The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1920-07-29

Commission men handling fruit in
various Montana cities report that
fruit for canning this year will be
scarce and high in price. This con-
dition, taken in conjunction with the
high price of sugar, will result in
housewives putting up very little can
ned fruit and preserves. The report
of n prominent commission house is
as follows:
Max Weinstein, manager of the
Capitol Commission comptny, reports
on the fruit situation this year, as
follows:
California depended upon chiefly
for eating fruits, is about through
shipping. There are four districts
that this section gets fruit from. Cal
ifornia is the first of the season and
it's crop was rather short this year.
Next On the list, with shipments
just starting, is Lewiston, Idaho.
From here come the apricots used for
canning. The large shipments will
not start from there for about an
other week, but indications are that
the supply will be fairly plentiful.
Ii 0lOIllCG Ii IdhIIldg
Wash, from where m early mix
ed fruits for canning and eating, and
fourth is Wenatchee, with the same
kind of a crop.
Canned Fruit High.
Canning fruit will start to come in
the last 10 days of July and from
then on through August. There will
be very little canning fruit, other
than pears, to be had this year. The
housewife, however, will be better off
financially to stock up what little
canning fruit she does want, even
with the higher prices prevailing,
than to wait until fall and depend
upon buying goods already canned.
The high prices of labor and mater
ials will make the factory canned
fruits almost prohibitive.
Yakima this year is promising no
peaches. In the past it was possible
to wire there for a carload On a spe-
cia1 order and have it shipped out
within five hours. This year the COM
mission houses must place a blanket
order for their car of peaches and
take what is sent. The crop is so
short that the distributing concerns
will have to gather up the odds and
ends here and there and fill the or
ders from them. Broadly speaking,
there will be no fruit for canning this
year.
Peaches opened at 80 cents a box
last year., f. o. b.. the shipping point.
This year they opened at $1.10 and
subsequently went as high as $1.25.
The freight from Yakima is 27 cents
a box.
The housewife who last year
bought peaches at 81 a box will be
lucky this year if she gets them for
Pears Plentiful.
Pears promise to be plentiful and
will be the same as they were
last year, or about $3.50 per box
when the season is at it's height. This
is the average price paid for pears
for the past several years.
The suggestion has been made
the shipping points that due to
the short crop of other fruits, only
orders should be asked for.
There are plenty of pickers and good
wages are being paid, according to
word from the orchards.
The prices IN peaches and pears
are actually at the true level created
by supply and demand. This has to
be so because when these ~perishable
fruits are on the market they have
to be sold. Lemons have reduced in
50 a box within the past week,
while oranges have taken a jump of
So. Neither of these changes will be
reflected there, however, for at least
two weeks.
The crop of apples is somewhat
less in most growing centers than it
was last year and the prices this fall
are going to be high. Hood River
say that only SO per CEN of
he crop of 1918 could be looked for
rom that locality and Idaho apples
will run about so per cent of last
crop.
Sour cherries will start coming in
the Bitter Root in about a week.
Prices will be the same as last year
IN this fruit, or about $3.50 a crate
1t the height of the season. The
iweet cherries are about through.
Seed Was High.
Potatoes will be back to 2 cents a
Pound this fall. The reason for the
'aise this year was not a shortage.
The crop was frozen in the ware
Houses at the point of shipment last
october through a condition that was
distinctly unusual that the ship
,ers were not prepared for it. Thou
ands of crates of potatoes were
Doi1ad in q oo1d SnaD WhpO fha fem