to be done. 
*• 
The Problem of Pooling 
As with many other cooperative _ as¬ 
sociations, the problem of pooling is a 
troublesome one. There is always the 
question as to whether pooling should 
be local or central. The association has 
adopted central pooling as necessary 
to steady equal shipments and as the 
most equitable and satisfactory system, 
but there are some objections to it. 
This problem of pooling is particularly 
acute in western New York because of 
the large number of varieties. It is 
practically necessary to make at least 
three sizes of each variety of fruit if 
it is to be quarter inch sized. In ad- 
-dition to this, there is the B grade or 
domestic brand and the culls to be 
handled, making four or five different 
classifications for each variety. Since 
each grade and size is pooled separately? 
this means from three to five pools for 
each of the varieties, whether they are 
commercially important or unimportant. 
Save $ 4 to $ 6 a ton 
On Your Dairy Feed Cost 
and Get Equally Good Results 
Dr. J. L. Hills, Director of the Vermont Agricultural Experiment 
Station, has recently published Bulletin No. 225, entitled— The 
Protein Requirements of Dairy Cows,” which is a result of 13 
years’ feeding experiments using an entire dairy herd. This 
Bulletin will interest every farmer in that it proves 
Excessive Protein Feeding 
is Costly and Often Harmful 
The Vermont Station’s long series of experiments, proves 
the old idea that a ration must have 26% protein is all wrong. 
Also that high protein feeding is costly and wasteful — then, 
why go on paying $4 to $6 a ton more for excessive protein feed 
when you can keep this money in your pocket? 
SUGARED 
SCHUMACHER FEED 
mixed equal parts with Boss Dairy Ration or Gluten Feed or 
mix 3 parts of Sugared Schumacher with one part of Cottonseed 
Meal will give you Dairy Rations carrying from 16% to 19% 
protein. When fed with the usual hay and ensilage these 
rations carry sufficient protein for heavy, long time, safe milk 
production. Sugared Schumacher Feed will keep your cows 
strong, healthy and in just the right condition for highly profit¬ 
able milk production. 
Ask your dealer about Sugared Schumacher Feed and protein 
concentrates. This is well worth looking into. A saying of 
$4.00 to $6.00 a ton on your feed costs should not be overlooked. (D9 
The Quaker Oafs Company 
1651 Ry. Exchange Bldg. 
Address, Chicago, U.S. A. 
t is not necessary to say more about 
he enormous amount of bookkeeping 
nvolved in such pooling and the details 
ncident thereto. There are many de- 
;ails to be worked out before this sys- 
;em will be entirely satisfactory. Yet 
n essence it seems to be sound and 
fight, because it gives to the grower a 
reward for his fruit in accordance with 
;he quality produced. 
Sales, Distribution and Finances 
Any association has the option of 
creating its own sales agency or us¬ 
ing an established agency. Since creat¬ 
ing a sales agency is a long time and 
expensive process, warranted only by 
large and assured volume, and since the 
Western New York Association has 
itself helped to create a national coop¬ 
erative marketing agency “grower 
owned and grower controlled”—the Fed¬ 
erated Fruit and Vegetable Growers— 
it has chosen to sell and distribute its 
fruit through this channel. This means 
that it has at its disposal its own 
marketing agents paid on salary in 
eighteen of the principal markets of 
the country in which 60 per cent of 
its output is disposed of, and contract 
brokers in 122 other markets, and that 
a wide distribution of its shipments is 
secured. However, the large number 
of varieties which involves mixed or 
“drug store” cars, which must be sold 
usually as “rollers,” the impersonal 
marketing system whereby the sales 
agents seldom ever see the fruit they 
are selling, the cost of this great over¬ 
head sales system, and the lack of 
volume have in part been responsible 
for net returns to the growers which 
have not in all cases been satisfactory. 
This problem continues to cause the as¬ 
sociation much thoughtful study. The 
question of a satisfactory sales system 
is by no means simple and will always 
be one which must have the closest at¬ 
tention and supervision. 
It is obvious that the grading, siz- 
(Continued on page 311) 
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