The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1911-06-22

are not yet in, and | am able to give
you exact prices for only the follow
ing varieties, the prices in each case
being for fancy four-tier:
Jonathan ..................... Las
Gravenstem ...........-.-...-... As
hlng OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. Lis
Spltzenburg ...................... .z.UO
Newtown. ...-......,...........l .l.SO
Ben Davis s................... 90
The last three are approximate, but
are close enough to be correct.
Thousands of boxes of earlier and
cheaper varieties sold for well under
the dollar mark, even going as low as
65 cents per box in some cases.
The 1910 crop was bumper one in
the northwest. There are over fifty
unions and selling agencies of different
kinds, and each of these, acting indie
pendently of the other and not know
ing what the other was doing, crowded
the early varieties into the New York
market. OF course, the bottom dropped
out of the market, to the great loss of
the grower of these earsller varieties.
MIR. Sproat, seeing the condition of the
market and that to sell was to sacri-
flee, Immediately put thoCsandds of
boxes into cold storage and sent great
quantities to other parts of the
country, and in this way reduced the
possible loss very materially. The fact
remains, however, that western grow
ers made but little profit this year,
even in the face of crop shortage in
| the east. Prof. Lewis of the Oregon
Agricultural college places the average
net returns at,not to exceed $500 per
acre. OF course, the Portland market
| is not considered, because only a few
seconds and culls are sent there, the
fancy apples all going east or south.
The culls are sold to the vinegar
factory at 81 per ton.
The solution of the distribution
problem lies in a combination, or trust,
if | may use that word. From the
many orchard propositions you have
| heard about you no doubt fear there
will be over production. The problem,
| however, is not one of over production,
but one of distribution. BY holding
the crop in warehouses and letting a
central selling agency distribute 1t
among the markets of the world as
demand warrants it, the grower need
not fear that his apples will be sold at
less than cost of production. A con-
vention of growers met in Portland
| this winter and took the first steps
toward forming such combination,
and it is hoped to have this in opera
tion in time to handle the 1911 crop.
No doubt you wonder what it costs
to produce box of apples and place it
on the market, and can only give you
my figures for last year as nearly as
possible:
Spraying, pruning, cultiveting, ETC.,
| 10 cents.
Picking, 5 cents.
Packing, 6 cents.
Orchard haul, / cent.
Wipng, grading and other packing
house expenses, cents.
Boxes. including making, IL cents.
Paper, 81 cents.
Hauling to depot.and freight to Hood
River, liz cents.
Union commission, 10 cents.
Total, 68 cents, or approximately GU
cents, not including commission. Labor
is very high, ordinary pickers being
paid $2. 80 per day, and, with hay at
$25, barley, $28'to $50 per ton. the cost
of keepingsshorses is a hervy burden
and eats into the profits OF the busi-
ness.
| | have tried to cover the entire sub
ject as briefly and comprehensively as
possible, ,Fgiving you such information
as ! consider an easterner and a pros
pectivelbuyer would want to know.
have thrown about the subject no halo,
nofromance, no frills-simply facts in
plain language, believing that the
| truth is good enough. do not doubt
but that there is money in the raising
of apples in any of fthe fruit districts
of the Pacific coast, .as is evidenced by
the many prosperous orchardists Eir
this and other valleys. The most sue.
cessful ones are those who took up land
when it was cheap, and afterl prices
had advanced, sssold part of their hold
ings at fancy figure. Those coming
later and paying these advanced prices
haveTnotT otTfared so well. 1t is ques
ton how much money you should have
to start on, as it depends largely
whether you want to take raw or i'm
/, prved land, but in any case it is bes
to be fortified with few Thousand
dollars to keep things going until you
,, orchard comes into bearing.
, In conclusion, after calmly consider
ing the matter from all sides and il
the light:of my first years experience
| would.say to you without hesitation
, Come vest Come, not with the get
rich quick idea, but with the determi
nation to live your life where al
! things combine to make life wort
] living. To be sure, there will be wor
/ and plenty of it, but your labor will b
rauardad AR