Mexico weekly ledger., 1921-08-04
SUPPLY AND DEMAND

NaANN NiN PANEiNso VI NhaASNSA NS'-
ditions you please but as soon as you
loosen your hold, conditions will au-
tomatically bring you and your pro-
ject back to supply and demand.
From this theory which is the ruling
factor | will proceed to my subject
which is upon the fruit shortage and
famine sure TO come in the near fu-
ture of the State Of Missouri. About
twenty-five years ago it could be
seen that there was a shortage OF
fruit but not one-half so great a
shortage as we are facing today. The
business men and substantial farmers
saw this and set about to remedy it.
Is there as much as one commercial
orchard Of apple, pear, peach, plum
or cherry in Audrain county at the
present time under seven years of
age? If there is / do not know of
it. Isn't it enough for us to take
notice, stop a moment and think?
Where are we to get our future sup
ply OF fruit? You may not look for
commercial orchards to be planted
until prices soar so high and fruit
gets to be so profitable that it be-
comes necessary and do not believe
that will happen for about five to
seven years from now. Here is my
reason for this statement: Twenty
years ago Missouri had 2l,000,000
fruit trees, the largest number of any
state in the union. Today she has
fallen down to about 100000 trees
and believe within five to seven
years one-half OF these will have
served their mission and passed
away Then there will be a real
awakening and the commercial orch
ard will be planted. Then what are
we to do waiting three to four years
for the peach, cherry and plum and
five to seven years for the apple and
pear? If there is revival at once,
resulting in the farmer growing his
own fruit, it will be a great help to
hold high prices in check to the man
who raises his own fruit, and should
he have a little surplus to sell will
get profitable price. A little sur
plus will also help to adjust prices.
So the town people will not have to
work eight to ten hours hard for one
bushel OF apples or peaches as he
will have to do in the year 1921.
hope and believe we will never see
prices any higher than now With my
thirty years experience with fruit and
of records of the number of
fruit trees in Missouri | believe we
may reasonably look for fruit prices
to be entirely too high for what we
have to sell off the farm to buy the
fruit with We may see fruit prices
in the year 1922 at normal or below,
but for the next five to ten years we
will see fruit entirely too high on the
average and that for just as many
more years as we neglect to set new
trees. The trees are not here and
we may expect to reap as we SOW
or~plant.
Some will say this is not fruit
country. If you show a Missourian
the big dollars he will show you the
goods You show him a net loss and
he soon quits you. That is why we
are where we are today in the fruit
growing business. In 1910 within
twenty-five miles of Mexico in Rails
county l bought about twelve car
loads or six thousand bushels of as
fine a lot of apples as l believe l
ever saw, at fifteen cents bushel on
the trees and eighteen cars delivered
at the loading station at thirty to
fifty cents per bushel, according to
the quality and variety. With proper
varieties and care you need not
worry about the growing of the fruit
but the thing for you now to worry
about is having good young trees, OF
which we are now seventy per cent
below normal Twenty years ago we
were about forty per cent above nor
NAL. This accounts for such cheap
prices ten years later than that.
do not look for Missouri to get back
to normal in the production of trees
for about six to ten years, then we
must still wait for trees to come to
bearing age.
Compare the following figures:
Ten years ago l bushel apples or
peaches would buy 3 pounds strain
ed honey, today 81 pounds.
Ten years ago l bushel apples or
peaches would buy 4 pounds sugar,
today 43 opunds.
Ten years ago l bushel apples or
peaches would buy 2 pounds wool,
today, IS pounds.
Ten years ago bushel apples or
peaches would buy pounds green
hides, today 100 pounds.
Ten years ago l bushel apples or
peaches would buy pounds fat
hogs, today "a pounds.
| Ten years ago ! bushel apples or
peaches would buy 2 pounds fat cow,
toda,, 7c .,1-sJ.