The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1904-07-14
FANCY FRUITS
TAKE TOP PRICE

HOou river valley not only Is tamOu
for the best strawberries and best ap
pies, but it is producing some fine cher
ries this year. However, it is apparen
that all growers do not understand thu
market conditions as thoroughly as the,
should. That is. they do not under
stand the necessity of culling out small
cherries and putting up fancy pack.
The trouble seems to be the cherrie,
are not packed in rows both ways anC
the bottom of the box is not filed il
sufficiently to retain the top layer il
position, consequently when the box i,
opened it presents an uninvitIng appear
ance by the rows being filled in irregu
larly and some of the cherries hayins
dropped out Of place. In addition tC
this the packers do not make the toI
rows uniform in size and put in small
cherry to fill out the row.
The Glacier makes these statements
after conversation with f. H. Shepard
manager OF the Hood River Fruit Grow.
ers' Union. Mr.. Shepard confirms his
statements by extracts from letters writ.
ten by the various dealers who received
cherries handled this year by the union
The dealer means by fancy stock, cher
ries that are properly culled and
packed in the best possible manner.
Given below are few extracts taken
from different dealers letters received
by the Hood River Fruit Growers Union
referring to cherries that have been
shipped from this valley:
"The condition of our market on
cherries is such that we are confident
that it will not pay you to ship us ex.
cept that you have fancy Royal AIMS OF
Bings."
"We received from you some different
lots of cherries, some OF which were
very fancy, and some of which were
very poor, and slackly packed. Now
we want to say there is absolutely nc
use to ship us anything but absolutely
fancy stock to this market"
The Glacier might quote from a num-
Der of other letters received all of which
are similar, and go to show that some
people in Hood River are putting up
nicely packed cherries while others are
not. Another letter:
81 did not notice the shippers names
on the few boxes of Royal AIMS and
Bings, as they were mixed, but who.
ever it was please compliment them on
the way they were packed. We can say
safely, that cherries put up in this way
will bring 25c SOC box more than or
dinarily packed cherries. Such pack
er deserves credit for his work, but it
would be benefit to your community
at large if they would copy after him. "
Now ii seems reasonable to suppose
that if grower fully appreciated the
fact that he could get 25c to SOC box
more for cherries properly packed, that
it would pay him well, for the reason
that fancy pack could be put up at a
very small added ost,say of few cents.
San Jose and Newcastle, California,
ship a great many cherries East to Chi
cago, New York and Boston. The box
es are all labeled with the growers
name and number, and usually sold by the
large commission houses on the auction
plan basis. They are all graded and
marked according to the quality, size
and pack, with the designating terms
extra fancy, fancy, nine-row, nine and
one halfrow, ,ten-row, etc.
The commission house handling these
cherries in large Eastern city issues a
daily sheet of which Mr.. Shepard
showed the printer great many. The
prices that these different grades bring
teach lesson that would be of profit to
Hood River fruit growers. On one day g
sheet it was noticed where these differ
ent grades brought $3.50, a40, $l.30,
$1.25, 81. .I5. 81 .05, 95c, 75c, zoe, 65c and
60c. In other words, the same variety
of cherries, according to the size and
manner in which they were packed
brought from 60c to $3.50. That is, the
best put up brought 21a times as much
as the ordinary grade slackly packed.
1t might be added that the lesson taught
by this deduction not only applies to
our cherries, but to apples and in fact
all the fruit put up and shipped out of
this valley.
at has also been ascertained" said
Mr.. Shepard, "that nearly all dealers
give as the best selling varieties, Royal
AIMS, Bings, Lamberts. Bings seem to
be the most popular of any and is GER
tainly the handsomest looking cherry
as well as the best, equal in flavor il not
superior. 1t is also true that the dark
cherries, Bings and Lamberts present
better appearance after being shipped,
for the reason the dark cherries do not
show the bruises so distinctly as the
lighter color, such as AIMS.
"Markets vary in price, some being
supplied with such quantity of local
cherries that it is almost impossible to
find any sale, while other markets
bring wonderful prices. One dealer
sold fancy packed Bings as high as 81
per ten pound box, but this market can
not be reached by Hood River fruit
growers until they are able to ship
there in car lots.
"Whle returns are not completely in
for cherries already shipped and the
season is not over, it is thought they
will bring from SOC to 81 90 according to
variety, quality and condition of the
pack. We ascertained one other fact
that will be of value to the Hood River
cherry growers, and that Hood River
cherries ripen later than most of the
other cherry growing districts, and aft
er other districts have marketed their
crops indications are that cherries will
bring better money, consequently it
would seem best for the Hood River
people to consider the advisability of
planting the later ripening varieties, as
they are then likely to strike the mar
kets when not crowded While on the
other hand if they planted early varie-
ties, the first cherries would come in
competition with the bulk of the crop
from other sections, at which time
cherries seem to be the lowest in price
In fact this opinion is in accordance
with numbero OF letters that have been
received, as great many dealers have
stated there would be good mar
ket in their city for our cherries when
the others were out af the way. As the
Bings and Lamberts are comparatively
late cherries and very popular, it would
seem that they are worth a great deal
of consideration.
"There is one point further to be con-
aidered in reference to cherries, and that
is, should markets be glutted it would
be difficult to dispose Of large crop of
Bings and Lamberts, while on the other
hand if man had Ropal AIMS he
could at least sell them to cannery, re.
alizing about 311Rc pound, as the can
neries prefer light cherries, such as Roy
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