CAN FRUIT WITHOUT SUGAR.—­Canning Specialists Say Boiling Water May Be Used Instead of Sirup. Fruit for use in pies or salads or as stewed fruit can be put up or canned without the use of any sugar at all, according to the canning specialists of the department.  They, therefore, advise those who, because of the high price of sugar, have been thinking of reducing the amount of fruit they put up to can as much of their surplus as possible by the use of boiling water when sugar sirup is beyond their means.  Any fruit, they say, may be successfully sterilized and retained in the pack by simply adding boiling water instead of the hot sirup.  The use of sugar, of course, is desirable in the canning of all kinds of fruits and makes a better and ready sweetened product.  Moreover, most of the fruits when canned in water alone do not retain their natural flavor, texture and color as well as fruit put up in sirup.  Fruit canned without sugar to be used for sauces or desserts must be sweetened.

Fruit Retail Methods and Costs.

CLARENCE W. MOOMAW AND M.M.  STEWART, FRUIT AND PRODUCE MARKETERS,
PORTLAND, OREGON.

On studying the various phases of city apple marketing, special attention was given to retail methods and costs.  The purpose of this study was chiefly to learn whether the wholesale supply controls the price.  The cost of operation as a factor in determining retail prices also was investigated as far as possible.

Retail apple distributors may be classed as follows: 

(a) Fruit-stand vendors.

(b) Fancy grocers, fruiterers, etc., catering almost exclusively to high-class or fashionable trade and doing a very extensive credit business.

(c) Grocers catering to a cheaper class of trade, largely upon a cash basis.

(d) Hucksters or street peddlers.

Relatively high prices were charged for apples purchased at fruit stands.  Extra fancy Northwestern and Colorado Jonathans were sold to the dealers during October and November at prices ranging from $1 to $1.25 per box.  Apples which grade 150 to the box retailed at two for five cents, or $3.75 per box.  This meant a gross profit of about 250 per cent.  In the ninety-six size, extra fancy Jonathans sold at three for ten cents, or $3.20 per box, showing a gross profit of about 200 per cent.

In the East Side tenement section of New York City it was learned that by reason of the cheap prices prevailing and the heavy supply of apples arriving the peddlers were operating to the detriment of fruit stands.  The fruit-stand dealers were selling only about one-third to one-half the quantity of fruit handled in former seasons.  The pushcart and wagon peddlers as a rule buy packed or loose fruit cheap and go direct to the homes of the residents, selling at prices considerably below the fruit-stand men.  The peddlers handle a large quantity, make quick cash sales, and pay no rents.  Other dealers incur heavy operating expenses and generally sell not for the purpose of moving a large quantity, but for the highest price obtainable.  Consequently, the movement is restricted.