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BETTER FRUIT 



November 



BETTER FRUIT 



HOOD RIVER, OREGON 



Official Organ of The Northwest Fruit Growers' Association 

 A Monthly Illustrated Magazine Published in the 

 Interest of Modem Fruit Growing aud Marketing 



All t'orumunlcations Should Be Addressed and Remittances 

 Made Payable to 



Better Fruit Publishing Company 



E. H. SHEPARD. Editor and Publisher 



STATE ASSOCIATE EDITORS 



OREGON 



C. I. Lewis. Horticulturist Corvallis 



WASHINGTON 



Dr. A. I,. Melander. Entomologist Pullman 



" M Morris. Horticulturist Pullman 



W. S. Thornber, Horticulturist Pullman 



COLORADO 



C. P. Gillette. Director and Entomologist Fort Collins 



E. B. House. Chief of Department of Civil and Irrigation 



Engineering. State Agricultural College Fort Collins 



ARIZONA 



E P. Tajlor, Horticulturist Tucson 



WISCONSIN 



Dr. E. D. Ball, Director and Entomologist Madison 



MONTANA 



O B. Whipple. Horticulturist Bozeman 



CALIFORNIA 



C. W. Woodworth. Entomologist Berkeley 



W. H. Volck. Entomologist Watsonville 



Leon D. Batchelor, Horticulturist Riverside 



INDIANA 



H. S. Jackson, Pathologist Lafayette 



BRITISH COLUMBIA 

 R. M. Winslow, Provincial Horticulturist .. . t Victoria 



SUBSCRIPTION PRICE: 



In the United States. 11.00 per year in advance 



Canada and foreign. Including postage. $1.50 



ADVERTISING RATES ON APPLICATION 



Entered as second-class matter December 27. 1906. at the 



Postofflce at Hood River. Oregon, under Act 



of Congress of March 3. 1879. 



Fall Spraying. — A great many dis- 

 tricts throughout the Northwest are 

 troubled with anthracnose. The most 

 effective time to spray for anthracnose 

 is in the fall immediately after harvest- 

 ing. The best remedy known is bor- 

 beaux treatment, which can be bought 

 already prepared or made by the 

 orchardist. Every grower as soon as 

 he harvests his apple crop, if he has 

 any anthracnose, or if there is anthrac- 

 nose in his neighborhood, should imme- 

 diately spray his orchard, not stopping 

 until the job is completed. The sooner 

 the orchard is sprayed after harvest- 

 ing the better. It is equally important 

 to spray orchards to the fullest extent 

 possible before the fall rains com- 

 mence; but even if a few showers occur 

 do not stop spraying with bordeaux 

 until the whole orchard has been 

 sprayed. 



Codling Moth. — A great many grow- 

 ers got the idea this season that worms 

 were not going to be bad, others felt 

 like economizing, omitting some of the 

 sprays and failing to spray thoroughly 

 in the balance. Whenever a grower 

 omits any spray or fails to do his work 

 thoroughly he can rest assured that, 

 whether a good year or a bad year for 

 worms, he will have a large percent- 

 age. There is no reason in the world 

 why an apple crop should not be 

 cleaner and more free from worm 

 stings than it is, which is all due to a 

 lack of spraying. It seems timely to 

 call the attention of the fruit growers 

 to this subject right now, when the loss 

 is apparent and before they forget it, 

 with the hope and belief that by so 

 doing growers will do better work in 

 1918 and have a smaller percentage of 

 wormy apples. There is nothing that 

 hurts the apple grower or prevents con- 

 sumption more than the marketing of 

 wormy and badly-stung apples. 



National Apple Day. — Thursday, No- 

 vember 1, was National Apple Day, 

 which was pretty generally observed 

 throughout the United States. All kinds 

 of advertising publicity should be given 

 the apple during the coming year for 

 the purpose of increasing consumption 

 and for the further purpose of having 

 people eat apples instead of non- 

 perishable foods. The dealers in the 

 city can continue National Apple Day 

 publicity in a great many ways, which 

 will be big factors in increasing con- 

 sumption. Apple shows can be held; 

 occasionally special sales can be put 

 on by the retailers; window decora- 

 tions can be made by retail grocers; 

 street-car advertising can be utilized to 

 excellent advantage. Newspaper ad- 

 vertising is the best method in the 

 world. The subject can be brought 

 before the schools by the school teach- 

 ers; electric signs can be displayed in 

 the various prominent public places: 



"An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor 

 Away." 



"Health's Best Way — Eat Apples 

 Every Day." 



"Eat Apples and Conserve the Non- 

 Perishable Food." 



From time to time special menus can 

 be served in hotels, restaurants and 

 clubs. The retail trade can hang out 

 signs, banners and distribute dodgers, 

 and in a thousand and one ways the 

 wholesaler, the retailer and the public 

 in general can help to increase the con- 

 sumption of apples this year. Nothing 

 contributes more to the health and the 

 digestion than an apple a day. Nothing 

 will contribute more to the prosperity 

 of the apple growers — a big factor in 

 the United States — than increased con- 

 sumption of apples. Increased con- 

 sumption of apples is highly desirable 

 in the United States this year on ac- 

 count of the embargo on export trade, 

 which means the United States will 

 have to consume about 10 per cent more 

 apples than in previous years — very 

 easily accomplished if everyone would 

 do his share. 



Car Shortage. — Criticism is being 

 made by the Northern Pacific Rail- 

 road about shippers along that line 

 loading cars too light. There has al- 

 ready been a shortage of cars in the 

 Northwest this season. If all shippers 

 would load their cars to the maximum 

 in accordance with uniform conditions, 

 instead of loading to the minimum, it 

 would require 10 per cent less cars, and 

 probably 10 per cent would cover the 

 shortage that exists this season. 



Distribution. — The Northwestern 

 Fruit Exchange, one of the large ship- 

 ping associations of the Northwest, has 

 announced they are selling apples to an 

 increased number of cities and towns 

 this year, stating in connection with 

 the announcement that advertising has 

 been a big factor in enabling them to 

 open up new territory. A number of 

 district associations have also an- 

 nounced they are selling to towns 

 which they have not sold before. This 

 is very gratifying. There is no ques- 

 tion if the Northwestern apple crop is 



properly distributed, and it can be 

 done, there will be no further talk 

 about overproduction. Better Fruit 

 has repeatedly claimed that the years 

 of low prices have been more a factor 

 of lack of distribution than overpro- 

 duction. 



Wormy Apples. — The same old com- 

 plaints are bobbing up this year about 

 growers shipping wormy apples. How- 

 ever, Better Fruit is glad to say the 

 complaints have not been very exten- 

 sive and the number of offenses com- 

 paratively few. The growers are not 

 always to blame, particularly this year 

 when they have had to put up with a 

 great deal of inexperienced help, and 

 help is inclined to be more or less care- 

 less and extremely indifferent. There 

 is only one way in which a grower can 

 prevent this — that is by always being 

 on the alert and continually watching 

 the packers, and if not always present 

 in the packing house instructions 

 should be issued to the foreman of the 

 packing house to guard against wormy 

 apples going into any of the boxes. 



Good Prices. — It usually follows 

 when the movement of apples is active 

 in the early part of the season and 

 prices reasonable that consumption is 

 greatly increased, and a good fair 

 average price obtained for the grower 

 throughout the season. On the other 

 hand, when the opening prices are un- 

 necessarily high consumption and activ- 

 ity in the trade is prevented in the 

 first half of the season, — the result 

 being that too many apples are held 

 for the last half of the season and a 

 slump occurs. The average price is 

 always bad under such conditions. If 

 the grower will accept and the dealer 

 will pay a reasonable price at the open- 

 ing and continue on this basis through- 

 out the season, then there will be no 

 more complaint of the growers getting 

 low prices for their apples. 



Movement of the Northwestern Apple 



Crop. — The movement of the North- 

 western apple crop to date amounts to 

 a little more than half of the quantity 

 shipped up to date last year, largely 

 due to the fact that the Northwestern 

 apple crop is about two weeks late. 

 Selling has been comparatively active, 

 although it is claimed by some that 

 speculators who bought at reasonable 

 prices are prohibiting apples going into 

 consumption at figures higher than the 

 trade will justify at the present time. 

 Growers have been disposed and ready 

 to accept a reasonably good price for 

 their apples. Large quantities have 

 been disposed of at satisfactory figures 

 by the growers and at a figure which 

 would afford the dealer a fair profit at 

 the same time. 



Small Apples. — The sizes of the 

 apples in the Northwest are smaller 

 than usual this year, due to several 

 causes, mainly the continued long dry 

 spell throughout the entire summer, and 

 also due to the lack of pruning. It is 

 generally more or less true throughout 



