191 5 



BETTER FRUIT 



Page IS 



BLOWERS 

 Big' BlacKberries 



XH« Quality— Its sprightly, yet moderate acid taste, is indicative of the 

 presence of tliose valuable medicinal properties without which the blackberry is 

 worthless. A lartre, clean, bright berry. The fruit is exceedingly sweet, with no 

 perceptible core, when fully developed. The flavor is pleasant without being 

 peculiar. In fact it is a blackberry from root to tip. It is a first-class shipper, stand- 

 ing up well for several days. 



Hardiness Plant Blowers Blackberries anywhere. Does well on all soils. 

 Has wonderful constitution, withstanding severest winters as well as severe drought. 

 Vigorous grower with luxuriant foliage. 



Distan.ce A.i>art to Plai\t— Rows 8 ft. apart. 3 ft. in row. This takes 

 about 1.800 plants to the acre. 



Traiixii*^ — Some people are successful with no trellis, but for convenience 

 and to insure against damage by high winds, this support is preferable. Posts about 

 5 ft. long, cross-arms 15 to jo inches. Grape wire stapled at each end of this cross- 

 arm and running both sides of the row. No tying is necessary- This gives a chance 

 to cultivate thoroughly and often. 



Seasot\ of F«mitii:\^— The season of ripening is from July .:5th until 

 frost; the bulk of the crop matures in the month of August. The yield in Septem- 

 ber and October depends upon the season; very few in October. We have had 

 blossoms and ripe fruit in Xovemlier. 



BIGGEST AND BEST MONEY-MAKER OF ALL BLACKBERRIES 



RECORD— 14 ft. and 1 in. extreme height of bush. 2694 berries on one bush. 2720 quarts from one-third acre. 

 ON SEVEN ACRES— .■!0,20f) quarts; 45,307 pounds; 943 ilS bushels; 22^3 tons. 

 $2,121.75 NET F. O, B. HERE— S303. 10 per acre. 153 bushels netted $344.25 from best acre. 

 tW Shipping Season for Pacific Coast from November 1 st to end of Rainy Season. 



Our 1915 Cai^loQ and TUniing Guide— Includes Nut Culture— 

 Fruits. 9?05es, Shrubs, Evergreens, etc.. mailed FREE on request. 



GLEN BROTHERS, Glenwood Nursery ('^''•,t.^T'"') lfi29 Main Street, Rochester, New York 



Economies in Apple Harvesting 



E. H. Shep.nrd, Editor and Publisher of "Bettor Fruit" 



and Fruit Grower, before the Washington State Horticultural Society and the Oregon State 

 Horticultural Society. 



A FEW years ago apples commanded 

 such a high price, with a ready 

 sale, that economy in the orchard 

 industry was very little thought of. As 

 a matter of fact, the fruitgrower could 

 make money no matter how great his 

 expense. "Necessity is the mother of 

 invention." Therefore in these last 

 few years when low prices have pre- 

 vailed, with no immediate prospect of 

 higher prices, fruitgrowers have real- 

 ized that in order to make money it 

 would be necessary to reduce the cost 

 of production both in growing and 

 harvesting. Originally it was my in- 

 tention to include in this address some- 

 thing on economy in growing and cul- 

 tural methods, but inasmuch as Pro- 

 fessor C. I. Lewis, horticulturist at the 

 Oregon Agricultural College Experi- 

 ment Station, has just recently issued 

 a bulletin on "Economics of Ai)plc Or- 

 charding" in which cultural methods 

 are discussed so thoroughly I hardly 

 think it necessary to take up that phase 

 of the business, as lime is limited. But 

 I do want to say that Professor Lewis 

 has contributetl to the orchard in- 

 dustry in his bulletin, the most valu- 

 able, complete anil thorough, — in fact, 

 the only thorough treatise on the sub- 

 ject of orchard economics that it has 

 ever been my pleasure to read. ."Vs 

 your program is unusually long I shall 

 endeavor to be brief and therefore pro- 

 ceed without further discussion upon 

 the subject assigned to me — "Economics 

 in Harvesting the Apple Crop." 



Thirteen vears ago I became a fruit- 

 grower in Ilood Hiver Valley. When 1 

 produced 12(10 boxes the harvesting 

 season lasted from the middle of Octo- 



ber until Christmas time. This year I 

 harvested over nine carloads in thirty- 

 four days. A few years ago the cost of 

 harvesting a box of apples approxi- 

 mated 50 cents per box in most cases. 

 Wiping and grading cost anywhere 

 from 10 to 20 cents per box, and every 

 other expense connected with harvest- 

 ing was proportionately high, but grad- 

 ually the expense has been reduced. A 

 few years ago 1 published an itemized 

 cost on the harvesting expense which 

 set the ball rolling, and since then we 

 have been furnished with many figures 

 on the cost of harvesting, each year 

 showing a reduction in this cost. Four 

 or five years ago I asked one of our 

 prominent growers what it cost him to 

 pick, bow much it cost him to grade, to 

 pack, etc., and was surprised at his 

 reply: "I do not keep costs on these 

 different items; I cannot answer your 

 questions, but I know it costs over 75 

 cents to grow and market a box of 

 apples." 



It is a well-known fact that many 

 large manufacturing concerns have 

 been restricted in the price thev can 

 sell at by competition. With no 

 pros|)ect for increasing the sale price, 

 their only opportunity of making 

 money on the investment was through 

 efhciency and economy in production. 

 The fruitgrower today is facing the 

 same problem — economy and elliciency 

 in the growing and harvesting costs. 

 No man in a manufacturing business or 

 any i)roducing business, — be it either 

 growing ai)i>les or producing anything 

 else, — is in a position to reduce the cost 

 of production ludess be knows the cost 

 of every item of production; he can- 



not reduce the costs if the costs are 

 classed under one general head of costs. 

 Therefore, several years ago, with the 

 aim in mind of reducing the cost of 

 production, and more particularly the 

 harvesting cost which I am discussing 

 today, I divided the harvesting costs 

 into twelve separate items which, in 

 my o])inion, is a suflicient itemization 

 of the costs to enable the grower to 

 ascertain where the expense can be re- 

 duced. This classification of harvest- 

 ing costs is as follows: Packing, pick- 

 ing, grading, making boxes, orchard 

 hauling, hauling to the depot, help in 

 the packing house, hauling empty boxes 

 to the packing house, nailing up, boxes, 

 paijcr and superintending. 



First, I desire to make one general 

 statement and then I will proceed to 

 explain in detail. Last year I saved 

 4% cents per box over the previous 

 year, and this year I saved 4 cents per 

 box over last year. Two years ago I 

 thought I had nearly approached the 

 minimum; last year I felt quite sure I 

 had, i)ut by careful work, as already 

 slated, I succeeded in reducing the cost 

 of harvesting 4 cents this year, com- 

 pared with last year. My saving this 

 year is more largely through efnciency 

 than in lower costs. This will be evi- 

 dent to you when I tell you that I 

 marketed two carloads more this year 



Up one row and down the 



other without lifting 



the plow. 



See why on page 12. 



WIIKN WRITING ADVERTISERS MENTION BETTER FRUIT 



