Apple Growing

M >> M. C. Burritt >> Apple Growing

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It is good practice to wrap apples packed in boxes. For this purpose a
heavy-weight tissue paper in two sizes, 8 by 10 and 10 by 10,
according to the size of the apple, is used. A lining paper 18 by 24
in size and "white news" in grade is first placed in the box. Between
the layers of apples a colored "tagboard" paper, size 171/4 by 11 or 20
by 93/4, according to the box used, is laid so as to make the layers
come out right at the top. In packing the box is inclined toward the
packer for convenience in placing the fruit. After laying in the
lining paper each apple is wrapped and put in place. As an aid to
picking up the thin wrapping paper a rubber "finger" is used on the
forefinger. When the box is packed the layers should stand a quarter
to a half inch higher in the middle than at the ends, in order to give
a bulge or spring to the top and bottom which holds the fruit firmly
in place without bruising.

There has been much discussion as to whether the box or the barrel is
the better package for apples. This is needless, for as a matter of
fact each is best for its own particular purpose. The barrel is best
adapted as a package for large commercial quantities of fruit and
where labor could not be had to pack apples in boxes even if the trade
wanted them. The barrel permits the packing of a greater variety in
size and shape than does the box, and these can be more easily and
cheaply handled in packing.

On the other hand, the box is the ideal package for small amounts of
fancy fruit, to be used for a family-or fruit-stand trade. It presents
a neater and more fancy appearance and is a more convenient package to
handle, as well as one which is more open to inspection. It already
has a better reputation as a quality container than the barrel. As a
fancy package for a limited private trade from the small general farm
orchard with high-class varieties like the Northern Spy, McIntosh, and
others there is no comparison of the box with the barrel.

STORAGE.--Car refrigeration and cold storage of fruit are
comparatively modern developments. Few persons who have not been
affected directly realize what a tremendous influence they have had
upon the fruit, and particularly the apple industry. Apples could not
be shipped any very great distance. Crops had to be marketed
immediately and when they were large the markets were soon glutted and
the fruit became almost valueless. The first hot spell would
demoralize the trade altogether. Then later in the season the supply
would become exhausted and famine would ensue where but a few weeks
before there had been a feast. Under such conditions it is not
surprising that the apple industry did not develop very rapidly and
that apple growing was mostly confined to areas near the larger
markets.

The coming of the refrigerator car extended fruit-growing over a much
wider area. Refrigeration on shipboard opened up and enlarged the
export trade. Cold storage warehouses lengthened the season by holding
over the surplus of fruit, thus relieving fall gluts in the market and
providing a winter supply of apples. These conditions created a more
stable market with more uniform prices, extending the business from a
side issue to one of chief importance. Marketing has become almost a
business by itself, inducing the formation of growers' associations
and creating a profitable occupation for large dealers and commission
men. These conditions, too, have led to speculation.

Two kinds of storage are used, common or cellar storage and cold
storage. Both are about equally available, but the latter is too
expensive for the small grower. There is always a question as to the
advisability of the small grower storing his fruit. Storage means a
degree of speculation. "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,"
especially when the bird is a good one. So far as rules can be laid
down, the following are pretty safe ones to keep in mind: It is safest
to store apples when they are of the highest quality; in a season most
unfavorable to common storage; when the fewest are being stored; when
the price in the fall is medium to low, never when high; and when one
can afford to lose the whole crop.

Successful storage requires several things: good fruit, stored
immediately after picking, careful sorting and handling, subsequent
rest, and a reasonable control of the temperature. The functions of
storage are to arrest ripening, retard the development of disease, and
furnish a uniform, cold temperature. Storage of apples does not remedy
over-ripeness nor prevent deterioration of already diseased, bruised,
or partly rotted fruit. There are three general methods of storage:
(1) by ventilation, (2) by the use of ice and (3) by mechanical means.

Cooling by ventilation offers the most practical system for a farm
storage. It requires that there be perfect insulation against outside
temperature changes, adequate ventilation, and careful watching of
temperatures. To provide for good insulation a dead air space is
necessary. This can be secured by a course of good two-inch boards
with one or two layers of building paper inside and out, over a
framework of two-by-fours. Over the building paper tight, well matched
siding should be laid also inside and out. Two of the dead air spaces
will make insulation doubly sure.

To provide for proper ventilation construct an intake for cold air at
the bottom, and an outlet for warm air at the top of the room. These
should serve all parts of the room, one being necessary for this
purpose every twelve to sixteen feet. Do not depend too much on
windows. Warm-air flues should be twelve inches square and six to
twelve feet long.

The attention to such a house is most important. Keep it closed
tightly early in the fall with blinded windows. When nights get cool
open the doors and windows to let in cold air, closing them again
during the day. On hot days close the ventilators also. In this way a
temperature of 36 to 40 degrees Fahr. can be secured in early fall and
one of 32 to 33 degrees Fahr. later. This is probably the cheapest as
well as the most practical method of farm storage.

Ice storage is quite practical in the North, but more expensive. The
principle of such a storage is to keep ice above the fruit, allowing
the cold air to flow down the sides of the room. A shaft in the middle
of the room will serve to remove the warm air. This method is open to
the objection of difficulty in storing the ice above the fruit.
Moreover the uniformity of its cold air supply is questionable.
Mechanical storage in which cold temperatures are secured by the
compression or absorption of gases is altogether impracticable for
individual growers, as it costs from $1.50 to $2.00 a barrel of
capacity to construct such a storage. Rents of this kind of storage
range from 10 to 25 cents a barrel per month, or 25 to 50 cents a
barrel for the season of from four to six months.

CHAPTER X

MARKETS AND MARKETING

Having produced a good product, there remains the problem of making a
profitable and satisfactory disposition of it. In many ways marketing
is the measure of successful fruit growing. Of what use is it to prune
well, cultivate well, spray thoroughly, or even pack well the finest
kind of product, if after the expense of these operations is paid and
the railroad and commission agents have had their share, no profit
remains to the producer? Many growers find it easier to produce good
fruit than to market it at a good price, and this is especially true
of the general farmer. Failure to market well spells failure in the
business of fruit growing. Successful marketing presupposes a
knowledge of the requirements of different markets as to quality,
varieties, and supply demanded in those markets. Methods of
distribution are also one of the great factors in this problem of
marketing.

TYPES OF MARKETS.--There are two general types of markets, the local,
which is a special market and the general or wholesale market, both of
which have different but definite requirements. The local market
handles fruit in small quantities, but usually with a larger margin of
profit per unit to the producer. As a rule delivery is direct in a
local market, and thus commissions are saved. Competition is also more
or less limited to one's neighbors. More varieties, including less
well known ones, are called for. Appearance does not count for as much
as quality, which is of first importance. Fruit may be riper as it is
consumed more quickly and meets with less rough handling. Packages are
usually returned to the grower. Special markets are often willing to
pay extra for fruit out of season, and they always require special
study and adaptation to meet their needs.

The general or wholesale market handles fruit in larger quantities,
usually with a smaller margin of profit. A selling agent or commission
man is the means of disposing of fruit in such a market, where
competition is open to the whole country and sometimes to the world.
Only standard well-known varieties find a ready and profitable sale.
Great attention is paid to appearance and comparatively little to
quality. Fruit shipped to a wholesale market must be packed in a
standard package, which is not returned, but goes with the fruit, and
must be packed so as to endure rough treatment. Out of season fruit is
not in demand, but even the general market sometimes has special
preferences.

Almost every market has favorite varieties for which it is willing to
pay a larger price than other markets. Just as Boston wants a brown
egg and New York a white one, so these and other cities have their
favorite varieties of apples. Some markets prefer a red apple, others
a green one, although the former is most generally popular. In the
mining and manufacturing towns working people want smaller green
apples, or "seconds," because they are cheaper. Many second-class
hotels prefer small apples, if they are well colored, as they go
farther. The fashionable restaurant and the fruit stand are the
markets for large, perfect, and highly colored specimens. Housewives
demand cooking apples like Greenings, hotels want a good out-of-hand
apple like the McIntosh, while private families have their own
special favorites. As will readily be seen, the producer's problem is
to find the special market for what he grows.

It has been said that different markets have special varietal
preferences, paying a better price for these than do other markets for
the same quality. We can only take the space here to point out a few
of these preferences. The Baldwin is by all odds our best general
market and export variety. It is the workingman's apple and finds its
best sale in our largest cities, particularly in New York and Chicago.
The Rhode Island Greening is a better seller in the northern markets
than it is in the southern, finding its best sale in Boston and in New
York. The Northern Spy is highly regarded by all our large northern
and eastern markets, is fairly well liked by the middle latitude
markets, but not popular south of Baltimore and Pittsburgh or west of
Milwaukee.

Central western markets appear to prefer the Hubbardson, but this
apple is fairly good in all markets. King is well thought of nearly
everywhere. Ben Davis is a favorite in the South, New Orleans
especially preferring it on account of its keeping quality. Jonathan
has a good reputation everywhere. Dutchess of Oldenburg is regarded
as excellent in Buffalo and Chicago. Wealthy, although generally a
local market apple, is well known and liked in all markets. Twenty
Ounce is spoken well of nearly everywhere. The Fameuse is not well
liked in the South, but popular in the North, etc. These particular
facts as to varieties are best learned by experience and by
observation of the market quotations.

THE COMMISSION MAN.--The present system of marketing fruit products
makes the commission man almost a necessity in the general market.
Neither the grower nor the local dealer can ship directly to the
consumer or even to the retailer, except in a very limited way. It may
be impracticable to devise any other workable system, but it must be
remembered that every man who touches a barrel of apples on its
journey from producer to consumer must be paid for doing so, and this
pay must come either out of the seller's price or be added to the
buyer's price. But so long as present conditions of marketing and
distribution prevail, so long will a selling agent in the general
market be necessary, and the evil cannot be ameliorated by ranting
against it.

An unfortunate impression prevails that all commission men are
dishonest. This is not true, although undoubtedly there are many
scoundrels among them, as they have shippers almost completely at
their mercy. The best method under our present system is to choose an
honest commission man in the city where you sell, to get acquainted
with him, to let him know that your trade will be in his hands only so
long as he treats you fairly, and then supply him with as good quality
of stuff as you can produce. This plan has worked out well with many
successful growers and marketers.

Perhaps the greatest difficulty to be overcome in successfully finding
good markets is that of proper distribution. As has been pointed out
in the previous chapter, there has been a great increase in the
production of apples and hence in competition, accompanied by
speculation and more intensive methods in all phases of the business.
A necessity has arisen for the production of the best at a minimum
cost, as well as for finding the best market for that product. In the
rush for the best market every seller is apt to be guided only by his
own immediate interest without due regard for the fact that others are
acting in the same way or that there is a future. The result is the
piling up of fruit in a market of high quotations, and a subsequent
drop in the price. Then all turn from such a market to a better one
with the result that a famine often results where but a few weeks or
even days before there had been a feast.

Thus it often happens that one market may have more fruit than it can
possibly dispose of at the time, while another, perhaps equally good,
goes begging. Such conditions are ruinous to trade. Growers are
disappointed and ascribe the cause to the commission man. Consumers
are unable many times to profit by a glut in the market but promptly
blame the middleman or the grower when the supply is small and the
price high.

Other difficulties with our system of marketing are non-uniformity of
the grades, the packages, or the fruit itself. There should be a clear
definition of just what "firsts" and "seconds" are and this definition
rigidly adhered to. Transportation is too frequently insufficient, not
rapid enough, especially when perishable fruit is shipped in small
lots, and usually at a too high rate. There are undoubtedly too many
middlemen between producer and consumer. Growers sell to local dealers
who sell to wholesalers at the receiving end. These sell to
wholesalers at the consuming end, who may sell to jobbers, who sell to
retailers. Each man must have his profits, all of which greatly
increases costs.

CO-OPERATION.--Individuals have practically no power to remedy such a
state of affairs. So long as producers act independently they will
have little power either to bring about favorable legislation or to
better such market conditions. Acting together as a unit growers have
accomplished great things which can be repeated. The co-operative
principle has been well tried out in California, where it was first
put into operation with citrous fruits, in several other Western
States with apples, and in Michigan and the Province of Ontario.

Co-operative associations study carefully the law of supply and demand
and take steps to adapt their shipments to it. They standardize the
grade, the package, and the fruit, and govern their shipments to given
markets by the needs and the demands of those markets. Their unity of
effort enables them to make great savings in the purchase of supplies,
such as packages, spraying material, fertilizers, etc., and in
obtaining and distributing frequently knowledge of markets and market
conditions. They also advertise their products, making them better
known, creating a demand for them, and by means of correspondence or
traveling agents seek out the best markets.

There are now several large fruit exchanges operating over wide
sections of country. But the local associations are the vital units in
any co-operative movement. Such associations should be incorporated
under State laws so that they can do all sorts of business when
necessary. Six simple objects should be kept in mind, namely, (1) to
prevent unnecessary competition, and to supervise and control
distribution of products; (2) to provide for uniformity in the grade,
package, and fruit; (3) to build up a high standard of excellence and
to create a demand for it; (4) to economize in buying supplies and
selling products; (5) to promote education regarding all phases of the
fruit business; and (6) when necessary to act as a buying and selling
agent for the community.

Such an association requires a board of directors, a treasurer, and an
active and well-paid manager. The latter is most important, as upon
his honesty, ability, and energy will largely depend the success or
failure of the organization. Sometimes where fruit is packed in a
central packing house or under an association brand or guarantee, a
foreman packer is also necessary. The capitalization required for such
an enterprise is not necessarily large, unless warehouses or packing
houses are built. These are usually better rented until the
organization becomes well established.

The shares should be small so that every member may be financially
well represented, and members should be prohibited from holding more
than a small percentage of the total shares, in order to prevent
possible monopoly. Dividends on stock held should only be expected
from business done outside the association membership, interest on
money invested being obtained in the handling of members' products at
cost. Receipts should be given growers for just what they bring in,
and they should then be paid according to the grade of fruit which
they contribute, prices for the same grade being pooled. The charge to
growers for handling should be actual cost, but outsiders' products
should be handled at a small profit in order to induce them to come
into the association. The same method should be followed in purchasing
supplies.

The general result of such co-operation is that the consumer gets a
better product for his money and the grower receives a better price
for his product. It is very essential to the success of the
organization that growers stick together, even through low prices and
discouragement which so often come, until they are firmly established.
Substantial reduction in the cost of the product to consumers can only
come by similar co-operation among them at the buying end and by the
co-operation of both consumers and producers for distribution and
handling in market.

If a neighborhood does not feel yet ready to attack this problem in
this thorough and businesslike way, it will be advantageous and a step
in the right direction if they simply agree on certain standards of
quality and packing and then pool their product for marketing. This
method has also been followed with success.

CHAPTER XI

SOME HINTS ON RENOVATING OLD ORCHARDS

Nearly every general farm in the humid part of the United States has
its small, old apple orchard. For the most part these orchards were
planted in order to have a home source of supply of this popular
fruit. In fact, but few orchards have been planted on a commercial
scale with a view of selling the fruit, until recently and outside of
a few sections. Therefore, as a rule we find these old farm orchards
to consist of a few acres containing from twenty-five to two hundred
trees. These trees are usually good standard varieties which have been
the source of much apple "sass," many an apple pie, and many a barrel
of cider-vinegar.

Not having been set for profit, these trees received little care.
Orchards were cropped in the regular rotation, or with hay, or
pastured. Farmers then knew little of modern methods of orchard
management. The orchard was regarded as an incumbrance to the land,
which had to be farmed to as good advantage as possible under the
circumstances, and if the apple trees by any chance yielded a crop,
the owner regarded himself as fortunate indeed.

But conditions have now changed. Both local and foreign markets have
been opened up and developed so that the demand for good fruit is
great. It will be some time before the thousands of acres of orchards
which have been and are being planted to meet this demand will be able
to do so in any adequate way. It has been shown in Chapter I how heavy
has been the falling off in the supply, even in the face of these
heavy plantings. Meanwhile we must turn to the old neglected farm
orchards for our supply of apples. Just at this particular time the
renovation of these old orchards offers a splendid opportunity to
increase the farm income.

The question is a live one on nearly every general farm in the East.
Will it pay to try to renovate my old apple trees? If so, what should
I do to make them profitable? What will it cost and what returns may
be expected? The latter question will be taken up in the following
chapter, but here we must try to indicate under what conditions it
may pay to renovate an old orchard, as well as those under which it
may not pay, and also how to go about the problem.

NECESSARY QUALITIES.--An apple orchard must have certain
qualifications in order to make it worth while to spend the time and
money necessary to accomplish the desired results. These we may take
up briefly under five heads: (1) varieties, (2) age, (3) number or
"stand" of trees, (4) vigor and health of the trees, and (5) soil,
site, and location. The discussion of these subjects in Chapters II
and III has equal application here, but we may perhaps point out their
specific application more definitely in the case of the old neglected
farm orchard.

(1) Varieties should be desirable sorts. If they are the best standard
market varieties, as is often the case, so much the better. Otherwise
little is gained by improving the tree and fruit. Poor or unknown
varieties have little or no market value, except perhaps a very local
one. If the trees are not too old and are fairly vigorous, poor
varieties may sometimes be worked over by top grafting to better
varieties. Characteristics which may make, a variety undesirable are:
inferior quality; unattractiveness in color, shape, or size; lack of
hardiness in the tree or keeping quality in the fruit; low yield; or
being unknown in the market with its consequent small demand. Summer
varieties are worth renovating only when they are in good demand in a
nearby local market.

(2) Vigor is more important than age in the tree, but is closely
correlated with it. Ordinarily one should hesitate to try to renovate
a tree more than forty or fifty years old, but this must always depend
almost wholly on its condition and other characteristics.

(3) In order to make a business of renovation and to do thorough work
which means expense, there must be enough of the orchard to justify
the expenditure of the time and money. This affects the results not
only in expense, but in economy in management, equipment, and
marketing. There should be at least an acre of say thirty trees, and
better, more than that number to justify the expense of time and money
necessary for renovation. One hundred trees would certainly justify
it, other conditions being favorable. Then, too, the trees should be
in such shape that they can be properly treated without too great
trouble and expense, i.e., not too scattered or isolated or in the
midst of regular fields better adapted for other crops.

(4) Vigor and good general health are of great importance. Many old
trees are too far gone with neglect, having been too long starved or
having their vitality too much weakened by disease to make an effort
for their rehabilitation worth while. Good vigor, even though it be
dormant, is absolutely essential. Disease weakens the tree, making the
expense of renovation greater. Moreover, all diseased branches must be
removed, requiring severe cutting and often seriously injuring the
tree. Disease too often stunts the tree to such an extent as to make
stimulation practically impossible. Such matters should be carefully
looked into before attempting renovation.

(5) If the soil, site, and location are all unfavorable or even if two
of these are not good, time and money are likely to be wasted on
renovation. What constitutes unfavorable conditions in these respects
has already been pointed out in Chapter III.

Practically the same principles of pruning, cultivation, fertilization
and spraying apply in the management of the old orchard as in any
other orchard. It may be well, however, to restate these, briefly
pointing out their special value and application to the old neglected
orchard together with the few modifications of practice necessary. The
steps to be taken are four: (1) pruning, (2) fertilizing, (3)
cultivating, and (4) spraying.

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