Rocky Ford enterprise., 1903-12-25
HOpTl(JLlUN
Cur Foreign Trade IN Apples.

Cur Ferei3n Trade in Apples
The unitei States ID the greatest
apple exporting country in the world.
and Indications point tn still greater
along this line. As yet
no country exports very heavily OF
apples. and our exports OF i.S5S..f7
barrels during the fiscal year ending
June 30. 1908. broke the worlds rec
ord. As there are three bushels OF
apples In a standard barrel. this ex'
poEta,ioh amounts 10 almost fiys MIL
lion bushels. Most OF the trade In ex'
port apples is transacted between
September and January. though some
exporting is done In every month OF
the year except May ard June. This
year few shipments of apples were
made In July and August. largely
m an experiment. The expectation OF
summer apples is never likely to be
much ot a factor In our foreign trade.
for two reasons one. because the car.
iy fruit VIII never keep well for long
time. even In cold storage: and. two.
because this kind Of fruit comes into
competition with European apples.
which consist principally Of summer
and fall varieties. Our advantage
over Europe In the apple market rests
on our ability to produce winter ap'
pies while they cannot.
By tho end OF December the Eu'
ropcan apple Is out Of the race. and
the American aud Canadian apples
have the ncid to themselves. The
apples that arrive In England and on
tho Continent In January arc our best
winter keepers and arc In good do
mand after that time. A few years
ago nearly all of tho apples sent over
were sold By December. but improved
cold storage facilities have made Il
possible to extend tho time OF sale.
much to the advantage Of tho Amer.
lean fruit shipper. While the bulk OF
our apples are now disposed OF by tho
end Of January. thousands OF barrels
arc not Acnt over Ill late winter and
carly spring. when they bring n still
better price. II may bo interesting
to note that even In May and June
Of ie03-months In which NO apples
are generally cxportcd-thc cxporta.
tions amounted to over 10000 barrels.
luC upptcn cAoEtCu Atv usoeey
raised In Northern United States. ane
are shipped mainly from Boston. Now
York and Portland. Boston and New
York handle over so per cent OF the
entire trade. San Francisco Is. how.
ever. developing into quite nm export.
Ing center for apples. between 10000
and $1,000 barrels going out every
year to Australia. China and Japan.
About 400 car loads of applcs-mostly
Newton pippins-arc now annually
shipped from California eastward
across the continent and sent to Eng.
land. where they are very popular.
yellow apple, while the Germans pre-.
fer red and the French russell. A re
cent report OF the department Of sta.
tistics OF the United States shows that
We are exporting apples to 6i nations
or dependencies: but that our great
market Is Great Britain, which takes
annually over so per cent OF our en-.
tire exports. Germany takes about
10000 barrels a year. but France as
yet takes only about 1000 barrels.
During the last fiscal year Europe
paid American fruit growers over four
million dollars for apples. The apple
contains about 81 per cent OF water
and six per cent of sugar. which
means that 90 per cent OF this fruit
Is produced from water and air. This
makes q profitable combination to sell
abroad. II pleases the Europeans and
keeps the fertility In our farms. 1t
isn't every nation that can change
water and blue sky into rcd.cheeked
apples.-Farmers' Review.