The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-12-25

Each OF them, WITHOUT knowing anything
of the others intentions, loaded his car
for that point. The result was that a
number of carloads arrived at the same
market at about the same time and, of
course, the market was glutted. nobody
wanted the fruit and, as consequence,
only nominal price was obtained, and the
consignee made sight draft on the ship
per for portion of and as has sometimes
been the case for the entire freight
charges.
If our markets were made, as are the
markets of the foreign growers, at the auc-
ton house, the proposition would be diff
ferent and very much simplifed. for Bos-
ton and New York are known as the two
great centers of distribution for Mediter-
ranean fruit, and to those points the buy
ers go.
Without concerted action even the auc-
ton system places the grower at disad-
vantage, as a plethoric market at one point
promotes decline at another point and
as decline begets decline, the grower has
only to await remittances to learn the ex-
tent of his sufferings. The transportation
companies have got their money, the auc-
ton or commission house, as the case
may be, reserves its money, and the re-
mainder, if any there be, goes to the
grower, or, as has often been the case. a
sight draft is made for deficits. Now all
these methods are failures or partial fail
ures.
The whole lemon crop of the State
should pass through and be distributed
from one Office, which should be located at
:
the business.
A canvass should be made of a section
Of country-most directly tributary
now absorbs quantity of lemons at least
equal to the quantity produced in the
State and to the various points most con-
venient for distribution. The lemons
should be sent direct from the orchards,
and in quantity sufficient to supply the
market for specified time, and the supply
should not be at any time exhausted.
Cold storage will keep the lemons as well
in Ohio or Minnesota as they can be kept
in California. The retail dealer can draw
his supplies as required-if one box, then
one box If fifty boxes. then that many
and in this way no more fruit is exposed
than the trade demands. Consequently,
duced to the minimum. This is the or
binary way the lemon has been handled,
viz: A carload arrives at certain point
The dealer does not know when the next
one will arrive, and says to himself, II
will lay in a good stock"; ana he does SO.
Now, the lemons he has bought may have
been picked two months or six months.
and they may have been picked eight
months, and are then in proper condition
for immediate use, and, of course, will
soon begin to break down, and it is fairly
estimated that from the time the fruit is
picked till it reaches the consumers hand
the actual loss has been from 80 to so per
cent. and all this loss must be accounted
for, first, in the price paid for the fruit
should it go to packing and shipping
house. This loss falls on the grower,
next on the consumer, for he must pay
the price demanded, which price is
based on probable loss, and the dealer
is not likely to make a mistake
by which he will be the loser
Suppose the retailer fixes his price at So
cents per dozen, based on loss of 80 per
cent. 1t is plainly evident that he would
make larger profit if he sold them at 25
cents, if no loss was to be made.
This reduction in price would probably
double consumption, for a majority of
persons would buy two dozen lemons at
% cents per dozen, while they would buy
no more than one dozen at 80 or 40 cents
per dozen.
To reduce the loss from all causes be-
tween the grower and the consumer to the
lowest possible point is consideration OF
first importance. This cannot be done by
Transporting them from the orchard to the
curing-house loosely packed or carelessly
thrown into boxes, then transferred to
curingtrays and packed away, to be again
overhauled and tn se decayed rejected,
and again packed away only to have this
operation repeated from two to four times,
each time adding to percentage of loss in
quantity and adding largely to expense ac-
count.
The time OF transit may be FIVE DAYS and
it may be fifteen, through varying de-
grees of temperature and moisture, both
of which are antagonistic to the condition
the fruit has been in for months and after
nature has done its perfect work, it being
plainly evident that when the seed has
ripened it has done with the fruit, which
is ready to break down and deliver its
seed to Mother Earth.
In this condition the lemon is delivered
at the point of consumption. The ques-
ton now arises: What price can the car
load buyer, who takes ali the chances of
shipping and selling fully matured fruit,
pay to the lemon curer or packer?
And when this question is answered an
other one logically occurs: What price
can the grower expect from the curer or
packer who has taken all the chances of
the fruit having been carefully picked and
handled, and of the probable loss by de-
cay, together with the unavoidable ex-
pense Of handling?
1t seems perfectly clear that the lemon
should be delivered from the orchard to
the point OF final distribution in the short.
est time, and with the least possible hand
ling.
This done, and there seems to be no rea-
son why the production of the lemon in
Southern California should not afford an
exceedingly proftable-as it is pleasant
employment for as many families as will
occupy all the land peculiarly adapted to
this culture, each family owning and culti-
waiting twenty acres, and during the time