Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1908-03-24
The Apple Question.

naTu lO ueCiu6 WucTc u UtRlu.
l have read the articles in the Turf
Farm & Home and other papers con
corning apples.
There seems to b1 quite general idea
that something is wrong. l am especial
IL interested in the business as grower
having an orchard of 1000 trees, 5000 oI
them | have set or grated during the
last IA years and am now getting from
one to two thousand barrels year.
have sold these apples at different times
in Liverpool, London, Glasgow, Ham
burg and other markets and sometimes
sold them at home.
have been in the business as buyer
more than twenty years. The crop has
increased rapidly during the last twenty
years and our facilities for handling and
maketing the crop have not kept pace
with the increase.
As we are still attending to the mar
keting of crops | will speak upon that.
Let's get at it in nut shell. All of the
markets want apples. Do they want to
buy them? No. How do they want
them? They want them on consignment.
Why? Is il in order that We may get
more money out of them or is it their
intentions TO get more money out OF
them for themselves?
Think this over little. One may
ask a pertinent question that if | being
a farmer find it profitable to ship my
own apples why should not every one?
| will answer by showing results.
In the fall of 1896 we had very large
crop of apples. Up to that time there
had been several attempts by English
houses TO establish themselves as reg
ular receivers of apples by soliciting
consignments direct from the growers.
Up to this time there had been but
small results.
The crop was the largest ever grown
up to that time and | decided that 81 90
per barrel for No. Is would be the price
to pay. l bought quite an amount al
that price. Then the unexpected hap
pened; the growers went to shipping
their own apples and there was a land
slide before | could get out of the way
and bad loss for all concerned. My
lowest net was about so per barrel but
at that time many of the growers that
shipped from this state were getting
bills of debt for freight. That is the
apples did not bring enough to pay ex-
penSes.
This has been repeated with more or
less severity whenever growers have to
any great extent attempted to ship their
own apples, including the recent season.
In October when every we'll posted
dealer knew that shipments were too
heavy they tried to s<op shipping and
buying was almost out of the question.
The men that wanted consignments
are still plenty with all sorts of induce
ments such as guarantees of nets as high
as S2 80 per barrel.
One of my acquaintances shipped two
cars of his own growing after paying 4Oc
apiece for his barrels and the high
wages for handling and up to the pres
ent time has received nothing.
The reasons for this overcrowding OF
the market and the consequent collapse
are very evident.
To illustrate $4,000 growers have 100
barrels of apples each to ship. There
are 100 men soliciting consignments,
each one trying To get more than the
others. The result will be what we
have seen, the market flooded and
collapse. Suppose the growers say to
them you want these apples to sell in
YOUR own market three thousand miles
away, buy them and sell them as you
like. They will not buy them in so
large juuks that they will ship 22o,o
in a single week as has been done this
season but if they are to have them on
commission they will take them where
ever they can get them for fear they will
90 TO some one else.
When we ship apples to England the
general impression is that they are sold
in open auction to the highest bidder.
These are the facts. Only the mem
bers of the Fruit Buyers Association
are allowed to buy and they must show
their ticket at the door and the members
that can belong to the organization are
limited.
The men that receive and sell the ap-
Piles are buyers also and belong to the
Buyers Association and get eommis'
sion for buying, that is, work both ends
of the business and get commission
from both ends.
More than this they have system OF
rejecting.
A buyer examines the fruit, opens as
MANY as he wishes to. Then one barrel
is selected indiscriminately and turned
out and the buyer bids as he thinks
best. The sale should be final but 1t il
not.
They are then allowed to make re,
lection; the theory is for cause, but
where the owner of the goods is 3OOt
ha il
A buyer makes his purchase and if the
price declines through the day he
knows he can make reflections and SC
can buy more and reject from the lrs'
purchases. The auction sale is for fiye
per cent where similar sales in this
country are for two per cent but this fivs
per cent is by no means the limit OF the
revenue the broker gets from the apples
These charges under whatever name
they are disguised go largely to the
broker.
This Broker Association is very
powerful and it is the established chan
| mel of trade and does as we'll as could oe
expected considering that the people
that own the goods are rival individual:
5000 miles away that know but yer,
Il
We have been treated to several ex
periments to sell outside of this auc
ton but they sound to me much lik'
adyen;urers aud | think If the peopl'
that have shipped apples and received
nothing for them should make them
selves known they would find that
large part of the people that have ship
ped their apples and received nothin!
for them have been taken in by thi
class. How shall we sell our apples
| say through an organization acting in
telligently.
| have been in this business quite
long time and think | know the dept
of the present system of marketing ar
pies and realize the necessity of chang
all along the line.
| | have mentioned few of the defect
of the present ways but there are man
more.
The apple business in this section
destined TO be a great industry. n
section of this country possesses bette
natural advantages and no line OF agr
culture can show so large per cent
net profit. A little later | will attemI
TO show a better way to store and MAJ
k.s apples.-R. l.. Cummings, Sout
Paris. Me-, in Turf. Farm and Home.
In the spring, cows sometimes col
tract foul in the foot as the result
standing in the mud. This trouble ma
be remedied by cleaning the spaces b'
tween che toes thoroughly by means
a bit of cloth or q piece Of rope. Su