Page 1 6 



BETTER FRUIT 



An Illustrated Magazine Devoted to the Interests 



of Modern Fruit Growing and Marketing. 



Published Monthly 



by 



Better Fruit Publishing Company 



703 Orcgonian Building 

 PORTLAND, OREGON 



Organizing the Fruit Industry 



The movement for the co-operative 

 organization of the producer is en- 

 circling the globe. We are told that co- 

 operation among the tillcr.s of the soil 

 in European countries is not new, but 

 is an old story. And now the movement 

 is being taken up in the deciduous fruit- 

 production sections of South Africa, 

 Australia and Tasmania. The fruit 

 growers of Australia are the latest ad- 

 vocates of a co-operative association 

 which will embrace all phases of the 

 industry in this new group in the fruit- 

 growing world. The activities of this 

 association will embrace everything 

 from fresh fruit to jellies and jams, 

 which are to be put up in a big central 

 canning and preserving factory to be 

 erected at Melbourne. Other deciduous 

 fruit-growing countries in that part of 

 the world are following suit. 



The cry for co-operation for the pro- 

 ducer from Australia to Oregon and 

 then across the American continent to 

 Europe is a far one, but it is being 

 heard and the fruit growers of the 

 world are apparently determined to 

 standardize and stabilize their products. 

 It seems strange that the comparatively 

 new deciduous fruit-producing coun- 

 tries of Australia, Tasmania and South 

 Africa realized the benefits of co-opera- 

 tion on a big scale before an old estab- 

 lished fruit-producing section like Ore- 

 gon, but such is the case, as the move- 

 ment toward organization was com- 

 menced in the above mentioned far- 

 away countries a long time ago. 



However, the fruit growers of Oregon 

 have been awakened. It took a severe 

 jolt to get them out of the rut, but the 

 jar has fully opened their eyes. The 

 rich possibilities for the big, rapidly- 

 growing fruit industry of their state, 

 fostered and completely controlled by 

 a state-wide co-operative organization 

 entirely in the hands of the growers, 

 has at last sunk in. Perhaps the de- 

 layed action of Oregon's fruit producers 

 was due to the lack of proper educa- 

 tion and the psychological moment to 

 merge, however, as the amalgamation 

 at the meeting held for the latter pur- 

 pose was apparently complete. 



As planned the proposed Oregon 

 Growers' Co-operative Association bids 

 fair to be a success. Organized along 

 even more progressive lines than the 

 rnost successful co-operative associa- 

 tions of California, its provisions ap- 

 parently leave nothing to be desired by 

 the grower in the way of a marketing 

 organization and also an organization 

 that should place the former uncertain 

 conditions of the fruit industry on a 

 firm basis. In a word, to make fruit 

 products as nearly as possible a staple 

 rather than a perishable product, by 

 providing a market for them, either 



BETTER FRUIT 



fresh, dried or canned, at the highest 

 market price while not attempting to 

 gouge the consumer. Under the pro- 

 visions of the organization plan, profits 

 that have heretofore gone to outside 

 concerns should be conserved to the 

 grower, overhead expenses should be 

 minimized and the industry greatly 

 stimulated and developed, provided that 

 the affairs of the proposed organiza- 

 tion are administered intelligently and 

 honestly. 



It has been suggested that the pro- 

 posed organizatioh had its inception 

 through channels in California that 

 seek to control the fruit industry in 

 Oregon in order that it will not coiiflict 

 with the industry in that state. It 

 would seem, however, that Mr. Robert 

 C. Paulus, who has made such a signal 

 success in managing the affairs of the 

 Salem Fruit Union, and is virtually at 

 the head of the new movement as well 

 as the strong personnel of the organi- 

 zation committee should be sullicient 

 assurance that no such underground 

 methods are contemplated. Provision 

 should be made for co-operation with 

 the California associations when deemed 

 expedient, but anything verging on pos- 

 sible control of the Oregon organi- 

 zation should be carefully guarded 

 against. 



\ 



July, igip 



The Stopping- in-Transit Privilege 



The recommendation of the Western 

 Traffic Railroads Committee that the 

 privilege of unloading Northwest fruits 

 in transit be revoked would be a severe 

 blow to the Western fruit grower. If 

 this order is put into effect many sales 

 of fruit which went to points in the 

 Middle West will be stopped owing to 

 the fact that they are unable to pur- 

 chase in carload lots. It is also expected 

 that the order will do away with the 

 privilege of stopping fruit in transit for 

 the purpose of placing it in storage. 

 The reason assigned by the Traffic Com- 

 mittee for this action is that the priv- 

 ilege is discriminatory in that it only 

 affects the Northwest territory. 



Fruit-shipping concerns in the North- 

 west have taken up the matter and are 

 urging that all interested present a 

 strong protest to the railroads against 

 approving the recommendation of the 

 Traffic Committee. 



There is just ground for opposing this 

 recommendation; for while the order 

 may be discriminatory in that it only 

 affects the Northwest it should be re- 

 membered that no other deciduous fruit 

 section has such a long haul to its mar- 

 kets and none pays so high a freight 

 rate. The disadvantage, through this 

 high freight rate, that Northwest de- 

 ciduous fruits are under in competing 

 with the fruit-growing sections of the 

 East are already great enough, without 

 a further handicap. 



The railroads which are the greatest 

 beneficiaries of the Pacific Northwest 

 fruit industry should use every means 

 to develop instead of retard it, and this 

 is a case where they can help very 

 materially. 



Editorial Comment 

 Fruit growers will be intefested in 

 supporting the proposed establishing of 

 motor-car express routes, a matter 

 which is now before Congress. Nobody 

 will be more benefitted by this rapid 

 method of transportation in districts 

 not reached by the railroads than the 

 fruit raiser. 



Congress is being asked by 3,000,000 

 farmers in the United States for the 

 continuance of the United States Em- 

 ployment Service. The fruit grower 

 should join hands with the farmer in 

 this movement, as his need of labor is 

 even more imperative. 



The war between the ladybugs and 

 aphids in Walla Walla County, Wash- 

 ington, will be watched with interest. 

 From present indications the ladybug 

 drive seems to be making great pro- 

 gress. Perhaps it will be wise, how- 

 ever, to await the final report from the 

 front. 



The fine results obtained in Washing- 

 ton orchards through early fall spray- 

 ing for apple anthracnose should en- 

 courage orchardists who have trees 

 affected with this disease to apply the 

 remedy which is given in this number 

 of Better Fruit. It means saving your 

 trees and higher quality fruit. 



Fruit storage houses and a thorough 

 knowledge of them is a timely topic. 

 The proper kind of a storage house may 

 save your crop. It also makes it pos- 

 sible for you to market your fruit at the 

 most opportune time. The time to build 

 a storage house is well in advance of 

 the harvest. 



California leads the world in the 

 apriot industry. In fact in the amount 

 of tonnage produced from the area 

 planted the Golden State exceeds any 

 other spot on the globe. One of the big 

 factors in this achievement is intelli- 

 gent co-operation. 



It is predicted that the time is fast 

 approaching when American tractors 

 will farm the world. They are farming 

 a big slice of it now. Many orchardists 

 are discovering that these machines are 

 100 per cent efficient. The iron horse 

 has come to stay. 



If grasshoppers become as much of a 

 pest in the Northwest as they have in 

 California the orchardist will be com- 

 pelled to fight them. The United States 

 Agricultural Department advises the 

 use of poisoned bait. The formula is 

 given in this number. 



Experiments to improve huckleber- 

 ries sounds good. There is no reason 

 why the lowly huckleberry should not 

 climb up into the aristocratic society of 

 the cultivated bush berries. The huckle- 

 berry is the ne plus ultra of pie berries. 



Work for our returned soldiers is a 

 live issue. It would seem, however, 

 that in view of the necessity of employ- 

 ing women in orchard work that the 

 soldier who wants work could help 

 himself a little. 



