The Prescott daily news., 1916-04-27
APPLES ARE STILL
 PLENTIFUL
Figures Show That StOrages on April 1 Held More Than Peck For Every One Uncle Sam's 20,250,000 Families.


 condition of the apple market is a matter of grave concern to both growers and dealers all over the country. The report of cold storage holdings of apples on April 1, re- gently issued by the U. S. Department of Agriculture, gives some figures which probably will cause all dealers interested in the crop to speed up the movement of this fruit in a most vigorous way. This report, which was compiled in the office of Markets and Rural Organization, shows that on the first of the present month there were approximately A per cent more apples in coId storage than at the same date one year ago, and the season of 1914-15 was one of un- usually heavy production. Figures from 427 storages indicate that nearly 33 per cent of the apples which were placed in cold storage by December 1, 1915, were still there on April waiting to be consumed.
 Hope that this will be a backward spring is general among apple deal CTS, for as long as cold days con- tinue free movement of the fruit is more certain. However, let warm weather come to stay and, judging by experiences of the past, apple sales are very likely to decrease rapidly.
 Doubtless there are several reasons for the presnt conditions. The fact that the past Season's commercial crop was considerably smaller than that of a year ago led to expectation on the part of growers and dealers alike, last fall, that the prospective market would be much stronger than has actually proven the case. As a result, much stock changed hands at values in excess of those which mar keting conditions since show were warranted. This caused higher open ing prices than in 1914 and naturally slowed up the movement. Neither growers nor dealers who held the fruit seemed inclined to push sales with the vigor that was displayed the previous year, when they had an enor- nous crop to market, and the result was that large quantities of apples were put into cold storage with the hope that the winter and spring mar kets would strengthen sufficiently to allow margin of profit. In spite of the fact that last falls commercial crop was estimated around ten mil lion barrels short of the previous one, the amount placed in cold storage eX- ceeded that stored in 1914 by about 13.5 per cent.
 A second explanation is found in the fact that exports of apples from the ports of the United States alone up to March 1, 1916, were 669, ,566 bar rels less than for a similar period last season, and April reports are expected to show a much larger diff 1 ference. Had the normal export traffic in apples prevailed, the amount of stock on hand in this country would be considerably smaller.
 In a recent brief survey of apple prices in several large markets the following facts were evinced; Pres ent wholesale prices on barreled stock are very reasonable. In fact, in many places wholesale dealers are selling below cost when storage { charges are considered. Investiga- | tions made on the same day in New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Buffalo showed that No. 1 cold storage Baldwins ana Greetings were ranging from $2.50 to S3.00 per barrel, while Ben Davis were bringing from $1.75 to $2.5O in practically every market. Last fall buyers in New York State paid the growers on an average of $500 | for No. l Baldwins and Greetings and $2.25 for Ben Davis, f. 0. b. ship ping point. Adding to these prices a fair average seasonal storage charge ! of 45 cents per barrel, and from 25 to 50 cents barrel for freight and ] handling, one can see readily that dealers apparently are not profitine at present on many of their apple sales.
 The inquiry into retail prices or apples which was made at the same