The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1907-11-01
COM MISSION ROW
NOTES FROM THE MARKET

In the last issue we mentioned
some apple sales in Hood River at very
high prices. 1t has been said that
with the heavy crop in Washington
and Oregon, the commission men fear
that the result of these high prices
will be to reduce consumption to such
an extent that the resultant market
will be disappointing.
Of course, there is no doubt mani
tested as to the fact that the high
grade apples will bring the best OF
prices this year, but all apples are not
alike, and just because fancy grades
are bringing good prices is no reason
why fruit of poorer quality, just be-
cause it is an apple, is going to bring
an equally good price. The produc-
ton of apples on the west side of the
mountains will be sufficient to supply
the demand of the coast markets for
cooking purposes, and, after all, the
greater portion of the apples marketed
each year are used for cooking. The
market for eating apples is small in
comparison.
H. S. Emerson was one of the Sc
attic business men who recently made
up an excursion through the Inland
Empire country, stopping off at nearly
all the important towns along the
route. Mr.. Emerson was much i'm
pressed with some of the exhibits OF
fruit he saw at various points in the
fruit growing district. He was Sc
pleased with a display of apples he
saw at the state fair that he pur.
chased the entire exhibit and had it
shipped to him at Seattle. The ship.
ment consists of 81 boxes of apples
grown by various ranchers at Gran.
ger, Washington, and were packed by
the Yakima Valley Fruit association
While the apples were of splendid
quality and appearance, it was the
way they were packed which attracted
Mr.. Emerson's eye the most. In the
first place, they were very carefully
graded and selected as to size and
appearance. The apples in each box
were all of uniform size and were uni
formly beautiful fruit.
AS they arrived in Seattle, they were
packed in we'll made boxes all of one
size and of clean white wood, and
label on the end of each box: Fruit
From the Yakima Valley, Washing
ton" They also bore the stamp OF
the individual producer. On lifting
the cover of the box, one encountered
pasteboard placards between the top
of the box and the fruit, also announc.
ing that the apples were from the
Yakima valley in Washington. Each
apple was separately and neatly
wrapped in white tissue paper. The
entire effect was one which would i'm.
mediately impress the buyer with the
quality even before he really saw the
fruit inside. Even if there had been
poor apples inside, the buyers i'm
preston would have been that he was
getting something of the very best
quality obtainable, but, of course, the
apples were of the finest quality in
the United States. But just as the
dress at first impression denotes the
man, so the packing denotes the ap
pie. The buyer who gets box OF
apples put up this way knows he is
getting something good, and will pay
for it accordingly. The very same ap
pies poorly packed would not have
given the quality impression to the
buyer.
Another beauty about these apples
was that the labels on the outside
denoted where they were grown and
were an eloquent advertisement fol
the Yakima valley. The buyer who
gets apples of that sort remembers
where they came from the next year
when he comes to buy apples, and il
he has been pleased with their quality
will call for Yakima apples again
Without this label, he might never
think of it, no matter how well pleased
he WAS with his nurchaSa