Page 14 



BETTER FRUIT 



December 



Selling rot.r Salvation 



You must sell 

 at a profit 

 or 

 quit the game 



mm 



LITHOGRAPH/ 



'W 



Well dressed 



packeges 



attract 



attention 



Induce sales 



OUR ATTRACTIVE LABELS 

 ARE YOUR SILENT SALESMEN 



SCHMIDT LITHOGRAPH CO. 



SAN FRANCISCO. 



Los Angeles, Fresno, Portland, Seattle, Salt Lake City 



^'Put yoixr iooi down*^ 



Insist on the gas that won fiist 



honors, San Francisco and San Diego 

 Expositions — a quicker response and 

 more miles to the dollar. 



Red Crown 



ine Ca^yolitie 



Standard Oil 

 Company 



(California) 



Portland 



than hist year, in three days less time, 

 with one man less in the harvesting 

 crew. With my present facilities, 

 which are limited. I have no hesitancy 

 in making the statement that I could 

 harvest at least double the quantity or 

 more, in the same length of time as I 

 harvested the crop this year, at a less 

 cost. My packing cost was 4 cents per 

 box. A few years ago we paid 7 cents 

 per box for packing. A packer is en- 

 titled to as fair wages as any other first- 

 class worker. What he earns depends 

 upon the number of boxes he is able to 

 pack. This quantity can be decreased 

 or increased by the facilities afforded 

 him. Therefore, it is economy to pro- 

 vide the packers with convenient room, 

 good light and all necessary facilities 

 for efTicient and speedy work. 



On account of low prices last year, 

 not feeling able to spare the money to 



build a packing house, I went down to 

 Portland and had the Portland Tent and 

 Awning Company make me a tent 30x40, 

 the top made of 12-ounce duck and the 

 sides of 8 ounce. The top and sides 

 were sewed together in one piece, and 

 the ends were made separately of 8- 

 ouncc duck. The sides and ends were 

 8 ounce instead of 12 ounce, reducing 

 the cost of the tent. Instead of having 

 the tent made as tents are usually 

 made, with the ends, sides and tops all 

 in one piece, I had the top and sides 

 made in one piece, the top and sides 

 being nothing more or less than one 

 big sheet, and the ends separate, which 

 makes the tent very easy to put up. I 

 would also call your attention to the 

 fact that by having the tent made this 

 way, it can be hung up after the pack- 

 ing season is over in such a way as 

 to prevent the tent becoming rotten 



when it is stored away if damp or wet. 

 I built a framework which 1 will leave 

 standing, and put in a floor of one-inch 

 boards because they were cheaper and 

 took the floor up at the end of the sea- 

 son to prevent it becoming warped if 

 it remained out all winter. The cost 

 of this tent was $80, the lumber $25, 

 work of putting up the farme and tent 

 $20, making the total cost of $125. And 

 I want to say that I believe I had the 

 best packing house in Hood River, for 

 the reason that a tent gives you a much 

 better light than you can possibly se- 

 cure in any packing house where you 

 depend for your light through win- 

 dows, no matter how many windows 

 you put in. In addition to this, I want 

 to call your particular attention to the 

 fact that a tent which affords ample 

 facilities for packing 10,000 boxes, or 

 more for that matter, only costs $125. 

 You could not erect a decent looking 

 building which you would want to 

 leave permanently on the place, of the 

 same size, for less than $1500 or more. 



I used a grading machine which made 

 two grades, sorting into nine sizes, set- 

 ting back the V, grades and cooking 

 apples and running these through the 

 machine at the next run, which reduced 

 the amount of rehan<lling to almost a 

 mininnim, because the percentage of 

 C grades and cookers in any well-regu- 

 lated orchard sliould not exceed ap- 

 proximately about 15 per cent of the 

 crop. Benches were arranged along- 

 side of the packers, alTording a place 

 for the packer to set off his box with- 

 out loss of time. Packing paper was 

 placed on these benches in close prox- 

 imity to the packers, and also the layer 

 paper, the lining paper being hung on 

 the posts supporting the ridge pole, so 

 there was no loss of time on the part 

 of the packer in securing either his 

 box, wrapping paper, lining paper or 

 layer paper, or in setting off the box. 

 With such facilities, and even mine 

 could be improved upon, a good packer 

 can pack from 100 to 125 boxes per day. 

 100 boxes a day at 3^4 cents per box 

 would make $3.50 per day of ten hours, 

 which is pretty good wages during 

 these hard times. I think any packer 

 would be willing to work where facili- 

 ties were such that he could pack out 

 100 boxes a day and at 3% cents per 

 box, which would enable him to make 

 $3.50 per day or more, according to the 

 number of boxes packed. Therefore, I 

 believe the cost of packing in the near 

 future can be reduced one-half cent 

 or more. 



Picking is one item in connection 

 with harvesting a crop of apples which 

 is the most diilicult to do efficiently 

 and at the same time economically. T 

 find iiicking costs vary all the way from 

 3 to 8 cents per box. Last year my 

 picking cost was 8 cents per box. This 

 year it was .0540 per box. It is difficult 

 to make a comparison of one orchard 

 with another on the cost of picking, 

 because the cost of picking will vary 

 greatly on account of the age of the 

 trees, the size of the crop on the trees 

 and the size of the apples. There is 

 one thing I do not believe in, and that 



