The Meeker herald., 1904-05-07
hOpTICIl1lPE


Our Foreign TRADE IN Apples.
The United States is the greatest
apple exporting country in the world
and Indications point to q still greater
development along this line. AS yet
no country exports very heavily OF
apples, and our exports of 1,655,2A7
barrels during the fiscal year ending
June 80. 1903, broke the worlds rec
ord. As there are three bushels OF
apples in q standard barrel, this ex-
portation amounts to almost five 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 and June. This
year a few shipments of apples were
made in July and August. largely
as an experiment. The expectation OF
summer apples is never likely to De
much of factor in our foreign trade.
for two reasons: one, because the ear
ly fruit will 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 the end of December the Eu'
ropean apple is out of the race, and
the American and Canadian apples
have the field to themselves. The
apples that arrive in England and On
the Continent in January are our best
winter keepers and are in good de-
mand after that time. A few years
ago nearly all of the apples sent over
were sold by December. but improved
cold storage facilities have made 1t
possible to extend the time of sale,
much to the advantage of the Amer
lean fruit shipper. While the bulk of
our apples are now disposed of by the
end Of January, thousands Of barrels
are not sent over till late winter and
early spring, when they bring still
better price. 1t may be interesting
to note that even in May and June
of 1903-months in which no apples
are generally exported-the exporta-
lions amounted to over 10000 barrels.
The apples exported are mostly
raised in Northern United States. and
are shipped mainly from Boston, New
York and Portland. Boston and New
York handle over 80 per cent Of the
entire trade. San Francisco is. how
ever, developing into quite an export
ing center for apples, between 10000
and $4,000 barrels going out every
year to Australia, China and Japan.
About 400 car loads Of apples-mostly
Newton pippins-are now annually
shipped from California eastward
across the continent and sent to Eng
land. where they are very popular.
The English market wants green or
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 81 nations
or dependencies; but that our great
market is Great Britain, which takes
annually over 80 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 "a per cent of water
and six per cent Of sugar, which
means that 30 per cent Of this fruit
is produced from water and air. This
makes profitable combination to sell
abroad. 1t pleases the Europeans and
keeps the fertility in our farms. 1t
isn't every nation that can change
water and blue sky into red-cheeked
apples.-Farmers' Review.