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BETTER FRUIT 



An Illustrated Magazine Devoted to the Interests 



of Modern I'ruit Growing and Marketing. 



Published Monthly 



by 



Better Fruit Publishing Company 



703 Oregonian Building 

 PORTLAND, OriEGON 



Worm Extermination. 



To the fruit grower the possibility of 

 extei-niinaling tiie worms should be a 

 fascinating suljject. From time imme- 

 morial worms have been the bane of the 

 grower of fruit either in a small or a 

 large way and in later years when the 

 orchard industry has reached such huge 

 proportions the loss from these insects 

 which particularly infest the apple has 

 run into many millions. 



At first glance a plan to entirely rid 

 large orchard districts of these pests 

 seems impossible. Yet we find that in 

 British Columbia, which now has an 

 immense orchard development, that the 

 extermination plan has been to a large 

 extent a success — not through watchful 

 waiting but through aggressive prevent- 

 ative measures. It is true that the cod- 

 ling moth is not as active in this more 

 Northern district as it is in the districts 

 in the I'nited States farther south 

 owing to the cooler temperatures at 

 night when this moth, which is a noc- 

 turnal insect, does most of its work. But 

 from time to time the codling moth has 

 appeared in the orchards of British 

 Columbia. When this has happened 

 strict quarantine measures have been 

 adopted in the sections affected and we 

 have good authority for the statement 

 that it has been exterminated in these 

 districts. 



Other evidence is to the effect that in 

 a district in Washington which was 

 badly affected but where the spraying 

 operations were carried on under the 

 direction of experts and thoroughness 

 of application made the watchword that 

 the proportion of wormy apples was 

 decreased to a very small percentage. 

 In view of these results the sugges- 

 tion comes of itself that more drastic 

 measures in spraying and inspection 

 methods should reduce the losses from 

 worms to an almost negligible amount. 

 In any event a widespread operation of 

 this character is well worth a trial. 



Home Grown Fruit Stocks. 



The ravages of the war to European 

 horticulture is aft'ecting this country 

 more closely than was at first thought. 



We find that although the lessened 

 production of deciduous fruits in 

 France, which has 'heretofore been a 

 light buyer of American fresh fruits, 

 should create a greater market for 

 fruit products from this countrv, that 

 the propagation of fruit stocks on 

 which to grow fruit of which France 

 has been a large shipper to America, 

 has practically ceased. Of the two .situ- 

 ations the latter is considered the most 

 important by American fruitgrowing 

 specialists in view of the demand for a 

 greatly increased production of all 

 fruits in this country. 



BETTER FRUIT 



The growing of disease free and 

 vigorous fruit stock is one of the most 

 important phases of horticulture. With 

 the exception of peach stock and a few 

 varieties of apples very little fruit tree 

 stock has been propagated in America. 

 One of the first sections of the country 

 to realize the importance of taking up 

 the matter of home grown fruit stock 

 was California and experiments will be 

 made there next year to determine its 

 possibilities in that state. 



It is also proposed by the United 

 States Agricultural Department to make 

 a survey of the United States for the 

 purpose of selecting those sections of 

 the country where this industry can be 

 tried out most successfully. With the 

 variety of soil and climate that can be 

 found in America it would seem that 

 should be no bar to growing large 

 quantities of these stocks successfully. 

 The United States as the greatest all 

 around fruit producing country in the 

 world ought to produce its own stocks. 



January, ig20 



Failed to Spray. 



Growing Fruit for the Home. 



A slalement recently sent out by the 

 United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture should find its way into every 

 home where there is an opportunity to 

 grow fruit. The statement says; 



Well-ripened, sound fruit is healthful. It is 

 also a valuable food. It should form a part of 

 every meal, fresh when possible, or dried, 

 eanned or otherwise preserved. 



Home-grown fruit is desirable — 



Because it reaches the family fresh and in 

 the best possible condition. 



Because the family has fruit of which it 

 would often be deprived if it had to be pur- 

 chased. 



Because, if the proper varieties be selected, 

 a continuous supply of fruit of superior qual- 

 ity may be secured, regardless of market prices. 



Because any surplus may be sold without 

 difficulty, or may be canned, evaporated, or 

 otherwise conserved for use when fresh fruit 

 is not available. 



Because the care of the home fruit garden 

 provides for spare time congenial and profit- 

 able occupation which is in reality recreation 

 for those who enjoy seeing things grow. 



Thousands of persons who have the 

 opportunity grow fruit for home con- 

 sumption cither neglect to set out the 

 trees or plants or if they have them fail 

 to give them the care that brings suc- 

 cess. Formerly one of the cheapest 

 commodities used in the household, 

 fruit has now taken its place in the list 

 of high priced foods and its production 

 for home use means a large saving in 

 the family living expense. Even the 

 grower of fruit in small quantities can 

 now dispose of any surplus at a profit- 

 able figure. Home grown fruit should 

 no longer be regarded as an incident in 

 family life but as a distinct asset. 



Grape Fruit Sells High 

 A record high price for California 

 grape fruit was recently paid for a car 

 of 535 boxes shipped from Woodlake. 

 It brought the growers, Thomas Edmis- 

 ton, Henry Hein and Capt. Lancashire 

 $6.00 for fancy and $5.00 for standards 

 f. o. b. shipping station. 



Sez Farmer Bill, it's one darn thing, or it's 



three or four. 

 There's worms and flies and bugs galore. 

 And smut and blight and anihracnose. 

 And take-all, scab and other foes. 

 Some of them fly, and some just crawl, 

 And some don't even move at all, 

 But whatc'er the shape or name may be. 

 They manage to ruin our crops, by Gee! 



— Marion County (Mo.) Farm Bureau News. 



What the Newspapers Interested in 

 Fruit Are Saying. 



"Nil despcrandum" is the spirit that 

 prompted many of our growers to forego sleep 

 rather than permit the fires in their apple 

 houses to die down during the cold spell. — 

 Hood River News. 



Apple holdings in cold storage are consider- 

 ably in excess of last year, according to gov- 

 ernment reports. Barreled stocks are only 

 slightly larger than a year ago, but there is a 

 big increase in boxed apple holdings. The big 

 Northwestern crop of apples is responsible for 

 the heavier stocks of boxed fruit, there being 

 two and three-quarters millions of boxes more 

 held in storage now than a year ago. — The 

 Packer. 



Want to live to a ripe old age? Well, follow 

 the example of Dan B. Day of Lincoln, Kansas, 

 who passed his eightieth birthday recently and 

 is more vigorous and active than most men of 

 fifty. Mr. Day declares that his vigorous 

 health is due to his eating from three to five 

 apples every evening before going to bed. He 

 enjoys his apples and lots of them, Mr. Day 

 declares, just as much as he did seventy years 

 ago, when he began the practice. — Oregon 

 .fournal. 



Five thousand dollars per acre is the amount 

 William Hanks of the Naches figures on mak- 

 ing from a new- variety of strawberry he has 

 developed. With the average yield of this fruit 

 250 crates, he claims his variety will produce 

 1,000 in a single season. He has never, he 

 says, received less than .$5 a crate. He has 

 fifteen acres set to the plants between young 

 apple trees. This season he preserved 1,000 

 gallons of the fruit. — Yakima Valley Progress. 



The shipping of immature fruit in the end 

 defeats its own object, which is presumably 

 to get ahead of the legitimate market and reap 

 the benefit of extra high prices. While the 

 public may be taken in by such fruit for a 

 very limited period, the result is to demoralize 

 the market, and all fruit growers suffer for the 

 sharp practice of a few who cannot be content 

 to let their product stand on its merit. — .interi- 

 can Fruit Grouper. 



As we have traveled over the South these 

 many years, w-e have often wondered as we 

 saw the weatherbeaten, paintless houses 

 whether or not the owners of those houses 

 were mad at the paint dealer and manufac- 

 turer. Weatherbeaten, paintless houses are not 

 pleasant to the eye, and what's far worse, un- 

 painted buildings exposed to the weather will 

 decay and bring a repair and lumber bill in 

 about half the time that a house kept well 

 painted does. Most of us look on the cost of 

 good paint as an unnecessary expense, some- 

 thing to spend money for when everything else 

 imaginable has been bought and paid for. — 

 Southern Huratist. 



These are days of commercialization. Every- 

 thing is commercialized. It is a bad omen, but 

 we must be optimistic enough to know that it 

 cannot go on forever, Germany's ruin was 

 simply due to her placing commercialism and 

 prosperity before God. High prices of the 

 necessities of life have made us almost as 

 selfish as beasts. The result is natural. It is 

 a poor tribute to a human being to say only of 

 him when he has left this world that he was 

 a good provider for his own family. Such a 

 tribute may he said of every bird that flies 

 and every beast that stalks tlie earth. Beasts 

 have just as great family ties as the human 

 family. A human being rises above the beast 

 when his unselfishness extends beyond his 

 own family, and causes him to recognize the 

 brotherhood of man. — Southern Fruit Grower. 



