Page 14 



BETTER FRUIT 



An Ulustratfd Magazine DcvdIi.I to llio Inloiosts 



of Modern Kruit Growing and Marketing. 



Published Monllilv 



by 



Better Fruit Publishing Company 



703 Oregonian riniUIing 

 PORTLAND, ORKGON 



Spray- Covered Apples. 

 Mr. nwight Woodrufr, I-:a.sterii rei)re- 

 sentativc of several of the large North- 

 western apple growers' associations, is 

 issuing a timely warning to growers to 

 exercise more care in order to avoid 

 having an excessive amount of spray on 

 the fruit. A portion of Mr. Woodruff's 

 letter in regard to this was recently 

 published in the excellent little bulletin 

 which is now being issued monthly bv 

 the Yakima Fruit Growers' Association, 

 and was occasioned by the action taken 

 by Boston health authorities last win- 

 ter who condemned several carloads of 

 Northwest apples on account of the ex- 

 cessive amount of arsenate of lead spray 

 on them. In discussing this subject Mr. 

 Woodruff says: 



"I think it is something that should 

 have your early attention at the present 

 moment, because I have talked with 

 different factors in the East on this very 

 subject and they all seem to think that 

 the federal health authorities and the 

 various boards of health throughout the 

 country, especially in the big markets, 

 are going to be on the lookout this sea- 

 son, and we might just as well plan to 

 avoid trouble. All of this is to advise 

 you so that you will not ignore the 

 situation, and do not think fora moment 

 that this is a Boston matter, because it 

 is not." 



To growers who do not wipe their 

 apples before packing this is an import- 

 ant matter, notwithstanding the fact 

 that experiments by experts have dem- 

 onstrated that the number of apples that 

 would have to be eaten to cause injury 

 or sickness on account of the spray on 

 them is beyond the consumption of any 

 one human being. The point of the 

 matter is in the fact that Eastern health 

 authorities look on the substance left on 

 the apples as highly poisonous and have 

 evidently decided to discriminate against 

 them if they are discolored by an exces- 

 sive amount of spray material. With 

 the keen competition that is now aris- 

 ing in the East from Eastern growers 

 who admit that the markets for fancy 

 apples are being taken away from them 

 by the superior pack and finish of West- 

 ern fruit, the Western grower should 

 leave nothing undone to place his fruit 

 on the market in the finest of conditions. 

 It is easy to understand how a cam- 

 paign against Western apples could be 

 inaugurated by having the health 

 authorities or others whose purposes 

 would not be so altruistic declare that 

 they were poisonous or unhealthy. 



The safest plan will of course be to 

 have the fruit wiped, but if this is not 

 to be done, then Mr. Woodruff's sugges- 

 tion of avoiding the excessive use of 

 spray should be adopted. 



BETTER FRUIT 



By-Products. 



Notwitlislanding the very profitable 

 Iirices re( lived for fruit in the Pacific 

 North\\rsl during the past two years, 

 econoiiiN in production and handling 

 has noi received the attention it should 

 have. In many instances prices for all 

 kinds of fruit have ruled so high that 

 growers have disregarded this element, 

 wliidi is so closely adhered to by other 

 business enterprises which have figured 

 out a way of liandling or processing 

 every part of raw materials. 



While fruit growers are putting into 

 use practices that are more and more 

 reducing the handling cost of fruits, 

 there is still room for a greater utiliza- 

 tion of fruit by-products of all descrip- 

 tions, and no fruit raising community 

 which has any considerable degree of 

 tonnage should be without its by-prod- 

 ucts plant. In many sections of the 

 Northwest this phase of fruit raising is 

 being taken care of by associations and 

 private enterprises and this year will 

 see the greatest quantity of fruit by- 

 products of all kinds marketed in the 

 liistory of the industry. 



Figures given out by some of these 

 plants for their last year's business 

 show that even some of the parts of 

 fruits heretofore regarded as pure 

 waste, such as berry and apple pulp, 

 when slightly reprocessed brought re- 

 turns that were almost as profitable as 

 the sale of the fresh fruit. Fruit grow- 

 ing communities, therefore, who are 

 not familiar with this new innovation 

 in the fruit industry should investigate 

 what is being accomplished in this line 

 in a number of the sections of the 

 Northwest, more particularly in West- 

 ern Oregon and Western Washington, 

 and look to the establishing of one of 

 these plants, which have become a most 

 valuable asset in disposing of cull fruit 

 and fruit-waste heretofore regarded as 

 useless. 



June. 



ig2o 



The Coming Fruit Crop. 



Although reports arc to the effect that 

 the deciduous fruit crop of the Pacific 

 Northwest will be nearly as large as it 

 was last year, an analysis of these re- 

 ports and investigations as to the actual 

 conditions leads to the belief that the 

 output will be far less than it was in 

 1919. In some districts the crops of 

 fruit have been cut down almost a third 

 and in others there will be scarcely any 



fruit at all of some varieties. This is 

 true of the soft fruits particularly. In 

 some of the large apple growing dis- 

 tricts also the damage by the fr^ze last'' 

 winter was severe. In one well known 

 apple growing section that, last year 

 marketed 2,500,000 boxes it is now "esti- 

 mated that the maximum crop that can 

 be expected will be 1,500,000 boxes, 

 while many of the other districts show 

 a decided "sMptled" condition. 



Not until ■Several weeks have passed 

 will it be possible to know approxi- 

 mately what the tonnage to be shipped 

 this year will be and guesses and mis- 

 leading statements in regard to it should 

 be carefully avoided. Early impressions 

 in regard to crop prospects that are 

 erroneous cause a false sitYiation to 

 arise between producers an<l buyers, 

 and an unstable market. 



The indications now are, taking the 

 crop of all kinds of fruits in the North- 

 west as a whole, that there will be a 

 large tonnage to market, but that it will 

 not approach in magnitude by many 

 hundreds of carloads the crop of the 

 past year. 



4 



Packing Houses and Equipment. 



In these days when the fruit industry 

 is growing so rapidly in importance 

 and necessity has stimulated the de- 

 mand for labor-saving appliances of 

 all kinds, the fruit grower should not 

 neglect to get into touch with new 

 equipment of many kinds that is being 

 put onto the market and that means the 

 saving of many dollars. This is par- 

 ticularly true of equipment for the 

 handling of fruit in the packing house. 

 Conveyors, graders, truck and other 

 appliances are constantly being im- 

 proved, giving to the grower greater 

 facilities in the saving of time and 

 money. 



In almost every fruit raising center 

 will be found dealers who are handling 

 this equipment, and although you may 

 think you do not need anything in this 

 line it will pay to drop around occa- 

 sionally and see what they have to 

 offer. 



New designs and features in packing 

 houses are also being incorporated into 

 almost every section of the Northwest 

 this year where these buildings are 

 being erected, and valuable information 

 can be obtained from a visit to one of 

 these structures in course of erection. 



Distributing Irrigation Water In An Orchard 



INVESTIGATION by experts of the 

 United States Agricultural Depart- 

 ment shows that in irrigating orchards 

 by the furrow method the length of lat- 

 eral ditches or furrows should be gov- 

 erned by the size of the orchard and 

 character of the soil. These investiga- 

 tions point to the fact that it is doubt- 

 ful if it ever pays to run water in fur- 

 rows more than about '600 feet. Where 

 the soil is open and water sinks readily 

 through it, short furrows should be 

 used, otherwise much water is lost in 

 deep percolation on the upper part of 

 the tract. Professor H. Culbertson of 

 California, after a careful investigation 



of this subject has reached the conclu- 

 sion that on sandy or gravelly soil hav- 

 ing a steep slope the proper length of 

 furrows is 200 feet, whereas on heavier 

 soils and flatter slopes the length may 

 be increased to 600 feet. 



The grade of furrows varies quite 

 widely. In flat valleys it often is not 

 possible to obtain a fall greater than 

 one inch to 100 feet, whereas on steep 

 slopes the fall may reach 20 inches per 

 100 feet. On ordinary soils a grade of 

 three to four inches is to be preferred, 

 and where the fall exceeds eight to ten 

 inches to 100 feet the trees should be 



