Smyrna times., 1930-07-30
DELAWARE EARLY APPLE CROP
COMES To CLOSE THIS WEEK
AND PRICES RE
PORTED BELOW AVERAGE
Due to Dry Season the Apples
Failed to Grade to Size and
Thousands were Left on Trees

TdIieu 10 Ordue TO Size and
Thousands were Left on Trees
The early apple season in Della
ware will practically close this
week and according to w. T. Der
ickson, Director of the Bureau of
Markets, of the State Board of
Agriculture, some growers report
a fair season while many other
growers report that both the total
shipments and prices received were
below the average. The season
started about July 25, which was
two or three days later than last
year. The harvesting season was
peculiar in that Transparent,
Early Ripe, and Fourth of July ap-
pies all come on practically at the
same time and, where there is US
ually a slack period between the
shipment of Transparents and Will
hams, this year the Williams came
on about July II, at which time
the Transparents were not more
than from one-half to two thirds
shipped. The growers who were
able to get the bulk of their Trans
parents off previous to July IL
realized good prices. The prices
up to that time ranged principally
from S1.75 to $2.10 per bushel for
the best quality fruit; however, on
July IL there was a sharp break
in the Transparent market and it
did not recover Williams started
at good prices, ranging for the first
few days from S1.75 to $3.50 per
bushel for best fruit; however, this
price range was not maintained
and during the heaviest shipping
period, the prices ranged from $50
to S1.00 per bushel. Several car
loads of Williams apples have been
placed in cold storage and will be
sold during the next month or six
weeks. The early apples in this
State this year were generally
very clean and particularly free
from disease or insect injury. Due
to a number of reasons, principal
ly because of the dry weather, the
Delaware apples did not get as
large this year as they are during
the average season. Many grow
ers were unable to pick all of their
Transparents due to the fact that
many of them were small, and
thousands of bushels of small ap-
plies were left on the trees. Dur
ing an ordinary season, Delaware
growers will begin shipping two
inch minimum Transparents and
within a few days later will not
have any difficulty in making a
two and one-quarter inch mini
mum. This year many growers
had to pack all of their Transpar-
ents two inch minimum and many
shipped as small as one and three
quarter inch minimum size. The
Williams apples were not as large
as in an average year. In most
years, Delaware growers will have
no trouble in grading their Will
liams on the basis of two and one
half inch minimum size; however,
this year there was a very small
percentage of two and one-half
inch minimum Williams shipped,
and many growers experienced
considerable difficulty in meeting
the two and one-quarter inch min
imum requirements. Practically
all of the apples were inspected
and certified the same as in pre-
vious years. Mr.. w. T. Derickson,
who is in charge of this work, ad-
vises that approximately six hum
dred seventy-five cars were in
spected; this includes the ship
ments in both cars and trucks.
Practically all of the difficulty in
the i Inspection and certification
was confined to undersized apples.
Naturally, this was true in view of
the difficulties that the growers
had in meeting the size require
ments. The growers generally
made every possible effort to meet
the size requirements as indicated
on the top of their packages, but
in spite of their efforts, much of
the fruit, when officially inspected,
was found to range from ten to
thirty-five per cent under the min
imum size indicated In cases of
this kind it was, of course, neces-
sary for the fruit TO be marked
according to the actual minimum
size.
Heat Wave Broken; Cooler To-day