August, ipip 



BETTER FRUIT 



Page 2S 



The Regeneration of the Prune 



Continued from page 9. 



and children of his community, in- 

 cluding possibly those of his own fam- 

 ily, to have the prunes picked up, hav- 

 ing allowed them to remain upon the 

 trees until they have taken on all the 

 sugar possible and have of their own 

 accord dropped, or been lightly shaken 

 down. Man and team will now be kept 

 busy hauling the fruit to the dryer, 

 where it is washed in two or more 

 w^aters, spread upon the trays, and 

 finds its way into the hot-air chambers 

 of the evaporator. Beginning at a 

 moderately low temperature wliile the 

 fruit wilts and begins shrinking, it is 

 moved slowly down into the higher 

 temperature until finished in dry heat 

 at about 180 to 200 degrees. It is then 

 removed from trays and such fruit as 

 is not thoroughly cured through to 

 the pit is picked out and given a sec- 

 ond drying or finish, and the cured 

 product finds its way at once to the 

 warehouse of the packer. 



The cost of an evaporating plant to 

 handle an orchard of thirty-five to 

 forty acres will be according to the 

 type of machine selected and accord- 

 ing to the taste of the builder in the 

 manner of construction, anywhere 

 from .$1,500 to .'?3,000, and is a part 

 of the fixed investment and cost of 

 the orchard, and should be figured 

 upon at the outset, for no orchard is 

 complete without its own drying plant. 

 With such an orchard, well located in 

 the Willamette Valley, an income from 

 $3,000 to $6,000 can' be expected with 

 as much or more regularity than the 

 producer of almost any other crop, 

 and at a comparatively light outlay 

 of expense, and with less technical 

 knowledge of horticulture than is re- 

 quired for the raising of almost any 

 other fruit. 



Packing and marketing of the Ore- 

 gon prune is an industry by itself of 

 no small proportions. The grower 

 may belong to a co-operative market- 

 ing and packing association; other- 

 wise, he will sell his crop for cash, 

 paid when delivered to the packer's 

 warehouse or f. o. b. the cars at his 

 own station. The value of his product 

 is arrived at by the size which his 

 fruit will average. The packer then 

 puts the fruit through a grading ma- 

 chine which assorts it into sizes, 20s 

 to 30s, 30s to 40s, 40s to 50s, 50s to 

 60s, etc. Twenty to thirty prunes to 



Sebastopol 

 Gravensteins 



We handle 85 per cent of the famous Sebastopol 



Gravenstein apples. Community packing houses 



insure uniform pack. 



Season Closes August 30th 



See Our Representatives or Wire Us. 



Sebastopol Apple Growers' Union 



SEBASTOPOL, CALIFORNIA 



FRUIT GROWERS 



SAVE THIS BIG LOSS BY USING 



Can't Afford the Loss of Bruised 

 Fruit Picked in Ordinary Bags or 

 Buckets when they can 



Palmer Picking Buckets 



Which are LABOR and FRUIT SAVERS and Useful for Many Purposes. 



P""» I f„' D^oze^„"Lofs* *1:!5 [ ^P^-l Prices on Large Orders 



Send your order with remittance to 



HOOD RIVER FRUIT COMPANY 



-■©aBucket Filled 



HOOD RIVER, OREGON 



WHEN WRITING ADVERTISERS MENTION BETTER FRUIT 



Bucket EmptiedJ^" 



