XI B R.ARY OF THE U N IVLR.SITY OF 1LLI NO1S NOTICE: Return or renew all Library Materials! The Minimum Fee for each Lost Book is $50.00. The person charging this material is responsible for its return to the library from which it was withdrawn on or before the Latest Date stamped below. Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books are reasons for discipli- nary action and may result in dismissal from the University. To renew call Telephone Center, 333-8400 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN L16I 0-1096 MARKETING Illinois APPLE CROP PRESENT PRACTICES and HISTORICAL REVIEW Bulletin 497 By J . W. UOYD and V. A. EKSTROM UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION COVER PICTURES Upper left: A familiar scene at Hardin, in Calhoun county, before the Illinois river bridge was built. The steamship Golden Eagle figured prominently in the trans- portation of apples from this county. In the foreground are barges loaded with apples to be propelled by power boat to East Hardin. Upper right: The Illinois river bridge built at Hardin in 1931. With the building of this bridge, transportation of apples by river practically ceased. Lower left: A truck taking on a load of apples at a large packing shed for delivery to the markets. Lower right: Apples coming in from the orchard to the packing shed. CONTENTS FACE CHARACTERISTICS OF COMMERCIAL APPLE AREAS 498 Number of Trees 498 Carlot Shipments 500 Total Production 501 Predominating Varieties 501 Organization of Fruit Farms 503 DEVELOPMENT OF GRADING AND PACKING FACILITIES 505 Introduction of Shed Packing 505 Equipment for Spray- Residue Removal 507 Spray-Residue Restrictions 507 CHANGES IN TYPE OF PACKAGE 508 Adoption of Tub Bushel 509 Attempts to Introduce Box Packing 510 DEVELOPMENT IN GRADING STANDARDS AND THEIR USE.... 510 Early Attempts at Federal Legislation 511 Adoption of Official Grades for Illinois 511 Revisions of Grade Designations and Specifications 512 Lag in General Use of Official Grades 513 Standardization Act 514 Percentages of Different Grades 515 CHANGES IN TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES AND METHODS.. 516 Railway and River Transportation 517 Increase in Truck Shipments 519 Extension of Hard-Road Connections 520 METHODS OF SALE 521 Outlets for Late Apples 522 Outlets for Early Apples 523 Outlets for Different Grades of Apples 523 Sales in Packages and in Bulk 525 COOPERATIVE PACKING AND MARKETING 527 Illinois Fruit Growers Exchange 527 Calhoun Apple Exchange 528 CONTENTS (concluded) PAGE PRICES OF ILLINOIS APPLES 529 1937 Prices to Western Illinois Growers 529 Trice Differentials in 1939 530 Prices of Western Illinois Apples in 1941 535 GOVERNMENT PURCHASES OF APPLES 536 MARKETING PROBLEM IN YEARS OF HEAVY CROP 539 Best Time to Market 539 Less Winter Storage of Heavy Crops 539 Advantages of Pushing Fall Sales 541 PROBLEM OF CULL APPLES 542 Good Care of Orchards Reduces Culls 542 Apple Cider and Apple Chop 543 PRESENT-DAY SALES OPPORTUNITIES 543 OUTLOOK FOR THE ILLINOIS APPLE INDUSTRY 544 SUMMARY.. . 546 Some of the data included in this bulletin were previously published in the fol- lowing reports: Marketing Calhoun County Apples. 111. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 312 (June, 1928), by J. W. Lloyd and H. M. Newell. An Economic Study of Some Problems of Western Illinois Apple Growers. Farm Credit Admin. Misc. Rpt. 13 (April, 1937), by H. W. Mumford, Jr., and S. W. Decker. Three mimeographed reports issued by the Illinois Station: Marketing the 1937 Crop of Fall and Winter Apples in Western Illinois (July, 1938), The Southern Illinois Tree-Fruit Industry, Summary of a Survey (May, 1939), both by V. A. Ekstrom; and Trucking Illinois Fruits and Vegetables in Wartime (February, 1943), by J. W. Lloyd and R. A. Kelly. The last forty years of the fifty-year period covered in this study coincide with the period of active service of the senior author at the Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station. Urbana, Illinois August, 1943 Publications in the Bulletin series report the results of investigations made or sponsored by the Experiment Station Marketing the Illinois Apple Crop Present Practices and Historical Review By J. W. LLOYD, Chief in Fruit and Vegetable Marketing, and V. A. EKSTROM, formerly Associate in Fruit and Vegetable Marketing APLES are the most important fruit produced in Illinois. Altho they are grown in every county, commercial production has developed principally in three general areas. The western area along the Mississippi and Illinois rivers including particularly Cal- houn, Pike, Adams, Jersey, and Greene counties now predominates in apple production ; whereas formerly the area centering around Marion county and including Clay, Richland, Wayne, Jefferson, and Wash- ington produced the most apples. Recently the second position has been taken by the extreme southern area, made up principally of Union, Johnson, Jackson, Williamson, and Pulaski counties. This bulletin discusses the characteristics of the three producing areas designated above ; traces the development of grading and pack- ing facilities during the past forty years ; discusses the introduction of standardized grading; describes the changes that have taken place in types of packages and methods of transportation; discusses apple prices, the relative importance of various sales outlets, and special mar- Fig. 1. Young apple orchard on typical site in Calhoun county. On many Calhoun county farms more than half the cropland is occupied by orchards. This is the most important apple-producing county in the state. 497 498 BULLETIN No. 497 [August, keting problems in years of heavy crop; and considers briefly the present outlook for the Illinois apple industry. CHARACTERISTICS OF COMMERCIAL APPLE AREAS Number of Trees The number of bearing apple trees in the state as a whole and in the various counties has changed markedly in the past fifty years. Calhoun is the only county in the state which had more than 500,000 trees of bearing age in 1940; whereas in 1900 there were four such counties, all in the Marion county area. The zenith in number of bearing trees was reached about 1900, when, according to the 12th U. S. Census Report, there were 13,430,- 006 such trees. The lowest number in the past fifty years was recorded in 1940, when there were only 2,397,749 trees (Table 1). In 1900, 44 counties had more than 100,000 trees each (Fig. 2). Both number of trees and number of counties having more than 100,- 000 trees almost doubled in the ten years from 1890 to 1900. In the Marion county area, tree numbers decreased rapidly after 1910. By 1930 there were only about one- tenth as many trees in this area as in 1900, and there was still further decline by 1940. The Union county area reached its low point in tree numbers in 1920; but as a result of new plantings about that time, bearing trees TABLE 1. NUMBERS OF APPLE TREES IN 16 PREDOMINATING COUNTIES IN THE THREE ILLINOIS COMMERCIAL AREAS, 1890-1940 Area and county 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 Marion county area Marion 168 785 795 188 622 234 269 998 116 216 85 744 Clay 109 454 751 727 445 859 186 577 55 341 16 868 Richland 99 237 258 418 388 125 128 887 57 037 7 670 Wayne 139 044 604 215 278 942 100 434 14 964 10 508 Jefferson 117 770 533 027 379 750 94 742 47 862 48 967 Washington 86 853 226 835 163 392 57 893 37 419 26 656 Total 721 143 3 229 410 2 278 302 838 531 328 839 196 413 Union county area Union 152 362 305 557 203 496 119 826 267 840 155 516 Jackson 122 714 282 051 127 732 76 515 127 170 121 009 Johnson 76 066 163 411 122 711 120 421 232 886 198 205 Williamson 142 119 333 655 159 047 78 580 105 753 61 102 Pulaski 42 577 103 486 44 605 12 786 34 437 22 384 Total 535 848 1 188 160 657 591 518 128 798 086 558 216 Western Illinois area Calhoun 126 953 336 734 348 888 294 920 600 360 513 828 Pike 108 030 217 746 227 296 148 916 158 243 94 415 Adams 131 560 216 896 232 543 128 499 86 821 59 858 Jersey 54 693 72 509 83 528 52 002 113 577 105 345 Greene 52 077 112 631 103 089 61 222 81 171 20 531 Total 473 313 956 516 995 344 685 759 1 040 172 793 977 Total for 16 counties. . 1 730 304 5 374 086 3 931 237 2 042 418 2 167 097 1 548 606 Total for Illinois 6 949 336 13 430 006 9 900 627 5 113 063 3 718 007 2 397 749 1943] MARKETING THE ILLINOIS APPLE CROP 499 1900 1940 Fig. 2. Important Illinois apple counties. Left: in 1900. Right: same counties in 1940 plus Jersey and Massac. The outstanding importance of the Marion county area in 1900 and the great increase in the relative importance of the western area by 1940 are clearly shown. (Each dot represents 10,000 trees of bearing age; the bar indicates less than 10,000 trees. In the 1900 map only counties with more than 100,000 trees are marked.) had increased by 1930 to nearly 800,000. In 1940 there were more bearing trees than in 1920 but less than half as many as in 1900. Unlike the other areas, the western Illinois area had more bearing trees in 1930 than in 1900, owing especially to the development of the apple industry in Calhoun county. In 1940 there were approximately 83 percent as many as in 1900. A much larger proportion of the apple trees in the state were in the commercial producing areas in 1940 than in 1900. In the three Census years 1900, 1910, and 1920, the proportion of the state's bear- ing trees in the 16 counties named in Table 1 remained at approxi- mately 40 percent of the total in the state. In 1930 the percentage had increased to 58 and in 1940 to 64. All the counties listed in Table 1 except Wayne and Washington were designated by the U. S. Department of Agriculture in 1940 as "commercial apple counties," as were also Pope, Massac, and Macoupin 500 BULLETIN No. 497 [August, counties. In making these designations, consideration was given to many factors besides the number of trees of bearing age. Many Illinois counties other than those listed in Table 1 produce apples for market. Many of them really constitute extensions of the three commercial areas ; others are in somewhat isolated locations and principally supply local markets. Several counties having more than 100,000 trees in 1900 have never been commercially important because many of their trees were in small orchards on general farms and were not maintained for market purposes. Carlot Shipments For the years 1924, 1925, and 1926, before long-distance truck movement had become much of a factor in the marketing of Illinois apples, the combined carlot shipments of apples from the 16 counties listed in Table 1 constituted 82, 81, and 88 percent respectively of the carlot shipments (including carlot equivalents by boat) from the entire state (Table 2). Undoubtedly these figures represent a fairly true picture of the relative quantities marketed from these counties and from the rest of the state. Carlot shipments in recent years are of course a much less reliable measure of the relative movement of apples from different areas than they were before long-distance truck move- ment became important. TABLE 2. CARLOT SHIPMENTS OF APPLES FROM 16 COUNTIES IN THE THREE ILLINOIS COMMERCIAL AREAS, 1924, 1925, 1926 Area and county 1924 192S 1926 Marion county area cars cars cars Marion 154 319 195 Clay 151 153 119 Richland 146 234 101 Wayne 7 12 Jefferson 2 14 4 Washington 20 40 16 Total 484 772 435 Union county area Union 375 346 622 Jackson 99 71 141 Johnson 157 369 191 Williamson 11 21 16 Pulaski Total 642 807 970 Western Illinois area Calhoun 1 187> 1 248>> 1 365>> Pike 1 165 891 969 Adams 446 218 325 Jersey 190 320 253 Greene 702 1 207 948 Total 3 690 3 884 3 860 Total for 16 counties . 4 816 5 465 5 265 Total for Illinois 5 830 6 708 5 965 Percent from 16 counties 82 81 88 Some shipments were made from stations outside the county where the apples were produced, but within the same commercial area. b lncludes boat shipments calculated to carlot equivalents. 1943} MARKETING THE ILLINOIS APPLE CROP Total Production 501 Even on the basis of total production, including that from all farm orchards as well as all commercial orchards in the state, these 16 counties in 1939 produced 73 1 percent of the state's crop. Further- more the predominance of the western Illinois area is indicated by the fact that it was credited with producing 49 1 percent of the total apple crop of the state in 1939 (Table 3). TABLE 3. TOTAL PRODUCTION OF APPLES IN 16 COUNTIES IN THE THREE ILLINOIS COMMERCIAL AREAS, 1939* Area and county Number of 1,000 bushels Percent of state crop Area and county Number of 1,000 bushels Percent of state crop Marion county area Marion 162 3.47 Western Illinois area 893 19.14 Clay 29 62 Pike 647 13 86 Richland . . . . 30 .64 335 7 18 11 23 300 6 43 Jefferson 97 2.07 Greene 104 2.23 Washington . . . . 33 .70 Total 2 279 48 84 Total 362 7 76 Total for 16 counties. . . . . 3 392 72.71 Union county area 4 665 100 Union 274 5.87 126 2 70 264 5 66 Williamson . . 67 1.43 Pulaski 20 42 Total 751 16.09 From I". S. Census Report for 1940. Predominating Varieties In different areas the predominating varieties differ. In the Union county area early varieties dominate the apple industry, with Yellow Transparent as the outstanding single variety and Winesap as the most important late variety. In the Marion county area the Jonathan is by far the most important variety, with Rome in second place. Among the early varieties Duchess outranks Yellow Transparent. In the western Illinois area, also, Jonathan is the most important variety. However, this region is the only area in the state where the Willow is important; so that variety is often considered its most characteristic variety. Delicious, altho grown in all three regions, is probably best adapted to the western Illinois area, where it usually develops better color. Golden Delicious is increasing in importance thruout the state while Grimes is on the decline. It is worthy of note that six varieties made up 85.3 percent of the total number of trees in the Union county area in 1938; seven varieties, 82.2 percent in the Marion county area; and seven varieties, 84.1 per- cent in the western Illinois area in 1936 (Table 4). Calculated from data in U. S. Census Report for 1940. 502 BULLETIN No. 497 [August, TABLE 4. PERCENTAGES OF APPLE TREES OF DIFFERENT VARIETIES IN EACH THE THREE ILLINOIS COMMERCIAL AREAS* (Trees of all ages are included) OF Variety Union county area 1938(172 growers) Marion county area 1938 (24 growers) Western Illinois area 1936 (313 growers) All three areas Early Yellow Transparent percl. 36 . 7 perct. 7 9 perct. 2 1 perct. 12 5 Duchess 5.1 11.5 2.1 3.3 3 2 9 Wealthy 1.3 8 4 i 3 2 Other 2.1 .1 6 1.0 Total 48 . 4 20.3 8.9 20.9 Late 4.7 24.4 26.2 19.8 1.7 3.6 6.8 5.2 Delicious 10.8 11.3 10.0 10.3 5.6 8 8 8.5 7.7 3 14.2 2.1 1.9 King David 1.1 .7 Kinnard 1.6 (b) .5 22.4 4.1 8.4 12.4 Stayman 1.2 .9 1.1 1.1 Willow 17.0 11.4 Ben Davis" and Gano .... 1.1 2.6 7.2 5.2 York 5 4.2 1.2 1.1 Turley 5 4.0 .3 Black Twig 1.5 1.1 Other 1.2 1.6 ( d ) .4 Total 51.6 79.7 91.1 79.1 The data given here are based on tree surveys recorded in (1) Miscellaneous Report No. 13. Farm Credit Administration, p. 8, 1937; and (2) "The Southern Illinois Tree Fruit Industry." P- 18 (mimeo.). 111. Agr. Exp. Sta., 1939. b Less than .1 percent. Altho at one time more than a third of the apple trees in Illinois were of the Ben Davis variety, which was grown in all areas, this variety is now relatively unimportant. d Miscellaneous late varieties of minor importance are not included in the western Illinois data. The tendency in commercial apple regions is toward fewer vari- eties and those of better quality or with special adaptations to par- ticular uses. The latest recommendations of the Illinois State Horti- cultural Society 1 for commercial planting include only six varieties for the Union county area, nine for the Marion county area, and eight for western Illinois. Rome and Stayman, not yet important in western Illinois, are likely to become so in view of the relatively high per- centage of young trees and the recommendation for additional plant- ings. It is significant that in each of the three areas three varieties (Jonathan, Delicious, and Golden Delicious) are among the first five in point of tree numbers. In a survey made in fifteen Illinois counties in the fall of 1939, the actual number of bushels of each variety of apples sold that year was reported by each of the 154 growers interviewed and by the managers of two organizations. Thirty-three different varieties were reported, including many of minor importance, but seven varieties Jonathan, Yellow Transparent, Golden Delicious, Willow, Delicious, Winesap, '111. State Hort. Soc. Trans. 76, 36-37. 1942. 1943] MARKETING THE ILLINOIS APPLE CROP 503 TABLE 5.- -RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF APPLE VARIETIES AS SHOWN BY ACTUAL SALES OF 154 GROWERS AND Two ORGANIZATIONS IN 1939 Variety Total All Western Two Southern quantity three Illinois Illinois areas sold areas (4 counties)* (11 counties)* ku. perct. perct. perct. J..n.uh.ui 148641 21.7 31.6 12.6 Yellow Transparent 133487 19.5 .5 36.7 Golden Delicious 70153 10.2 10.5 10.0 Willow 60811 8.9 18.6 Delicious 55223 8.1 13.8 2.8 Winesap 47172 6.9 2.6 10.7 Grimes 39332 5.7 8.0 3.6 Seven varieties (554819) (81.0) (85.6) (76.4) Ben Davis and Gano 23000 3.4 4.6 2.2 Rome 22775 3.3 .8 5.6 Duchess 18103 2.6 .2 4.8 South Carolina Summer 12354 1.8 .... 3.5 Champion 11840 1.7 3.6 King David 8570 1.3 2.2 .3 Wealthy 7770 1.1 .5 1.7 York 7508 1.1 .3 1.8 Stayman 3481 .5 .4 .6 Kinnard 3165 .4 .9 Wilson Red June 2563 .4 .7 Senator 2025 .3 .6 Williams Red 1721 .2 .5 Baird 1500 .2 .5 Paragon 1 496 .2 .5 Early Ripe 1053 . .3 Black Twig 897 Turley 419 Golden Sweet 315 Early Pennock 277 Winter Banana 264 ( h ) Benoni 225 (>>) Maiden Blush 169 (>>) Cortland 121 (>') I ngram 93 ( b ) .... .... Minkler 82 ( b ) Total, all varieties 686 605 100 100 100 See Table 12, page 521. for names of counties. h Less than .1 percent. and Grimes made up 81 percent of the total volume of apples sold (Table 5). The relative importance of each of these seven varieties in western Illinois and in southern Illinois is also clearly shown. These figures on actual sales show that the quantities of most varieties sold were largely proportionate to number of trees (Table 4) even tho the relative yields of different varieties vary from year to year. Organization of Fruit Farms Commercial orcharding in Illinois tends to be a specialized business, tho in some areas and by some operators it may be handled as part of a general farming enterprise. Western Illinois area. Calhoun county contains the most con- centrated apple-producing area in the state. In the 1936 survey 674 apple growers in this county were classified as commercial orchardists. Their holdings varied from 4 acres to 500. Usually the orchard was the chief source of income from these farms. More than half the cropland 504 BULLETIN No. 497 [August, TABLE 6. DISTRIBUTION OF VEGETABLE AND SMALL-FRUIT PRODUCTION ON FRUIT FARMS ACCORDING TO COUNTIES, UNION COUNTY AREA, 1938* Farms growing vegetables Farms growing small fruits Number County of Acres per Acres per farms Percent farm where Percent farm where grown grown Union too 68.0 5.9 38.0 3.6 Johnson 18 5.6 4.0 5.6 2.7 . . . . 33 30.3 4.5 24.2 2.1 Pulaski 22 72.7 6.2 68.2 6.2 Total and average 173 54.9 5.8 37.6 3.9 Based only on records which were complete enough for this analysis. was occupied by orchards, the balance being used principally to grow feed for the work animals and for a few cows and hogs. More than half the growers had less than 20 acres of orchard each. Of the re- maining orchardists in the county, 159 had 21 to 40 acres in orchard, 104 had 41 to 80 acres, and 34 had more than 80 acres. In the other counties of the western Illinois area there are fewer small orchards and the orchard enterprise is usually operated along with cattle feeding, hog production, or general farming. In a few instances large acreages have been taken over and operated by persons or companies with capital from other sources. Union county area. Vegetables for market as well as orchard fruits were grown on 55 percent of the fruit farms in this area in 1938 and small fruits on 38 percent (Table 6). The average number of acres of vegetables was 6, and of small fruits, 4. Strawberries and raspberries were the principal small fruits grown. Predominant vege- tables were asparagus, string beans, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes. Other crops were as indicated in Table 7. TABLE 7. VEGETABLE CROPS GROWN ON 173" FRUIT FARMS IN UNION COUNTY AREA, 1938 Farms where designated Average acres Crop crops were grown per farm Number Percent Asparagus , 22 12.7 5.0 36 20.8 2.9 Muskmelons 25 14.5 2.1 25 14.5 1.2 8 4.6 .6 Potatoes 14 8.1 1.3 Rhubarb 4 2.3 1.3 5 2.9 .9 Sweet potatoes 47 27.2 2.6 5 2.9 2.5 Tomatoes 42 24.3 1.9 Miscellaneous 8 4.6 .9 One hundred farms were in Union county. 22 in Pulaski county, 33 in Jackson county, and 18 in Johnson county. 1943] MARKETING THE ILLINOIS APPLE CROP 505 A large proportion of the orchardists in the Union county area grew both peaches and apples in 1938, the average number of apple trees per farm being 1,672 and of peach trees, 2,232. Feed for work stock was produced on some of the farms, but very few of the 173 growers interviewed reported dairy cows, other livestock, or general crops as important sources of income. Vegetables and small fruits were grown mostly on the farms having only 500 to 1,500 fruit trees each. These products were grown most extensively in Union and Pulaski counties and were of least importance in Johnson county (Table 6). In years of fruit failure in this area it is the custom of many grow- ers to increase their acreages of vegetables in order to offset some of the loss of the fruit crop. Thus, with a diversity of both fruits and vegetables, they are less dependent upon their apples as a source of income than are the small growers in other parts of the state. Marion county area. In this area many of the apple growers produce peaches also, and in one locality (Alma) Kieffer pears are an important crop. On some farms a large percentage of the cropland is devoted to tree fruits, while on others the orchard enterprise is carried on in conjunction with general farming. Very few vegetables are commercially grown in this area, and it is not customary for orchardists to try to supplement their income by planting vegetables in years of fruit failure. Small fruits, likewise, are now of little commercial importance in this area, tho some years ago strawberries were quite prominent at certain shipping points. DEVELOPMENT OF GRADING AND PACKING FACILITIES Modern packing sheds equipped with up-to-date machinery for washing, grading, and packing apples for market are now in general use in Illinois. However, for many years after apple production be- came a prominent industry in this state, the packing took place in the orchard, with no protection provided for the workers or the fruit from sun or rain. The pickers poured the fruit from their sacks onto a portable sorting table. Four rows of trees were picked at a time, and the table was moved after each group of 16 trees had been picked (Fig. 3). Introduction of Shed Packing A few orchardists introduced shed packing about 1903, but a sort- ing table similar to the portable orchard table was still used. At the annual meeting of the Horticultural Society of Southern Illinois in 506 BULLETIN No. 497 [August, Fig. 3. Earlier method of packing apples. Before sheds were introduced, orchard packing prevailed thruout the state. 1904, W. S. Perrine made the statement that apples could be "packed just as cheaply and a good deal better" in a properly constructed and arranged shed than in the orchard. 1 In the discussion following Mr. Perrine's paper, R. A. Simpson, who had used shed packing for two years, and A. V. Schermerhorn reported that they had found shed packing more economical than orchard packing. Within a few years most of the prominent orchardists in the Marion county and Union county areas were using sheds for packing their fruit (Fig. 4), but orchard packing was still the prevailing prac- tice in Calhoun county as late as 1927, when only three small sheds were used in the entire county. 2 In orchard packing and in the early days of shed packing, hand sorting and sizing were employed. Sometimes each sorter was fur- nished with a metal ring to check his judgment on size of fruit. If only one grade of apples was being packed, the fruit might be passed over a tilted "running table"; if two or more grades were being packed, the fruits were picked up from the sorting table by hand and placed in baskets. Mechanical sizing machines, equipped with sorting belts, were introduced into Illinois about 1915. Several growers were using them by 1922; and in the late twenties their use became quite general. '111. State Hort. Soc. Trans. 38, 479-481. 1904. Mil. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 312, p. 564. 1928. 1943} MARKETING THE ILLINOIS APPLE CROP 507 Fig. 4. Modern Illinois fruit-packing shed. Sheds of this type, equipped with mechanical sizing machinery and fruit washers for removal of spray residue, are common thruout the commercial apple areas of the state. Equipment for Spray-Residue Removal Some Illinois apples packed in the fall of 1941 failed to meet the required spray-residue tolerance and were attached by U. S. Govern- ment officials after the apples had been sent across the state border. The required reconditioning of such fruit after it had passed out of the producing area was very expensive to the owners. Illinois growers had been afforded the service of spray-residue laboratories maintained in the producing areas by the Illinois State Department of Agriculture from 1935 to 1940 inclusive, where arsenic and lead determinations were made on apple samples for a nominal fee at the request of the growers. Since very little use of this service was made in 1940 follow- ing a change in the tolerance requirements, the service was dropped in 1941 ; but at the urgent request of growers it was renewed in 1942 and was very extensively patronized. Spray-Residue Restrictions The removal of spray residue has been a problem in Illinois since 1932, when the federal tolerance was reduced from .025 grain of arsenic per pound of fruit to .01 grain. In the spring of 1933 a tolerance for lead was established at .025 grain per pound and later reduced in successive rulings until it reached .018 grain in 1935. The Illinois State Horticultural Society passed a resolution at its annual meeting in November, 1935, urging the Illinois State Department of Agriculture to adopt and enforce spray- residue tolerances on apples 508 BULLETIN No. 497 [August, sold in Illinois in conformity with the federal spray-residue regula- tions, and also urging Illinois growers to meet these regulations by the use of proper spray programs and spray-residue removal. 1 These tolerances were made applicable to intrastate shipments of Illinois apples beginning with the season of 1936, by action of the Illi- nois State Department of Agriculture. Previous to this action many Illinois growers had radically revised their spray schedules, others had installed fruit washers in their packing sheds, and still others had done both. It is reported that the first washers installed in the state were put into operation about 1929. A large number were built or purchased in 1932, when the federal tolerance on arsenic was placed at .01 grain per pound of fruit, and others when the lead tolerance was introduced and lowered. Commercial packing and cooperative packing were somewhat stimu- lated by the lowering of the tolerances and their application to intra- state as well as interstate shipments, since many growers were not in a position to provide themselves with fruit-washing equipment. Following the restoration of the lead-residue tolerance to .025 grain per pound of fruit in 1938, and particularly following the raising of the lead tolerance to .05 grain and the arsenic tolerance to .025 grain in August, 1940, many growers and packers relaxed their vigilance some ceased to operate their washers and others used weaker solutions, omitted the silicate, or no longer heated the water. This relaxation culminated in 1941, and in 1942 a renewal of strict attention to all details of spray-residue removal took place. CHANGES IN TYPE OF PACKAGE The tub bushel is today recognized as the standard Illinois apple package for shipment, storage, and resale. Box packing has never taken a real foothold in Illinois, and the transition from the barrel to the bushel basket was easy, especially after the tub type of bushel basket had been given a fair trial as a storage container. It is sturdy enough to withstand repeated use if necessary, and thus meets emer- gency wartime requirements when a concerted effort is being made to conserve fruit packages by assembling used containers in the consum- ing areas and returning them to the producing regions. Illinois is in that part of the country formerly known as the "barrel- apple area" as contrasted with the "box-apple area," the barrel having been recognized as the standard package for apples in this state from the beginning of commercial apple culture until after the close of the first World War. Early shipments of summer apples from the Union county area, however, were sometimes made in climax baskets, which '111. State Hort. Soc. Trans. 69, 273. 1935. 1943] MARKETING THE ILLINOIS APPLE CROP 509 were loaded in mixed cars with muskmelons, cucumbers, and string beans packed in the same type of package. Occasional shipments of summer apples were also made in bushel baskets, but the principal movement of summer varieties, as well as fall and winter varieties, was in barrels. For shipments during warm weather the barrels were ventilated by holes bored thru a few of the staves with an auger or chopped with a barrel hatchet. At a later period bushel baskets came into somewhat general use for straight carlot shipments of summer apples and even for fall and early winter varieties when they were to be marketed for immediate consumption. The bushel basket was not considered a suitable package for winter storage, and all apples intended for cold storage were packed in barrels. The shift from the use of barrels to that of bushel baskets wherever feasible was greatly stimulated about 1920, when three baskets could be bought for considerably less than one barrel. Adoption of Tub Bushel The tub type of bushel basket, introduced about 1925, offered greater strength and rigidity than the round-bottom basket and con- sequently cold-storage operators accepted Illinois apples in bushel containers without unduly penalizing the owners by charging exces- sive storage rates (Fig. 5). In fact in the fall of 1927 a differential of Fig. 5. Two types of bushel containers for apples. The "tub bushel" (right) has largely superseded the round-bottom bushel basket (left) as a shipping and storage container for Illinois apples. 10 cents a bushel in the season rate was made by certain storage firms in favor of apples packed in tub bushels compared with those in round-bottom baskets. 1 High stacking of round-bottom baskets in storage had sometimes resulted in severe crushing of the fruit in the baskets near the floor and made storage men wary of this type of package. Hence they discouraged its use. '111. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 312, p. 571. 1928. 510 BULLETIN No. 497 [August, By 1927 the bushel basket had largely displaced the barrel as a shipping and storage package in all Illinois apple-producing regions except Calhoun county, and that year 55 percent of the Calhoun county crop was shipped in baskets. The transition is now complete, and not a packing shed in the whole state is arranged for barrel packing. Cooperage shops have entirely disappeared from the apple regions, and an apple barrel is practically a museum specimen. Attempts to Introduce Box Packing Attempts have been made from time to time to introduce box pack- ing of apples in Illinois. As early as 1903 tests of the packing and marketing of Illinois apples in bushel boxes 1 were made by the Illinois Station, and in 1909 at the meeting of the Illinois State Horticultural Society a demonstration in box packing was staged by a man from the Pacific Coast. At that time, box packing did not appeal to Illinois growers, nor did the Illinois product in western-type boxes appeal to the trade. Some years later a few Illinois growers undertook to use the west- ern box for part of their fruit. Two growers in Calhoun county were using this package in 1927, 2 and one in particular had worked up a special trade in St. Louis for fancy Winesaps in this type of package. The fruit was rigidly sized and was packed according to numerical count. Each apple was wrapped in oiled tissue like the best western packs, and the boxes bore lithographed labels. Such refinements do not seem to have been adopted by other Illinois growers. About 1932 a prominent apple dealer in Chicago, who also had extensive orchard interests, began packing part of his product in what was designated as the "gift box." This was a box of one-bushel capacity but different in shape from the standard western box. It was paper-lined, jumble-packed, and had three slats across the top instead of a solid lid. A few other growers and packers have used this package to some extent, but it has not been adopted generally as an Illinois fruit package and is now used less than it was five years ago. DEVELOPMENT IN GRADING STANDARDS AND THEIR USE The latest revision of the Illinois standard apple grades was made in the spring of 1943, effective May 15. The Illinois-U. S. Fancy, Illinois-U. S. No. 1, Illinois-U. S. Utility, Illinois Combination, and Illinois No. 1 Pie grades were retained with specifications unchanged. '111. State Hort. Soc. Trans. 37, 143-161. 1903. '111. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 312, p. 572. 1928. 1943] MARKETING THE ILLINOIS APPLE CROP 511 In addition, a new grade, Illinois Domestic, was provided in order to facilitate the sale of superior-quality dropped apples. 1 The first attempt to establish a definite standard for grading apples in the United States was a resolution adopted by the National Apple Shippers Association, August 2, 1895, defining No. 1 apples. In the specifications special emphasis was placed upon the size of the fruit and the stipulation that it must be hand picked, tho reference was also made to insect injuries and other blemishes as well as color and form. These specifications were used by members of the National Apple Shippers Association in many contracts. In 1900 the same association adopted specifications for No. 2 apples. As early as 1903 the Illinois State Horticultural Society recognized the importance of standardization of apple grades, and at the annual meeting of the Society that year resolutions were passed defining No. 1 and No. 2 apples. 2 The grading specifications were not materially different from those adopted before by the National Apple Shippers Association. However, the use of these grade specifications was op- tional, and there was little uniformity in grading Illinois apples. Early Attempts at Federal Legislation Attempts were made at national legislation in reference to apple grades in 1907 and again in 1909, but the difficulty of harmonizing the interests of growers in the barrel-apple regions of the East and in the box-apple regions of the West prevented the passage of either bill. The next attempt at standardization of apple grades by a federal law was therefore confined to apples packed in barrels. "An Act to establish a standard barrel and standard grades for apples when packed in barrels, and for other purposes," 3 passed in 1912, becoming effective July 1, 1913, specified the U. S. "Standard Grade" in three sizes. It was not mandatory and had very little effect upon the grading of apples in Illinois or in other states. Adoption of Official Grades for Illinois Soon after the passage of the above law several states adopted apple-grading and packing laws of their own, and by the end of 1920 there were such laws in nineteen states. 4 Following the example of these states Illinois passed an apple-grading law in June, 1921, effec- 'A pamphlet fully describing the present Illinois apple grades can be pro- cured from the Division of Markets, Illinois State Department of Agriculture, Springfield. 111. State Hort. Soc. Trans. 37, 21. 1903. *This act was based on the so-called "Sulzer Bill," and is usually referred to as such. Same 46, 152-165. 1912. 4 Same 54, 85-100. 1920. 512 BULLETIN No. 497 [August, tive September 1 of the same year. This law was amended in June, 1923, exempting from its provisions apples packed and branded in accordance with apple-grading specifications recommended by the U. S. Department of Agriculture and promulgated after the federal law passed in 1912 had failed to improve grading and packing. In 1923 an Illinois inspection and standardization law was passed which might be made applicable to any or all agricultural products at the discretion of the State Director of Agriculture. The director was "authorized, after investigation and public hearing, to fix and promul- gate official standards for grading and classifying any or all agricul- tural products grown or produced in this state." Hearings were held in the summer of 1923 at Carbondale, Centralia, and Quincy in reference to establishing standards for Illinois apples and peaches. Sentiment at the hearings was in favor of adopting the U. S. grade specifications for these two commodities. Following the hearings the Director of Agriculture announced that the U. S. grades for apples and peaches had been adopted as the official grades for Illinois. Shipping-point inspection was put into operation in Illinois that season (1923) on peaches and late apples, on the basis of these grades. The apple specifications were those that had been announced by the U. S. Department of Agriculture as of April 25, 1923. Provision was made for four grades: U. S. Fancy, U. S. No. 1, U. S. No. 2, and U. S. No. 3. Color requirements for the Fancy and No. 1 grades in each important variety were specified on a percentage basis. Revisions of Grade Designations and Specifications Revisions of the Illinois apple grades were made following a public hearing in the summer of 1929, and the revised standards were made effective as of August 1, 1929. Following changes in grade designations announced by the U. S. Department of Agriculture, the word "Utility" was introduced to designate the grade of apples previously known as "No. 2," and the word "Unclassified," to designate apples previously called "No. 3." In addition to the Illinois-U. S. Fancy, Illinois-U. S. No. 1, Illinois-U. S. Utility, and the Unclassified, two new grades for Illinois apples were introduced: Illinois Orchard Run and Illinois No. 1 Summer. Again in April, 1932, the Illinois grade designations and specifica- tions were revised after public hearings. These grades were based upon the "Official Standards for Apples" issued by the U. S. Department of Agriculture in August, 1931, but differed from the U. S. grades in certain particulars. Further revisions of the Illinois grade specifications for apples were made after a hearing in Springfield in the spring of 1937 and became effective May 15 of that year. The principal changes were the 1943] MARKETING THE ILLINOIS APPLE CROP 513 substitution of the Combination grade (Illinois-U. S. No. 1 and Illi- nois-U. S. Utility) for the Illinois Orchard Run, and the introduction of the new grade designated as "Illinois No. 1 Pie Apples." The Com- bination grade differed from the former Illinois Orchard Run in that a minimum of 50 percent instead of 40 percent of the apples in the Combination must meet the requirements of the Illinois-U. S. No. 1 grade. The Illinois "Pie" grade is unique and was made to meet the special requirements of the pie industry of Chicago and St. Louis, which depends primarily upon western Illinois apples to supply its needs. There is no color requirement for this grade, even tho the Willow (a striped variety) is most commonly used. The most important speci- fication for this grade is that the fruit must be free from "any defect which cannot be removed during the usual commercial preparation for use without causing a loss of over 5 percent, by weight, of the apple in excess of that which would occur if the apple were perfect." Surface blemishes, particularly scab spots, are considered inconsequential. In packing this grade it is the common practice to dispense with facing, pads, and liners to save expense. Furthermore, used packages are usually furnished by the buyer under the terms of sale and purchase of this type of apple. These economies in packing are made even tho the fruit is to be placed in cold storage for use late in the spring. Lag in General Use of Official Grades Altho shipping-point inspection was made available to Illinois ship- pers of both apples and peaches in 1923, most of the requests for inspection were from peach shippers. As a result, packing apples ac- cording to the established Illinois grades came into general practice more slowly than packing peaches in this way. Grading and desig- nation of apple grades according to the personal ideas of the packer continued to be quite common for several years after the establish- ment of official Illinois grades and provision for inspection service. Shipping-point inspection of apples first reached Calhoun county in the fall of 1927. Eighty-seven carloads, representing 247 lots, were inspected by the State Department of Agriculture as offered for ship- ment. The inspectors' reports on these carloads indicate that wherever a recognized standard grade designation was marked on the package, a sincere attempt had usually been made to grade the fruit according to the specifications for the proper grade. However, half the lots were not marked with official grade designations, and many of these were below the No. 2 grade. The wide variety of markings on the packages indicated that the packers were not yet familiar with the official grade designations. Markings ranged all the way from "U. S. Fancy" to no mark at all. 514 BULLETIN No. 497 [August, Of the 25 lots marked "U. S. Fancy" or "Fancy," all except one actually graded U. S. Fancy. Of the 87 lots marked "U. S. No. 1" or "No. 1," 75 graded U. S. No. 1. Twelve lots were marked No. 2; all except one of these graded U. S. No. 2. The other 123 lots, or prac- tically half of the total, were not marked according to any official grade designation. 1 Grading and packing demonstrations conducted in Calhoun county by the University of Illinois Agricultural Extension Service in 1928 greatly stimulated more intelligent packing and marking of apples in that county. Standardization Act All Illinois products for which grade designations and specifications have been announced by the Director of Agriculture come under the provisions of the Standardization Act, a law passed by the Illinois legislature in 1923 and revised from time to time, providing for the promulgation of grade standards for Illinois products and for inspec- tion of them at shipping points. Such inspections are made upon the request of the shipper or some other party having a financial in- terest in the shipment; and as a result of every such inspection, a certificate is issued showing the exact grade and condition of the con- tents of the car, including percentage of each kind of defect. The extent to which Illinois apple growers and shippers have availed themselves of the shipping-point inspection service during the past eleven years is indicated by the number of carloads or carlot equivalents inspected. These were as follows: Number Number Number Year of cars Year of cars Year of cars 1933 . 82 1937 .. 218 1941 304 1934 . .122 1938 638 1942 465 1935 156 1939 244 1943 528 1936. . . .637 1940. . . . .342 (Figures are for years ending June 30. Data obtained mainly from Twenty-Fifth Annual Report of the Illinois State Department of Agriculture, 1942, p. 121.) Number of cars inspected depended largely on size of crop, the largest number, 638, being for the year ended June 30, 1938. Besides the shipping-point inspection made for purposes of certi- fication at the owner's or shipper's request, the State Department of Agriculture makes many inspections of its own to enforce the "closed package" section of the Standardization Act in reference to grading, packing, and branding of fruits and vegetables. Severe penalties are now provided for infractions of this law, which is very definite as to the grading, packing, and marking of packaged apples. '111. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 312, p. 570. 1928. 1943] MARKETING THE ILLINOIS APPLE CROP 515 Percentages of Different Grades The percentage of the crop meeting the requirements of the U. S. No. 1 grade and the percentage handled under each of the other grade designations vary widely from year to year and from orchard to orchard. According to the estimates of 313 western Illinois apple growers interviewed, their crops in 1935 averaged a little over 50 per- cent U. S. No. 1, tho the packout at commercial sheds averaged only about 45 percent No. I. 1 Detailed records procured from growers in western Illinois in 1937, 1939, and 1941, and in southern Illinois in 1938 and 1939 supplied the data summarized in Table 8, indicating the percentages of each grade of apples marketed by these representative growers in the crop years concerned. The larger percentages of No. 1 fruit from southern Illinois are undoubtedly due in part to the fact that the percentages are figured on the basis of the fruit actually sold. Sales from western Illinois in- cluded considerable cider stock, while in southern Illinois there are few cider mills, and much cider stock sometimes is wasted and is not in- cluded in the calculation of percentages of the different grades. TABLE 8. PERCENTAGE OF DIFFERENT GRADES OF APPLES MARKETED BY GROWERS IN WESTERN AND SOUTHERN ILLINOIS, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1941 Number Area and year of growers Percentage of apples marketed as Bushels U.S. No. 1 Utility Combi- nation p. Unclassi- fied Cider Western 1937 114 604 083 373 957 225 914 b 168 678 207 007 42.6 27.0 24.3 58.6 40.0 3.4 4.0 1.7 5.5 3.0 3.4 1.0 2.6 5.1 1.0 4.5 30.8 4.0 46.0 3.0 47.4" 30.8 53.0 15.3 18.0 21.0 3.0 1939 . . . 33" 1941 42 Southern 1938 164 1939 123 Includes 31 growers and 2 organizations. ''Includes apples stored. "Includes 9.6 percent tree- run sold largely to wholesale dealers operating packing sheds. The figures in Table 8 include both packaged and bulk fruit, and do not give an accurate idea of the grading of Illinois packaged apples. Most of the early apples are sold in packages, rather than in bulk. Of the late apples, however, only 41 percent were sold in packages in 1939, 46 percent in bulk for consumption as fresh fruit, and 13 percent in bulk to cider mills. Data procured from growers in 1939 indicate that 94 percent of the packaged early apples that year were of U. S. No. 1 grade. Of the packaged late apples, 68 percent in western Illinois and 83 percent in southern Illinois were of U. S. No. 1 grade (Table 'Farm Credit Admin. Misc. Rpt. 13, p. 28. 1937. 516 BULLETIN No. 497 [August, TABLE 9. PERCENTAGE OF DIFFERENT GRADES OF PACKAGED AND BULK APPLES OF LATE VARIETIES MARKETED BY WESTERN AND SOUTHERN ILLINOIS GROWERS, 1939 AND 1941 Packaged fruit Bulk fruit Grade Western Illinois Southern Western Illinois Southern 1939 1941 1939 1939 1941 1939 U. S. No. 1 68 54 4 6 7 29 83 6 2 9 100 96 576 i 69 30 100 229 099 1 1 ' i 43 37 17 100 125 972 3 91 6 166 110 431 Utility . . 10 Combination 4 Pie 9 Unclassified . . 9 Cider Tree run* 100 100 99 942 144 858 The tree-run fruit was sold mostly to wholesale dealers operating packing sheds and was delivered principally in field crates. 9) . On the other hand, very high percentages of the bulk apples were Unclassified stock. In these records fruit sold under such local grade designations as "bulk stock," "peddler stock," "culls," "tree run," and "orchard run" were listed as Unclassified. Of the late apples sold at harvest time from western Illinois or- chards in 1941, 44 percent were sold as packed fruit, 35 percent in bulk for fresh consumption, and 21 percent to cider mills. Of the packaged fruit, 54 percent was of U. S. No. 1 grade, and 29 percent was Unclassified (Table 9). Seventeen percent of the bulk fruit was "tree run," sold largely to wholesale dealers who operated packing sheds and graded out the fruit to suit their requirements. Most of the other fruit sold in bulk was either Unclassified or cider stock. The Unclassified stock included fruit with such local designations as "or- chard run," "bulk stock," and "peddler stock," as well as drops and culls. The fruit classified here as cider stock included only that sold directly to cider mills. CHANGES IN TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES AND METHODS The truck situation due to war conditions reduced truck operations in the movement of the western Illinois apple crop in the fall of 1942. Truckers from outside areas were much less numerous than during the immediately preceding harvest seasons. This was particularly true of merchant truckers. Whereas in 1941 these operators moved 22 per- cent of the western Illinois crop (Table 15, page 524), in 1942 they accounted for only 12.5 percent of that portion of the crop which moved out of the producing area by truck. Furthermore merchant 1943} MARKETING THE ILLINOIS APPLE CROP 517 truckers of the type seeking Unclassified stock were particularly scarce. Whereas in 1941, 77 percent of the purchases made by merchant truckers in this area consisted of Unclassified stock, their purchases in 1942 contained only 53 percent. This was not due to any scarcity of Unclassified stock; operators of packing sheds reported accumulations of this type of apples. The area of general distribution of western Illinois apples by truck- in 1942 was much smaller than in 1941. Only 12 out of the 1,091 truck- loads included in a truck survey made in 1942 1 were delivered to points in states other than Illinois and Missouri, and only 20 percent of the truckers other than farmers hauled apples more than 200 miles; the farm trucks operated mostly within a radius of 50 miles. Not only were trucks more scarce than in the preceding year, but the tires on 90 percent of the commercial and the dealers' trucks oper- ating in the area in the fall of 1942 would need replacements within 12 months, according to data assembled during the survey. This means that probably still fewer trucks will be available for handling the 1943 crop and that more dependence will have to be placed on rail transportation. Railway and River Transportation Illinois has for a long time been well supplied with railroad lines in all parts of the state except Calhoun county. There is not yet a railroad within that county, but an extension of the Chicago and Alton Railway to East Hardin (just across the Illinois river from Hardin) built in 1925, greatly improved the facilities for rail shipments. Until 1931, however, all apples for such shipments had to be ferried across the Illinois river on transfer barges or on trucks or wagons on the ferry boats. In 1931 communications between Calhoun county and the rest of the state were further improved by the completion of a highway bridge across the Illinois river connecting Hardin with East Hardin (Fig. 6). Several apple-packing sheds were then established in East Hardin and were served by sidetracks where cars could be loaded directly from the sheds (Fig. 7). Previous to the extension of the railroad to East Hardin, and even for a year afterwards, river transportation was the principal means of moving apples from Calhoun county. Shipments to St. Louis, Hannibal, and Peoria normally traveled the entire distance by water. Because of its accessibility by river, St. Louis was the principal market for Cal- houn county apples. In fact previous to 1927 more apples were shipped from Calhoun county by boat to St. Louis than to all other markets and by all other transportation methods. 'Trucking Illinois fruits and vegetables in wartime. J. W. Lloyd and R. A. Kelly. 111. Agr. Exp. Sta. (mimeo.). February, 1943. 518 BULLETIN No. 497 [August, 1943} MARKETING THE ILLINOIS APPLE CROP Increase in Truck Shipments 519 By 1927 the movement of apples by truck from the southern part of Calhoun county to St. Louis via ferry at Golden Eagle had reached considerable proportions. After the close of the apple harvest in 1927 the concrete highway from East Hardin to Jerseyville was completed, thus affording hard-road connections from East Hardin to St. Louis via Jerseyville and Alton and facilitating truck movement of apples Fig. 7. Loading direct from packing shed to refrigerator cars. At many points in the state large packing sheds are served by railway sidetracks, so that the fruit can be placed in refrigerator cars as fast as it is packed. This shed is located in Pike county. from the central part of the county and from along the concrete high- way between Hardin and Kampsville. Transportation by river boats almost ceased with the season of 1930, and the truck became the most important means of moving apples from Calhoun county (Table 10). In 1932 two-thirds of the crop was moved by truck. Truck movement to the east and the south was greatly facilitated by the bridge at Hardin. But there was no connection to the north and west by hard road, since there were only 12 miles of con- crete highway in the county (connecting Hardin and Kampsville) at that time. 520 BULLETIN No. 497 [August, TABLE 10. BOAT, RAIL, AND TRUCK SHIPMENTS OF APPLES FROM CALHOUN COUNTY, SHOWING PERCENTAGES MOVED BY EACH, 1927-1932 Transportation 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 By boat perct. 30 5 percl. 25 1 perct. 8.5 perct. \ 7 perct. perct. By rail . ... 38 1 47.3 35.6 42 4 39 4 29 By truck 22.9 13.8 40.5 49.4 47.5 66.5 8 3 13 7 15 4 6 4 13 1 4 8 Total percent 100 100 100 too 100 100 Total bushels 720 426 1 399 221 790 944 1 919 907 1 523 940 1 319 475 Extension of Hard-Road Connections Finally in 1935 the completion of the portion of Route 100 extend- ing north from Kampsville to Detroit in Pike county made connections for Calhoun county with the main highways leading to Hannibal, Quincy, and the markets in northern Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, and Minnesota. During the past few seasons these markets have been of increasing importance as outlets for apples not only from Calhoun county but also from the other counties in the western Illinois producing area. In 1939, 88 percent of the apples marketed from west- ern Illinois were moved out by truck and 12 percent by rail. It is probable that the percentages were about the same in 1941, tho data collected on this point were insufficient to make definite calculations. TABLE 11. TRUCK AND RAIL SHIPMENTS OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS APPLES TO MARKET, 1938 AND 1939' 1938 1939 Total Truck Rail Total Truck Rail bu. Early ... 84 458 percl. 49.6 Percl. 50.4 bu. 173 039 perct. 52 perct. 48 Late 71 371 95.6 4.4 189 336 95 5 AH 155 829 70.7 29.3 362 375 74 26 Shipments by the growers interviewed. In other apple-producing regions of the state the improvements in the hard-road system 1 and the general increase in the use of motor trucks have resulted in increased movement of apples by truck. The percentages of the crops of early and of late varieties moved by truck and by rail from the southern Illinois producing areas in 1938 and 1939 are given in Table 11. It will be noted that 70.7 percent of the crop, 'The total mileage of rural high-type pavement maintained by the state in- creased from 7,603 miles at the end of 1929 to approximately 13,847 miles at the end of 1941. (Letter from H. E. Surman, Illinois Division of Highways, December 30, 1941.) 1943] MARKETING THE ILLINOIS APPLE CROP 521 including both early and late varieties, moved to market by truck in 1938 and 74 percent in 1939. A much larger percentage of the early varieties moved by rail than of the late varieties. This is due to the much wider and more distant distribution of the early varieties, since they move at a time when summer apples are not available in volume from many other sources in the United States. METHODS OF SALE Many different methods of sale and sales outlets are employed to- day in the disposition of the Illinois apple crop. No fewer than ten TABLE 12. SALES OUTLETS EMPLOYED FOR ILLINOIS LATE APPLES AND PERCENTAGE SOLD THRU EACH, 1935-1941" 1935 1937 1938 1939 1941 W. 111. W. 111. So. 111. W. Ill . So. 111. W. 111. Outright sale to wholesale dealers . . . Consignment to commission mer- perct. 15.2 31.9 perct. 20.1 3.9 percl. 10.0 perct. 15.1 3.3 perct. 17.9 3.5 perct. 24.6 2.3 Sales thru brokers ( b ) 9.4 9.9 6.7 11.3 22.5 Direct sales to merchant truckers . . 14.0 (") 22.9 4.6 46.8 37.5 48.1 22.3 3.9 8.8 14.4 10.5 4.1 5.0 Direct sales by growers on terminal markets 15.8 1.1 ( b ) Delivered sales to retail merchants . 3^8 1.7 4.7 1.6 11.1 3.1 1.5 1.8 6.5 .8 9.4 22.0 1 .6 22.2 4.5 22.3 Other outlets 2.6 .8 4.6 .1 2.3 Waste not sold 3 4 Total percent 100 100 100 100 100 100 Total bushels 2 691 085 418 075 54 195 254 234 144 887 225 914 Number of growers furnishing data.. 313 114 164 33- 1 123 42 Data on the 1935 crop were collected in 7 western Illinois counties (Adams, Pike, Calhoun, Jersey, Greene, Scott, and Brown), the 1937 crop in 4 of these counties (Adams, Pike, Calhoun, and Jersey) ; data on the 1938 crop in 7 southern Illinois counties (Union, Johnson, Pulaski, Jackson, Marion, Jefferson, and Washington). Data on the 1939 crop were collected in Adams, Pike, Calhoun. and Jersey counties in western Illinois; in Marion, Jefferson, and Washington counties in the Marion county area; and in Union, Johnson, Jackson, Pulaski, Massac, Williamson, Franklin, and Saline counties in the Union county area. Data on the 1941 crop in western Illinois were collected in Calhoun, Pike, and Jersey counties. b Neglifrible. --Included in outright sales to wholesale dealers. 'Includes 31 growers and 2 organizations. different types of sales outlets are used, according to data collected in surveys of the apple crops of 1935, 1937, 1938, 1939, and 1941 to ascertain the methods of marketing Illinois apples (Tables 12 and 13). The proportion of the crop disposed of thru each of the various outlets varied widely from year to year during 1935-1941 and also varied among the different producing areas. There has also been a dif- ference in the handling of summer varieties as compared with fall and winter varieties. 522 BULLETIN No. 497 [August, TABLE 13. SALES OUTLETS EMPLOYED FOR EARLY ILLINOIS APPLES AND PERCENTAGE SOLD THRU EACH, 1938 AND 1939* Outlet 1938 Southern Illinois 1939 Southern Illinois Western Illinois perct. 2.7 percl. 5.3 16.3 56.7 9.5 .1 8.8 1.2 2.0 .1 100 177 686 *>i 14 81 4 100 4 3 'Cl. 6 4 09 Consignment to commission merchants 8.0 Sales thru brokers 67 . 3 6.2 13 4 . . .9 Direct sales to consumers . . . . 1.2 Other outlets .3 Total percent 100 Total bushels ... 78 315 By the growers included in the survey. Outlets for Late Apples In 1941 more of the western Illinois late apples were disposed of by direct sale to wholesale dealers than thru any other outlet (Table 12). Slightly smaller volumes were sold directly to merchant truckers. These two outlets accounted for practically 47 percent of the crop. The only other important outlet for the merchantable fruit was thru brokers, who handled 22.5 percent of the crop. Altho in 1935 about 32 percent of the late apples produced in western Illinois were sold on consignment, very few of the late crop have been handled on that basis since that year. Merchant truckers have become a very important outlet for late varieties from both western and southern Illinois, dominating the sales in both regions in 1939. Sales to wholesale dealers were next in importance in both areas that year, while sales thru brokers 1 and cooperatives 2 each averaged 8 to 10 percent of the total sales during 1937-1939. In western Illinois in years of heavy crop it is not unusual for more than 20 percent of the crop sold at harvest time to go to the cider mills, principally for the manufacture of vinegar. In 1941 the percentage thus sold was 22.3. In the southern Illinois producing regions few cider mills are operating, and hence this outlet is not readily available to any large proportion of the growers. Cider apples here are either wasted or fed to livestock, if not included in some of the Unclassified stock sold to truckers. 'Brokers with headquarters in the producing area during the harvest season solicit by wire and secure orders from wholesale dealers in terminal markets for specific cars of apples to be billed out at a specified time and price. Some- times the broker assumes collection of the account. For his services he is paid by the grower a stipulated rate per bushel or per carload. 'See discussion of cooperatives on page 527. 1943] MARKETING THE ILLINOIS APPLE CROP 523 Formerly a common method of sale for late apples was a preharvest contract between the grower and an apple buyer who visited the pro- ducing region in June, July, or August, and either bought the crop on the trees for a lump sum or agreed to pay a stipulated price per barrel for the packed fruit delivered at the loading point. In either case a part of the purchase price was paid at the time the contract was signed, and provision was made for the payment of the balance when the fruit was shipped. If the fruit was purchased on a package basis, specifications regarding the grading and packing were included in the contract. The other principal outlet in the early days was consignment to commission merchants in the large city markets, particularly Chicago and St. Louis. More Illinois apples were formerly sold by this method than by all other methods combined, even tho the crops from some of the larger orchards were handled on a package basis by resident brokers in the producing areas. Aside from local retail sales, these three methods constituted practically all the methods of selling Illinois apples until comparatively recent times. The Levee Sale at St. Louis was on a commission basis, and the apples shipped for that sale were consigned to commission merchants. Outlets for Early Apples Outlets employed for early apples produced in southern Illinois in 1938 and 1939 and in western Illinois in 1939 are shown in Table 13. In the southern Illinois areas the principal outlet for early apples is thru resident brokers who have well-established business connections and distribute the products over a wide consuming territory. Smaller quantities are marketed thru cooperative agencies, particularly the Illi- nois Fruit Growers Exchange, by consignment to commission mer- chants, and by direct sales to merchant truckers. These four methods accounted for 90 to 95 percent of the sales in 1938 and 1939. Outlets for Different Grades of Apples Sales of apples reported by 114 growers in four western Illinois counties in the fall of 1937 indicated that nearly three- fourths of the apples of U. S. No. 1 grade were marketed either by outright sales to wholesale dealers, thru cooperatives, or thru brokers. Over 90 percent of the Utility grade and 47 percent of the Combination grade were dis- posed of thru these same outlets, but these two grades represented a very small percentage of the total volume sold. Sixty-seven percent of the Pie apples were sold directly to pie companies, while the 30 percent handled thru wholesale dealers, co- operatives, and brokers undoubtedly eventually reached the pie com- panies. The principal outlet for Unclassified stock was thru merchant truckers, who handled 55 percent of this type of fruit. Nearly all the cider stock sold went directly to the cider mill (Table 14). 524 BULLETIN No. 497 [August, TABLE 14. PERCENTAGE OF EACH GRADE OF WESTERN ILLINOIS APPLES SOLD THRU EACH SALES OUTLET, FALL, 1937 Outlet U. No S. 1 Utility Combi- nation Pie Unclassi- Cider All fied apples grades Sales to wholesale dealers . . . Consignment to commission merchants perct. 39.7 8.9 15.4 18.2 8.3 perct. 13.1 1.2 36.4 41.4 5.0 perct. 23.5 14.6 10.2 13.8 15.7 perct. 9.6 ii!6 9.4 2.6 67.4 perct. per 17.9 2.2 5.5 1 5.3 55.2 .5 .... 98 ct. percl. 20.1 3.9 4 8.8 9.4 22.9 4.6 6 22.0 1.1 4.7 1.7 .8 100 >7 418 075 Cooperative organizations. . . Brokers Cider mills Growers on terminal markets 5 2 9 1 S 2.3 8.4 1.5 1.2 100 100 149 464 93 7< .3 3.2 19.0 100 8 162 100 27 233 Retail dealers . . Other outlets 1.0 100 130 407 2.6 100 9 042 Total percent Total bushels In 1941 a much larger percentage of the No. 1 stock was handled by brokers than in 1937, more than half being sold thru this outlet. The next important outlet for No. 1 stock was directly to wholesale dealers. These two outlets accounted for 82 percent of the No. 1 apples and also for about 78 percent of the Utility grade (Table 15). Brokers alone handled 81 percent of the Combination grade ; and wholesale dealers and brokers together, all the Pie grade. However, these three grades together (Utility, Combination, and Pie) made up only 7.3 percent of the total output. The most important outlet for the Unclassified stock in 1941 was the merchant truckers, who handled directly from the growers nearly as much as the wholesale dealers, cooperatives, and brokers combined. Practically all the "tree-run" fruit sold without sorting was handled by wholesale dealers and merchant truckers, the largest quantity being sold to wholesale dealers who operated packing sheds. Nearly all the TABLE 15. PERCENTAGE OF EACH GRADE OF WESTERN ILLINOIS APPLES SOLD THRU EACH SALES OUTLET, 1941" Outlet U.S. No. 1 Utility Combi- nation Pie Unclas- sified Tree run Cider All grades Wholesale dealers Perct. 31.2 3 1 perct. 51.6 21 2 perct. 4 4 perct. 77.5 perct. 16.6 2.9 perct. 68.2 perct. Perct. 24.6 2.3 8 8 16.1 4.0 5.0 Brokers 51.4 26.5 81.5 22.5 16.8 22.5 Merchant truckers 5.1 .7 14.1 45.4 31.8 22.3 Cider mills 96.0 22.3 Grower on terminal market .1 Direct to consumers 4 (b) (b) 1.6 (b) .8 Retail dealers (b) .5 .2 Total oercent . . . 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 Total bushels 50937 4560 5101 6676 78211 21641 47411 214537 Does not include stored apples. b Negligible (less than .1 percent). 1943] MARKETING THE ILLINOIS APPLE CROP 525 cider stock went directly from the grower to the cider mill, tho a small quantity graded out at cooperative packing sheds was sold to the cider mill by the cooperative. Of merchantable grades sold in large volume, brokers and wholesale dealers handled most of the No. 1 stock and merchant truckers a large proportion of the Unclassified stock. Sales in Packages and in Bulk Data collected from interviews with growers in western Illinois in 1937, 1939, and 1941 and in southern Illinois in 1938 and 1939 indicate TABLE 16. PERCENTAGES OF APPLES SOLD IN PACKAGES AND IN BULK, WESTERN AND SOUTHERN ILLINOIS, 1937-1941 Bulk Bushels Packed Fresh market Cider Total Late apples Western Illinois 1937 768 849 perct. 52.4 Perct. 33.4 perct. 14.2 perct. 100 Western Illinois, 1939 . . . 373 957 39 43 18 100 Western Illinois 1941 214 537 41 2 36 5 22.3 100 Southern Illinois, 1938 76 309 56 6 43.4 100 Centralia district, 1939 .... 115 034 44 51 5 100 Anna district, 1939 91 973 50 49 1 100 Early apples Southern Illinois, 1938 92 369 97.3 2.7 100 Centralia district 1939 13 498 86 14 100 Anna district, 1939 164 188 89 10 1 100 Does not include stored apples. TABLE 17. PERCENTAGE OF CROP OF DIFFERENT VARIETIES SOLD IN PACKAGES Variety Western Illinois Southern Illinois 1937 1939 1941 1938 1939 Early perct. Perct. 100 perct. perct. 97.5 98.4 97.7 83.9 97.9 57.5 58.2 63.3 82.7 61.1 39.1 C) 14.2 C) 49.6 45.6 perct. 90 86 87 83 95 66 54 65 60 36 24 25 16 29 37 25 100 76 100 53 53 63 22 39 31 24 8 19 43 43 88 C) 52.4 50.3 50.0 54.4 45.0 .7 45.9 8.4 60.6 69.1 2.6 Wealthy . .... Other and mixed Late . 69.6 54.5 Golden Delicious 62.5 61.5 59.4 64.5 10.2 . 65.7 () King David 35 . 7 York 69 . 4 58.6 Black Twig 39 . 1 Other and mixed 35 . 2 4 21.5 Included in other and mixed varieties. 526 BULLETIN No. 497 [August, TABLE 18. PERCENTAGE OF EACH GRADE IN PACKAGED AND BULK LATE APPLES SOLD FROM FOUR WESTERN ILLINOIS COUNTIES, 1937 AND 1939 Western Illinois, 1937 Western Illinois, 1939 Grade Packaged Bulk Total Packaged Bulk Total U. S. No. 1 perct. ... 76.3 perct. 9 1 perct. 42.6 perct. 68 perct. perct. 27 Utility 5.1 1.6 3.4 10 1 4 Combination 5.1 1 8 3 4 4 1 Pie 5.2 3.8 4.5 9 4 Unclassified 8 3 53 1 30 8 9 69 46 Cider 30 6 15 3 30 18 Total percent 100 100 100 100 100 100 Total bushels 604 083 373 957 that bulk sales have been particularly prominent in the handling of the late crop (Table 16). Early varieties, with the possible exception of Wealthy, are not adapted to bulk handling. Among late varieties there have been wide differences in the percentages sold in packages, and there has also been wide variation from year to year in the percentage of a given variety that was packaged in a given locality (Table 17). A consistently high percentage of Golden Delicious was packed. As an average, the percentage of Jonathan packed was also quite high, and the percentage of Delicious was quite consistent and fairly high. On the other hand, the percentage of Grimes, Willow, Winesap, Rome, York, and Stayman respectively was exceedingly variable, depending probably upon market conditions, the quality of the crop, and sales opportunities. The low percentage of Ben Davis and Gano packaged each year except in 1941 was undoubtedly due to the low prices of these varieties and the narrow margin between bulk and package prices. A large percentage of the packaged fruit was of the No. 1 grade and more than 90 percent of the apples sold in bulk in southern Illinois TABLE 19. PERCENTAGE OF EACH GRADE IN PACKAGED AND BULK APPLES SOLD FROM SEVEN SOUTHERN ILLINOIS COUNTIES IN 1938 AND FROM ELEVEN SOUTHERN ILLINOIS COUNTIES IN 1939 Grade Southern Illinois, 1938 (early and late combined) Southern Illinois, 1939 (late apples) Packaged Bulk Total Packaged Bulk Total U. S. No. 1 perct. 74.2 perct. .1 3.3 5.8 96!8 100 perct. 58.6 5.5 5.1 perct. 83 6 2 perct. 3 perct. 40 3 1 53 3 100 207 007 Utility 6.1 Combination 4.9 Pie Unclassified 14.8 30.8 100 168 678 9 100 91 6 100 Cider Total percent. . 100 Total bushels.. . 1943] MARKETING THE ILLINOIS APPLE CROP 527 were Unclassified fruit. In western Illinois also a large percentage of the fruit sold in bulk in 1937 and 1939 was either Unclassified or cider stock (Tables 18 and 19). In 1941 approximately 80 percent of the bulk stock sold in western Illinois was either Unclassified or cider stock, while 17 percent was ungraded "tree-run" stock sold in field crates to dealers equipped for packing (Table 9, page 516). COOPERATIVE PACKING AND MARKETING Illinois Fruit Growers Exchange Cooperative marketing of fruit has been carried on in Illinois con- tinuously since the incorporation of the Illinois Fruit and Vegetable Growers Exchange in June, 1921, tho the name of the organization TABLE 20. APPLE PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES AND IN ILLINOIS, 1919 TO 1942 Year Total crop Commercial crop* Illinois United States Illinois United States 7,000 &K. 7,000 bu. 7.000 bu. 7,000 bu. 1919... . 4 673 140 632 2 136 78 477 1920 5 690 206 688 4 107 101 715 1921 1 670 95 638 1 191 64 671 1922 9 006 189 425 4 350 95 835 1923 7 035 180 915 4 200 107 808 1924 5 529 160 457 3 300 84 039 1925 5 800 152 424 3 645 99 738 1926 7 227 229 656 3 870 117 384 1927 3 218 115 708 2 250 78 051 1928 5 018 177 813 3 720 106 383 1929 3 360 135 092 2 400 86 664 1930 3 528 156 617 2 808 100 587 1931 8 700 205 403 5 490 103 776 1932 2 300 146 849 1 650 85 776 1933 2 420 148 657 1 600 77 232 1934... 2 724 125 719 2 270 103 691 1935 7 888 177 916 4 440 140 503 1936 1 834 117 506 1 382 98 608 1937 8 960 210 783 4 395 156 376 1938 2 912 132 354 1 447 109 595 1939 4 107 143 085 1940 1 876 114 391 1941 3 410 122 059 1942 2 970'' 127 655'- Sec footnote to Table 26, page 540, for explanation of "commercial crop." ''Preliminary. has been successively changed to Illinois Fruit Exchange and to Illinois Fruit Growers Exchange. Incorporated originally under the provisions of an old law enacted in 1872, it was thoroly reorganized and incor- porated as the Illinois Fruit Growers Exchange in February, 1924, under the new Cooperative Marketing Act passed by the Illinois leg- islature in June, 1923. This law made it possible to incorporate a cen- tral organization whose membership consisted of incorporated local 528 BULLETIN No. 497 [August, associations as well as individual growers. Local "units" provided for under the old law were incorporated as local associations ; new asso- ciations were organized at several places, and individual growers with large orchards where there were no local associations were also ad- mitted to membership. Individual growers now predominate in the membership of the Exchange, for with the increase in truck movement of fruit and the tendency for merchant truckers to go directly to the orchards, many local associations ceased to operate. Sales of fruit packed by associa- tions and by individual members have all been made thru the sales department of the Exchange, and wide distribution of the products has been secured. Apples and peaches have been the two commodities most exten- sively handled by the Exchange. Packing sheds were built, bought, or leased, and were operated on a cooperative basis to pack the fruit produced by members of local associations. Individual growers with large acreages operated their own sheds. The amount of fruit handled by the Exchange has never been a large part of the total production in the state, even tho the Exchange has furnished its members a large amount of field service in addition to sales service and has been a leader in the introduction of up-to-date practices and methods such as thinning of peaches, shipping-point inspection, brushing of peaches, spray-residue removal from apples, and precooling of shipments in hot weather. The largest volume of apples handled in any one crop-year was equivalent to slightly over 400 cars (about 210,000 bushels). This was in 1937, the year of largest apple production in the state within recent times (Table 20). Calhoun Apple Exchange The other active Illinois cooperative engaged in marketing apples is the Calhoun Apple Exchange. The packing facilities of this exchange were especially in demand in 1942 because of superior equipment for spray-residue removal and the renewed interest in apple washing that season. Prior to the organization of this exchange, several attempts were made in Calhoun county to market apples cooperatively but each at- tempt was short-lived. In 1935 the Exchange acquired title to the packing shed and the equipment operated by one of the former organi- zations. This shed had originally been located in Hardin, but had been torn down, moved, and rebuilt in East Hardin. The shed was operated for custom packing in 1936 but the packing facilities were greatly enlarged in 1937 and a complete sales service was inaugurated. Many new members were secured and the total volume of apples handled in that year of large crop was reported to have been approxi- mately 120,000 bushels, or about 227 carloads. 1943] MARKETING THE ILLINOIS APPLE CROP 529 PRICES OF ILLINOIS APPLES 1937 Prices to Western Illinois Growers In the apple-marketing survey made in western Illinois in the fall of 1937 and winter of 1937-38, price data were obtained from 114 growers who marketed 418,075 bushels of apples. Prices were established at low levels at the beginning of the harvest of fall varieties and held fairly steady during the harvest season. Prices for Jonathan, Winesap, and Willow f.o.b. shipping point ranged mostly from 75 to 90 cents a bushel basket, U. S. No. 1 grade. Altho prices at harvest were considered very low, even lower returns were received by growers who stored for sale later in the season. Lower prices were paid for Grimes than for other leading varieties except Ben Davis, of which very few were sold as packaged L'. S. No. 1 stock. Prices on Grimes ranged from 60 to 70 cents a bushel basket. Only a small proportion of Grimes were sold as U. S. No. 1 because Combination and Utility brought almost as much. Prices paid for pie- grade Grimes compared favorably with prices for No. 1 grade. Because of variation in quality, Delicious and Golden Delicious sold over a wider price range than the other leading varieties; the range for Delicious was 75 cents to $1.15 per bushel basket, for U. S. No. 1 grade. The highest prices were for highly colored and otherwise excellent-quality Delicious. On the other hand, many growers had difficulty in putting up No. 1 packs of Delicious since there was too much scab, and many sales of Delicious were made at less than the average price for other varieties. Prices for Golden Delicious ranged from 65 cents to $1.00 a bushel basket, U. S. No. 1 grade. Many grow- ers had heavy loads on their trees and consequently small apples, which of course did not sell so well as larger ones. Prices paid for Utility, Combination, and Unclassified grades of different varieties ranged from 55 to 65 cents a bushel basket. TABLE 21. AVERAGE NET PRICE PER BUSHEL BASKET TO GROWERS FOR SPECIFIED VARIETIES OF U. S. No. 1 APPLES: WESTERN ILLINOIS, FALL OF 1937 Net price Percent Variety per bushel of average basket* price . J.75 93.8 .62 77.5 85 106.2 83 103.8 .81 101 .2 Willow 75 93.8 Miscellaneous varieties 70 87.5 80 100.0 All price comparisons are for net price to growers per bushel basket, U. S. No. 1 grade. Charges for selling, transportation, and other cash items incurred after apples were packed and ready for market were deducted from the gross price. 530 BULLETIN No. 497 [August, Truckers oought large quantities of bulk apples at orchards and packing sheds. The most common price paid for miscellaneous varieties of Unclassified bulk stock, consisting mostly of apples sorted out of graded fruit, was 15 cents a bushel or field crate. Some of the more desirable varieties sold at slightly higher prices. Prices paid by truck- ers for bulk tree-run or orchard-run apples at the orchard ranged from 15 to 40 cents a crate, depending on variety and quality. For sales made during or shortly after harvest and reported by growers, Delicious, Golden Delicious, and Winesap sold at higher average net prices per bushel basket, U. S. No. 1 grade, than Jonathan and Willow. Lowest prices were received for Grimes (Table 21). Returns to growers from consignment sales were lower than from outright sales and from sales made thru cooperatives and other agencies operating in the producing territory. More Jonathans were consigned than any other variety. This move- ment was heaviest during the early harvest season. The highest net returns received by growers were on some of the earliest lots sent before terminal market prices broke under the influence of heavy offerings. On sales of 24 separate lots totaling 5,000 bushels, the average net return to growers for Jonathan apples consigned was 69 cents a bushel basket. Jonathans sold to or thru other agencies brought 75 to 80 cents net. Price Differentials in 1939 In 1939 price data were secured on the sales of 102,762 bushels of early apples, principally from southern Illinois and sold in bushel bas- kets, and 64,359 bushels of late apples sold in bushel baskets 38,037 bushels of the latter being from western Illinois and 26,322 from southern Illinois. Data were also collected on the sales of 12,581 bushels of early apples principally from southern Illinois and sold in bulk, and 104,567 bushels of late apples sold in bulk, 45,898 bushels of the late apples being from western Illinois and 58,669 bushels from southern Illinois. General price ranges. The price ranges and the percentage of a given class of apple sold in each range in 1939 are indicated in Figs. 8 and 9. The prices given are net to the grower after deducting any transportation or sales charges incurred. Of the early varieties sold in baskets, the highest percentage, 25.2, sold for 61 to 70 cents a bushel. Fifty percent of the early basket apples sold for 51 to 80 cents a bushel. The late apples in baskets ranged more than 10 cents higher the highest percentage of these apples, 24.1, selling for 71 to 80 cents and more than 57 percent selling for 61 to 90 cents. Only 19.4 percent of these late basket apples sold above 90 cents a bushel. 1943} MARKETING THE ILLINOIS APPLE CROP 531 The bulk apples sold for considerably less per bushel than the packaged apples. Of the early bulk apples, 27.4 percent sold for 11 to 20 cents a bushel and another 25 percent for 21 to 30 cents. Very few PRICE RANGE APPLES IN BUSHEL BASKETS 1939 Fig. 8. Prices of Illinois packed apples in 1939, showing percentage of early and late varieties that brought growers the net prices indicated. Transporta- tion and sales charges have been deducted. Fig. 9. Prices of Illinois bulk apples in 1939, showing percentage of early and late varieties that brought growers the net prices indicated. Transporta- tion and sales charges have been deducted. 532 BULLETIN No. 497 [August, t I |l ssaaa sssasasssss^s on a E M 3 u * : 2 a a u "a o. a dOv * C/l ^ 1 Q | B * jmmercial ji [ij 4 r bushel >i * -; I i, 2 K s ^ . .^5 .! . .!J .2 . . .^ .^J;; _ ^ 3 ijU 1 wers in * O W) iO /l -9-O O''f*3 D 5 < i . < -1 4 in ? MARION COUNTY, , I IT a io">-J i f^o >o x x c ^ OO *O^ 'O i/)^s^' , and include apples f LINOIS, ft o o 8 c cd 1| 10 ^f 1/5 ^t O O l^ ^ \O ' *O 3 2 e _4j 1 " ^ 1 o ** O iels of apj j <2 2 d a _r 3 R u 3 c~ ^o g g3 - -^^o^cs^ocs^^*^* ^> I V II U d 3Z =0 < i e | - 3:= : : -2 :' IS 3 JK * 4 4 d a c N a 22 :i :5 : : - - : dl : : , H c3s :g |g ^o-,,! : -|| :lS fllll 5 illlSlJllSllll 5 H 3 a a H 1943} MARKETING THE ILLINOIS APPLE CROP 533 sold above 50 cents. Of the late apples sold in bulk, 45.9 percent sold for 21 to 30 cents a bushel, and another 40.9 percent for 31 to 40 cents. There was considerable difference in the prices received for differ- ent varieties and a wide range of prices for different grades within a variety (Table 22). Relation of variety to price. In the packaged fruit, Delicious sold for a distinctly higher price than any other variety ; Golden Delicious was next in order. Among the important varieties, Grimes sold for the lowest price, even less than Ben Davis. Winesap and Willow sold for slightly more than Jonathan. Among the less-important late varieties, Rome and York brought the best prices ; Champion and King David did not sell so well. The average price for Stayman also was low, even tho the No. 1 stock sold for as much as the No. 1 Jonathan. Yellow Transparent was much the best-priced among the summer varieties. Among the different varieties sold in bulk there were much nar- rower differences in price. Delicious was one of the lowest priced apples when sold in bulk. This may seem odd, but Delicious is pri- marily an eating apple, and bulk stock is sold mainly for cooking. Furthermore, a large percentage of the bulk stock is of the Unclassi- fied grade. Delicious apples other than No. 1 are not much in demand. Packaged versus bulk apples. In most varieties the packaged fruit sold for more than double the price of the bulk stock. There were much wider differences in price among varieties in the packaged apples than among the bulk apples, the greatest difference in packaged goods being as much as 35 cents a bushel (prices ranging from 55 to 90 cents) ; whereas in the bulk stock of late varieties the greatest differ- ence was only 9 cents (prices ranging from 29 to 38 cents). The average price for all the specified late varieties sold in pack- ages was 76 cents a bushel, while the average price of the bulk stock in the same varieties was only 33 cents. However, a high percentage of the packaged fruit was of the U. S. No. 1 grade, while a high per- centage of the apples sold in bulk consisted of Unclassified fruit (Tables 18 and 19). Considering the difference in grade and the cost of packages and packing, it is probable that the bulk stock sold at as near its true value as the packaged stock. Influence of grade on price. For most varieties of the packaged apples there was a marked difference in price between the No. 1 stock and any of the other grades. (Of some varieties evidently only the No. 1 stock was packaged.) For Delicious, Golden Delicious, and Ben Davis this difference amounted to 24 to 29 cents a bushel ; for Yellow Transparent, 20 cents; and for Grimes and Jonathan, 11 and 12 cents respectively (Table 22). The average difference for all varieties was 16 cents. Normally the Combination grade sold for more than the Utility, but in some varieties the Unclassified stock sold for a better average 534 BULLETIN No. 497 ! 4 4 | 4 1 > iflv JB 3S 1 4 T-l 4 S 3$ S ? u - ,-- :** ;E * 5 S 5 5 H 3 * J D 5 *U 1 J Z 5 2 2 i < 1 J 5 j^; H _a; - " O 2 ^ H-l 00 ' c 5 2 "3 o Is S . a tn >fc 8 s w i* i Q s w 5 2 s S 5 S S o 5U 3 .. * tn a S J U 2 z 5 Id - o 1< d r Oti - o J en : 5 Id *m , 5 4 d J c N W u i|| s OO.^g;. ^ ., R88 g . W -,.J CQ y W ill VO1000 r^vO -m -1/5 ->0 -St- li S on 'o ^ Ji e ^f **5 *C ?S fO 1/51/5 *< 1/5 **5 1/5 O 00 * Total sales ella thru .,' agencies ty[ age ,; ~* t*> ** tO *- -^ r^ O t^- "^ O -in -< 2 B 3 m -1/5 1/5 o -100 "5 C O O S -8 SJoS .1C .vo . . .S "O,i j J j3 C3 c 2 11 "o 2 00 0) < k x O 1/5 CN *^5 O^ 1/5 1/5 -1/5 ^t I/) 2|g * *<*>*< 00 00 TC tN # 04 :|:i: :::::::::::::: 5 I n H [j i 1 : ; : ; ; : ; : : ; : "a^xQC " -S^O^Q^OffloiuS^xS 1943] MARKETING THE ILLINOIS APPLE CROP 535 price than one or both of these grades. This was especially true of the early varieties. If all late varieties are considered together, the order of the differ- ent grades, in price, is: U. S. No. 1, Combination, Utility, Unclassi- fied. This is a logical sequence, in view of the differences in the quality of the different grades. Discrepancies in the prices of the Unclassified stock of certain varieties were undoubtedly due to irregularities in grading or marking. Altho the Unclassified mark is normally used to designate fruit that will not meet the requirements of either the Utility or the Combination grade, it may be put on anything, all the way from culls to No. 1 stock. Prices obtained thru different sales outlets. Sales directly to consumers brought the highest prices per bushel but made up a very small percentage of the total sales. Comparison of the average net prices received by growers for U. S. No. 1 apples packed in bushel baskets indicates that of the sales outlets thru which relatively large volumes were sold, the brokerage firms and cooperative organizations made the best returns, tho for some varieties, direct sales to wholesale dealers proved to be most advantageous. This was true of South Caro- lina Summer and Delicious. Returns from sales thru commission mer- chants were especially unfavorable for Delicious, Golden Delicious, and Grimes. Merchant truckers were a more favorable outlet for Grimes, Winesap, and Duchess than for other varieties in the No. 1 grade. However, their purchases of this grade were rather limited. Retail dealers paid especially well for Golden Delicious compared with other varieties and apparently discriminated against the Jonathan (Table 23). Prices of Western Illinois Apples in 1941 A survey made in western Illinois during and immediately follow- ing the apple harvest in the fall of 1941 showed that prices received by growers for their fruit were much higher than in 1937 and 1939, the two immediately preceding heavy-crop years (Table 24). This was especially true of the packed fruit, but also applied to bulk fruit of all varieties except Jonathan and Delicious. Every variety of apple showed a higher price for No. 1 packed stock in 1941 than in 1939 (Table 24), the average (weighted) in- crease being 30 cents a bushel, which brought the price 38 percent above 1939. 1 Of the fruit sold in bulk, the Unclassified stock makes up the larger proportion and so is used here for comparison. The Unclassified Jonathan and Delicious unaccountably sold for slightly lower prices in 1941 than in 1939; other prominent varieties showed 'The quantities of apples of the 1941 crop involved in these comparisons were about 50,000 bushels of packed No. 1 stock and nearly 55,000 bushels of Unclassified bulk stock. In 1939 the quantities involved were somewhat smaller. 536 BULLEJIN No. 497 [August, TABLE 24. AVERAGE NET PRICES PER BUSHEL TO GROWERS FOR U. S. No. 1 PACKED AND UNCLASSIFIED BULK APPLES OF SPECIFIED VARIETIES SOLD AT HARVEST TIME: WESTERN ILLINOIS, 1937, 1939, 1941 U. S. No. 1 in bushel baskets Unclassified (bulk) Variety 1937 1939 1941 Increase 1941 over 1939 1939 1941 Increase 1941 over 1939 Jonathan $ 75 $.74 .98 .85 .59 ^ .75 m .79 ' .65 .61 .79 $1.11 1.21 1.22 ft .80 1.06 1.25b .90 .99 1.09 $.37 .23 .37 .21 .31 .46 .25 .38 .30 $.28 .34 .26 .28 .31 .28 .34 .31 .31 S.27 .33 .50 .39 .44 .48 .39 .37 $-.01 -.01 .24 .11 .13 .27 .14 .08 .06 Delicious .85 Golden Delicious .83 Grimes 62 Willow .75 Winesap .81 Ben Davis Other varieties 70 All varieties .80 Included in other varieties. b Very small sample. increases of 11 to 27 cents a bushel. The average (weighted) increase for all varieties was 6 cents a bushel in spite of the large volume of Jonathan and Delicious sold at one cent a bushel under the 1939 prices. This is an increase of 19 percent. The increase in price of No. 1 packed fruit in 1941 was very gratifying to the orchardists of western Illinois. Prices for the 1942 apple crop were much higher than for the 1941 crop. However, no detailed price data were collected in the Illinois producing areas in 1942. GOVERNMENT PURCHASES OF APPLES With a view to removing surplus apples from the fresh fruit mar- ket and thereby assisting in maintaining price levels, government apple- purchasing programs were carried on in a number of apple-producing states each year of heavy crop production after 1934. Such programs were set up in Illinois for the crop years 1935, 1937, 1939, and 1941. 1935. Purchases of apples from the 1935 crop were made by the Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation from cold-storage holdings beginning rather late in the storage season and continuing until May 15, 1936. Two hundred thirty-seven carloads of Illinois apples were bought by the Government that season and distributed thru the Illinois Emergency Relief Commission to families on relief. 1937. A purchase program was again instituted in 1937 with a view to purchasing apples at harvest time, but there was so much delay in opening an office in Illinois that the harvest season was nearly over before the Government was ready to handle the apples. As a result, only 15 carloads were purchased while the office was in operation from October 22 to November 13. The office was reopened February 15, 1938, for the purchase of Illinois apples from storage, and 64 1943] MARKETING THE ILLINOIS APPLE CROP 537 carloads were bought by the Government between February 21 and April 15. 1 1939. At a meeting of the Illinois State Committee on Apple Purchase Program, held in Centralia August 30, 1939, a resolution was wired to Washington urging the Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation to set up an apple-purchase program in Illinois and to put it into immediate operation so as to handle Jonathan, Grimes, and other fall and early winter varieties during the harvest season. After a general apple meeting held in Washington, D. C. on Sep- tember 14 and 15 to discuss plans for a country-wide apple purchase program, arrangements were made for a purchase program in Illinois and actual purchasing began October 9. By this time most of the crop had been marketed or stored, and only 21 cars of Illinois apples were offered to the Government; all these were purchased before November 12. No Illinois apples of the 1939 crop were purchased from storage by the Government. 1940. Because of a light crop in Illinois as well as in a number of other midwestern states in 1940, there was no interest in a govern- ment apple-purchase program among Illinois growers even tho such a program was carried on in several other states and led to the pur- chase of 3.100,000 bushels up to December 7 and a total of 14,134 carloads (7,462,774 bushels) for the season. 1941. Following a meeting of the National Apple Planning Com- mittee in Washington, D. C. on August 11, 12, and 13, 1941, at which a resolution was passed recommending "an Apple Purchasing Pro- gram to commence as soon as possible," a meeting of the Illinois Peach and Apple Industries Committee (which had been appointed before the peach harvest) was held in Centralia on August 21, 1941, to con- sider a government apple-purchase program for Illinois. At this meeting a motion was passed "that the Surplus Marketing Administration [at that time the name of the federal agency making purchases of surplus commodities] be requested to set up an apple- purchasing program in Illinois by September 1 in order to be in a position to purchase Jonathan and Grimes." A general announcement that the Surplus Marketing Administra- tion was planning to purchase apples in various producing states ap- peared in The Chicago Packer for August 30, 1941, in which the opening prices on Jonathan were named at $1.00 and on Grimes at 95 cents. 2 This information was disseminated rapidly thru the apple- producing areas. The Government, however, was not ready to make 'Of the apples stored by western Illinois growers interviewed in the fall of 1937, 83 percent were reported to be of U. S. No. 1 grade. "This price on Grimes was inoperative in Illinois because it called for a 2Vi-inch apple. 538 BULLETIN No. 497 [August, purchases in Illinois until September 15. By that time a large pro- portion of the Jonathan and Grimes crop had been harvested and marketed. But the knowledge that a purchase program was likely to start almost any day at the prices indicated is reported to have estab- lished the price for apples at least 15 cents a bushel above that which would otherwise have been obtainable. As the season progressed, prices offered for other varieties were announced. There was a differential in price between different sizes of the same variety when more than one size was acceptable. Pur- chases were limited to the U. S. No. 1 grade. The purchasing office of the Surplus Marketing Administration in Springfield was maintained until November 11. Total purchases of Illinois apples amounted to only ten cars. In spite of the small quantity of apples purchased, the general feeling among growers was that the purchase program had been very beneficial to the apple industry of the state by serving as a stimulus to the market. The chief criticism from growers at the close of the program was that it was started too late for handling the Jonathan, which is the most important Illinois variety and the harvest of which began more than two weeks before the gov- ernment was ready to start actual purchasing. Total purchases, 1934-1941. The quantities of apples involved in the government purchase programs from 1934 to 1941 inclusive are given in Table 25 on the basis of carloads, bushels, and percentages of the commercial crop for Illinois and for the United States as a whole. Relatively small quantities of Illinois apples were sold to the government agencies after the 1935 crop. The purchase programs were used much more extensively by some other producing areas. In the United States as a whole more than 6 percent of the 1939 and 1940 commercial crops and nearly 5 percent of the 1941 crop were taken under these programs. After January 10, 1942, government purchases included both those made for emergency relief and for lend-lease. TABLE 25. GOVERNMENT PURCHASES OF APPLES, 1934-1941 Illinois United States Crop year Carloads* Bushels 1 ' Percent of crop c Carloads' Bushels b Percent of crop* 1934... . . . . None 393 207 389 .20 1935 237 125 025 2.23 5 015 2 648 262 1.88 1936 27 14 330 .01 1937 79 43 772 .74 10 713 5 656 438 3.62 1938 1 052 555 584 .50 1939 21 11 052 .23 17 155 9 057 803 6.33 1940 . . . None 14 134 7 462 774 6.52 1941 10 5 232 .15 11 839 6 250 942 4.95 Calculated on the basis of 528 bushels to a car where data on number of carloads were lacking. b Data furnished by Purchase Branch of the Agricultural Marketing Administration. U. S. Depart- ment of Agriculture, August 13, 1942. Commercial crop. 1943] MARKETING THE ILLINOIS APPLE CROP 539 MARKETING PROBLEM IN YEARS OF HEAVY CROP Even with government purchasing programs in operation in heavy crop years, most of the Illinois apples moved thru regular trade chan- nels. Purchase programs may have stimulated the market, but the volume of Illinois apples disposed of in that way was exceedingly small compared with the total crop. The chief movement must be thru the usual trade outlets. Best Time to Market In spite of competition with other fruits and with apples from other producing areas, probably the most favorable time for putting the principal volume of most varieties of Illinois apples into con- sumption is during and immediately following their harvest. The high-quality Illinois apples that mature comparatively early, such as Jonathan, Grimes, Delicious, and Golden Delicious, are at their best during the fall months. If moved into consumption at that time, they tend to stimulate interest in apples despite abundance of other fruits, including grapes of both the eastern and the California types, pears from the West as well as local pears, late peaches and plums, local cantaloupes and watermelons, Valencia oranges from California, and the beginning of the new grapefruit crop from Texas and Florida, to say nothing of bananas, which are usually present except in wartime. Interest in apples is most likely to be developed if the fall mar- ket is supplied with the better grades of the high-quality varieties. It has been a common practice to store most of the No. 1 stock of these varieties for winter sales and to offer only the lower grades for consumption during the fall months in many markets. At the meeting of apple growers held in Washington, D. C, in August, 1941, a concerted movement to keep the markets well supplied with high- grade stock of the early-maturing varieties thruout the fall months, instead of supplying them thruout that period with low-grade stock of all varieties, was strongly urged. The National Association of Food Chains and other trade organizations agreed to cooperate in such a movement. Disposition of the early-maturing varieties for immediate consumption was especially active during the fall seasons of 1941 and 1942. Less Winter Storage of Heavy Crops In years of heavy crop accompanied by low prices at harvest time, there has normally been a tendency for growers to store apples. In fact, during the depression years, many growers were practically forced to store a considerable portion of their crop because they lacked an outlet, since speculators had lost interest in buying apples for storing. In the absence of fall merchandising campaigns, storage hold- 540 BULLETIN No. 497 [August, TABLE 26. COLD STORAGE HOLDINGS OF APPLES IN THE UNITED STATES, AS OF DECEMBER 1 EACH YEAR, AND PERCENTAGE OF CROP STORED, 1919-1942 Year Total crop* Commercial crop* Cold storage holdings December l m Percent stored Total crop Commercial crop 1919 . . . 7,000 bu. 140 632 /,000 bu. 78 477 101 715 64 671 95 835 107 808 84 039 99 738 117 384 78 051 106 383 86 664 100 587 103 776 85 776 77 232 103 691 140 503 98 608 156 376 109 595 143 085 114 391 122 059 127 655 b 7,000 bu. 17 769 20 361 17 217 20 229 30 297 22 419 28 194 31 458 23 493 31 177 28 139 32 580 34 197 29 433 25 128 30 983 33 054 26 486 36 054 30 815 30 988 33 838 31 181 35 662 12.6 9.8 18.0 10.7 16.7 14.0 18.5 13.7 20.3 17.5 20.8 20.8 16.6 20.0 16.9 24.6 18.6 22.5 17.1 23.3 20.0 20.0 26.6 21.1 28.1 26.6 28.2 26.9 30.1 29.3 32.4 32.4 32.9 34.3 32.5 29.9 23.5 26.9 23.1 28.1 21.7 29.6 25.5 27.9 1920 206 688 1921 95 638 1922 . . 189 425 1923 180 915 1924 160 457 1925 152 424 1926 ... 229 656 1927 115 708 1928 177 813 1929 135 092 1930 156 617 1931 205 403 1932 .... .... 146 849 1933 148 657 1934 125 719 1935 177 916 1936 117 506 1937 . . . 210 783 1938 132 354 1939 1940 1941 1942 From government statistics. Government estimates of total apple production were discontinued in 1939; hence, data for years since 1938 are not available. Figures for the "commercial crop," 1919 to 1933 inclusive, relate to apples sold for fresh consumption only, but include apples so sold from all areas in the United States. Beginning with 1934, all government estimates of commercial apple produc- tion relate only to production of apples in commercial areas, but include apples sold for processing and used on farms where grown as well as apples sold for fresh consumption. The commercial areas are now designated on a county basis. The commercial crop is the total production in the designated commercial counties. In 1940 there were 424 counties in the United States considered as commercial apple areas; these were distributed over 36 states; 17 were in Illinois (see page 499). b Preliminary- ings will unavoidably be large in heavy-crop years, but these are the years in which fall selling campaigns should be most active. Under normal income conditions, large storage holdings usually result in low prices thruout the winter and spring. The disastrous season of 1935-36 illustrates this point. Much No. 1 stock was sold out of storage in the spring for less net return to the grower than Unclassified stock sold for at harvest time the fall before. The Illinois growers really learned their lesson in the spring of 1936, and since then have pushed fall sales in heavy-crop years. Storage holdings of Illinois growers have been less and less each suc- ceeding heavy-crop year. In 1935 it was estimated that 32 percent of the entire crop of fall and winter apples in western Illinois was placed in cold storage as the property of the growers ; in 1937, 24 percent ; in 1939, 11 percent; while in 1941 the movement at harvest time was so active that only Si/i percent of the crop was stored by the growers. 1 'These percentages were calculated from data secured in surveys made in the western Illinois apple area each of the seasons. 1943] MARKETING THE ILLINOIS APPLE CROP 541 Cold-storage holdings as of December 1 in the United States as a whole are given in Table 26, together with the size of the crop and the percentage of the crop stored each year since 1919. It has been estimated that under normal conditions of business ac- tivity and normal size of factory payrolls thruout the country, about 30 million bushels of apples in cold storage as of December 1 will fully supply the available markets, and that larger holdings are likely to result in disastrous prices. Movement of apples from storage is seriously retarded by severely cold winter weather. Competition with citrus fruits is much more active in winter than in the fall, for Cali- fornia, Florida, and Texas are all shipping freely. Canned fruits also enter the competition. Apples that remain in storage until spring have to compete with the new crop of strawberries from the South besides meeting the continued competition with the citrus fruits and also bananas under normal conditions. Under the abnormal conditions which existed during the marketing and consumption of the 1942 late-apple crop, the situation with refer- ence to quantity of storage holdings was not the same as that explained above. Even tho more than 35 million bushels of apples went into cold storage in the United States (Table 26), the active demand practically exhausted the supply before spring, and unprecedented prices prevailed toward the close of the season. This illustrates the fact that economic conditions, as well as the quantity stored, influence the profits from storing apples. In years of changing economic conditions, the quantity stored will be a less important factor in determining price. Advantages of Pushing Fall Sales Under normal conditions the advantages of selling most varieties of Illinois apples early and putting them immediately into consumption channels are: 1. The fruit is at its best quality during the first few weeks following harvest. 2. There is practically no loss from shrinkage or spoilage. 3. The margin between producer and consumer is much less because there is less handling and the expense of cold storage is avoided. 4. The uncertainty and risks of market changes are avoided by the grower (he has already assumed his full share of risks in producing the crop). 5. Contacts with buyers are much more readily made during the harvest season than during the winter. 6. Transportation to market by truck is much safer in fall than after severe weather arrives. 7. Competition with other fruits, particularly citrus, and with apples from other regions is likely to be more severe in the winter than in the fall. 8. The grower receives his returns earlier. 542 BULLETIN No. 497 [August, PROBLEM OF CULL APPLES From 5 to 15 percent of the apples produced in western Illinois are normally sold to cider mills ; in some years the quantity so disposed of has reached more than 22 percent. Presumably these are all culls. In 1937, 31 percent of the western Illinois late apple crop was sold as Unclassified stock; in 1939, 46 percent, and in 1941, 38 percent. How many culls were included is unknown, but it would seem reasonable to estimate that the lots of apples designated as Unclassified consisted on the average of at least one- fourth culls. A movement has been started in the apple industry for the abo- lition of "Unclassified" as a designation for any kind or lot of apples and requiring that culls be designated as "Culls" and marked as such. There is a law in Missouri covering this point, 1 and there are advocates for a national law to the same effect in reference to apples moving in interstate commerce, and of similar laws in the various producing states in reference to intrastate shipments. The suggestion has been made that legislation be enacted that would eliminate the lower grades of apples from fresh-fruit market channels in years of heavy crop, the extent of the elimination to be determined after the commercial crop of the United States has been estimated and the prevailing economic conditions and the purchasing power of con- sumers have been considered. If such a plan were put into practice, the markets would be supplied with only high-grade apples in years of heavy crop accompanied by light demand, and with enough apples of all grades to meet the demand in years of light crop. Production would also tend to concentrate in localities and in orchards where a high per- centage of No. 1 fruit can ordinarily be produced. Good Care of Orchards Reduces Culls Differences in the care which owners in the same locality give their orchards greatly affect the grade of fruit they market. An owner's lack of necessary funds, combined in many cases with lack of adapta- tion for horticultural work, has resulted in many poorly-cared- for orchards in Illinois and consequently in the production of a consider- able quantity of low-grade apples. In western Illinois five growers having poorly-cared- for orchards which produced 18,000 bushels of apples in 1937 packed only 11 percent of their fruit as U. S. No. 1 grade and sold 69 percent as Unclassified. Five other growers in the same region who had given their orchards good care and had produced 'New legislation pending in Missouri as this publication goes to press is designed to make possible the use of the "Unclassified" designation on apples which consist of 70 percent or more of U. S. Utility quality or better, and to reserve the "Cull" designation for apples which contain less than 70 percent of U. S. Utility or better quality. 1943] MARKETING THE ILLINOIS APPLE CROP 543 24,000 bushels of fruit packed 72 percent of their crop as U. S. No. 1 stock and sold only 8 percent as Unclassified. The possibility of producing apple crops in Illinois having a very low percentage of culls is illustrated by the achievements of the "Nine- ty-Five Percent Clean Apple Club" sponsored by the Illinois State Horticultural Society. 1 Apple Cider and Apple Chop Since the price paid for apples by cider-mill operators is limited by the price obtainable for cider vinegar, which in turn is limited by the price of "white" or distilled vinegar, sale of apples to cider mills can never be a source of large income to apple growers. The manufacture of apple chop as a means of disposing of cull and surplus apples has been suggested 2 and an effort was made by apple growers in western Illinois to interest a commercial concern in the establishment of a plant for making this product, which is used exten- sively in the manufacture of apple butter. Three firms in St. Louis are reported to use about 2,000,000 pounds of this material a year, which they procure from the Far West or from eastern states. To make this quantity of apple chop would require about 290,000 bushels of fresh apples. The logical place to manufacture the apple chop needed by these firms and other large manufacturers of apple butter in the Middlewest was thought to be in the apple-producing area of western Illinois. However, the effort to establish an apple-chop plant in this area was unsuccessful, and the various cider mills in the area still are practically the only outlet for apples other than the fresh- fruit market. The best solution of the cull problem in the commercial apple areas of Illinois would therefore seem to be to so manage and care for the orchards that the percentage of culls will be reduced to a minimum. Attention could then be concentrated on marketing the higher grades rather than on salvaging the culls. PRESENT-DAY SALES OPPORTUNITIES The sales opportunities available to different Illinois apple growers vary with their location, the size of their operations, their initiative, their sales ability, and their reputation for quality of fruit and depend- able packs. Large operators located in the distinctively commercial areas have their choice among most of the various sales outlets mentioned on page 521, particularly sales made directly to wholesale dealers or thru '111. State Hort. Soc. Trans. 74, 281 (1940), and 76, 328 (1942). 'Farm Credit Admin. Misc. Rpt. 13, p. 62. 1937. 544 BULLETIN No. 497 [August, brokers, sales to merchant truckers, sales thru cooperative organiza- tions, and sales thru city commission merchants. Growers near the outer edges of commercial apple areas bordering grain and livestock areas enjoy special opportunities to sell directly to consumers, including both farm and village people. They also have opportunities to develop a good trade with retail merchants in neigh- boring towns. Location near a large manufacturing or trade center, whether in an important apple-producing area or not, affords a grower special oppor- tunities for dealing directly with either wholesale or retail dealers in that city. In isolated areas outside of important apple-producing regions and at a distance from large trading centers, individual apple growers may need to exercise considerable ingenuity and initiative to dispose of their fruit to the best advantage. Many apple growers have worked up a good trade directly with consumers who call at the farm or at a road- side stand maintained by the grower at a main highway if the farm is not favorably located in reference to highway traffic. There are also opportunities for dealing with retail merchants in the surrounding towns within reasonable trucking distance from the orchard. Each grower outside the important commercial producing areas will have to work out for himself the marketing method best suited to his situation and opportunities. Growers in commercial areas have oppor- tunity for concerted action, either thru cooperative associations, the establishment of producers' wholesale markets at strategic locations in the producing area, or the attraction of wholesale buyers to the locality due to the larger volume of fruit available. OUTLOOK FOR THE ILLINOIS APPLE INDUSTRY The most striking thing about the apple industry in Illinois and in the United States as a whole is the great decline in tree numbers dur- ing the past thirty years. From a total of 217,100,000 trees in the United States in 1910, the number declined to 71,700,000 in 1940. In Illinois the rate of decline was even greater: from 12,400,000 trees in 1910 to 2,800,000 in 1940 (Table 27). Recent plantings have been proportionately less in Illinois than in the country as a whole, as indicated by the number and percentage of trees not yet of bearing age. The percentage of apple trees in the United States not of bearing age in 1940 was 18.8 percent, while in Illinois it was only 15.6 percent, according to U. S. Census figures. These include trees in noncommercial as well as commercial plantings. The surveys of commercial orchards made in western Illinois in 1937 and in southern Illinois in 1938 indicated that approximately 25 per- 1943] MARKETING THE ILLINOIS APPLE CROP 545 TABLE 27. NUMBERS OF APPLE TREES IN THE UNITED STATES AND IN ILLINOIS, CENSUS YEARS, 1910 TO 1940 Year All ages Not of bearing age Bearing age Percent not of bearing age Percent of bearing age 1910... million . 217.1 s millions United States 65.8 millions 151.3 30.3 69.7 1920 151.3 36 2 115 3 23.9 76.1 1925 138.0 34.3 103.7 24.9 75.1 1930 116 3 27 5 88 8 23 6 76.4 1935 100.0 17.5 82.5 17.5 82.5 1940 71.7 13.5 58.2 18.8 81.2 1910 12 4 Illinois 2 5 9 9 20.2 79.8 1920 6.9 1.8 5.1 26.1 73.9 1925 6.7 2.6 4.1 38.8 61.2 1930 . . . . 55 1 8 3.7 32.7 67.3 1935 4.8 .9 3.9 18.7 81.3 1940 2.8 .4 2.4 15.6 84.4 cent of the trees in such orchards were less than ten years old the age at which apple trees in this state are considered as of bearing age. It is probable that even in the commercial orchard areas the percentage of trees not of bearing age was less in 1940 than in 1937 and 1938. The present trend in apple production is downward, tho the decline in production is not nearly so great as the decline in tree numbers. This is true largely because the trees removed were neglected, diseased, unproductive, or in noncommercial plantations, while those remaining have been given better care and are producing larger crops per tree than the average production per tree in past periods. The trend of total production will probably continue downward, however, for some years because of the light plantings during the past ten years and the consequent small numbers of trees coming into bear- ing to replace those which will normally pass out of production. It is significant that in the Pacific Coast area, which offers Illinois growers the severest competition in the winter-apple market, only 8.2 percent of the apple trees were not of bearing age in 1940. This means there are not nearly enough young trees coming on for normal replacement, and that production in that region is likely to decline more rapidly in the future. With the present lack of export outlet for Pacific Coast apples due to war conditions, relatively few new plantings are likely to be made in that region. The outlook for the Illinois apple grower is the brightest it has been since the harvest season of 1929. This is because of (1) the fav- orable location of the Illinois commercial apple areas in reference to available markets, (2) the probable decline in the total apple produc- tion of the country and the increased buying power of the American people, (3) the stress being placed upon the use of fruits in the civilian diet. 546 BULLETIN No. 497 [August, Growers who give their orchards the necessary care to produce a high-grade product, prepare that product properly for market, and intelligently make their market contacts, are in a position to prosper during the years immediately ahead. SUMMARY 1. Illinois has long been and still is an important apple-producing state. Illinois growers are in a strategic position in reference to mar- kets: their best varieties of early winter apples mature in advance, of those from most other important producing regions; there are avail- able markets in all directions from the Illinois producing areas; the markets to the west have recently assumed increased importance. 2. The most favorable time for putting the principal volume of most varieties of Illinois apples into consumption appears to be the fall months, in spite of competition at that time with other fruits and to some extent with apples from other areas. Stimulating consumption in the fall by making good market grades of high-quality apples gen- erally available at that time is a better policy than saving back the good apples for later sale. Late-keeping varieties, like Willow and Winesap, may sometimes be stored to advantage. 3. At least ten different sales outlets are available to Illinois com- mercial apple growers. The more important of these outlets are direct sales to wholesale dealers, sales thru brokers and thru cooperative or- ganizations, and direct sales to merchant truckers. 4. A large percentage of the Illinois apples marketed in packages are of U. S. No. 1 grade. In 1939 these netted the growers better aver- age prices when sold thru brokerage firms or cooperative organizations than when sold thru any of the other outlets which take relatively large volumes of fruit. For certain varieties, however, direct sales to wholesale dealers proved most advantageous. 5. Government purchases of Illinois apples for relief purposes have been exceedingly small, but the presence of a purchase program in 1941 undoubtedly had a stimulating effect on the market. Usually, how- ever, Illinois growers have been able to realize better prices thru the regular outlets available to them. 6. Delicious and Golden Delicious in the packaged fruit have normally brought better prices than any of the other important Illinois varieties. Apple prices in general were much better in the fall of 1941 than for several preceding crop years and were still better in 1942. 7. Large quantities of late-crop Illinois apples are handled in bulk or trucked to market in open crates ; growers are thus relieved of the 1943] MARKETING THE ILLINOIS APPLE CROP 547 expense of packages and packing. Merchant truckers have been espe- cially active in moving bulk stock. 8. Production of apples in Illinois is principally in well-defined commercial areas and is confined largely to a few well-adapted, well- known varieties, either of high quality as table fruit or particularly adapted to important special uses, as for pies or sauce. 9. Many growers outside the principal commercial producing areas have special market opportunities for developing direct trade with con- sumers or with retail dealers. 10. Standardized grading and shipping-point inspection are well established in Illinois and are maintained by the Division of Markets of the State Department of Agriculture. 11. Better orchard management that will reduce the percentage of culls in the crop would be a more effective means of solving the cull problem than seeking new or enlarged outlets for the culls. Attention could then be concentrated on marketing the higher grades rather than on salvaging the culls. 6050 8-43 26302