334 THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



We do not relish the idea that growers in other states are shipping grades of 

 apples into California which it is illegal to sell at home, but we can not expect to 

 find the consumer in California standing behind us, unless we first remedy the evil 

 in our own midst. Section 5 not only keeps out inferior fruit from other districts, 

 but forbids the sale of same even if produced in California and should be rigidly 

 enforced. 



Commissioners can also be of assistance by calling the attention of the buyers 

 in their counties to the purposes and provisions of the law and emphasizing to them 

 the fact that they assume as much responsibility as the packer unless they insist 

 that any fruit they may buy bears a state stamp or they have a guarantee as provided 

 for in section 14 of this act. 



STRAWBERRY INSPECTION IN SACRAMENTO COUNTY. 



By Fred C. Brosius, Deputy County Horticultural Commissioner. Sacramento, Cat. 



Sacramento County produces annually, for commercial use, approximately 900 

 acres of strawberries, grown by 170 growers, five of whom are Caucasians, the 

 balance being Japanese. 



The berry fields range in size from one-half to twenty acres. They are usually 

 planted upon shallow, hardpan soils, and often are the intercrop for young vineyards, 

 and provide a living for the grower until the young grapes begin bearing. 



When the berries are planted early enough, a small crop is obtained in the 

 summer of the first year, but the best fruit and heaviest yields are obtained in the 

 second and third years ; about the fourth year, owing to a lack of proper fertilizing, 

 the plants degenerate very fast ; the berries are very small and inferior in quality, 

 and are usually plowed under after the first crop of this year, in order to make way 

 and enable the grower to give the grapevines his entire attention. 



As the young grapevines are planted eight feet square, the berry beds are made 

 in long rows about seven feet wide with a deep irrigation ditch fifteen inches wide 

 between each bed. This allows one ditch to each row of grapes. 



The berry vines are planted 18 inches apart and about 12 inches back from the 

 ditch. As the plant puts forth runners, these are so placed and rooted so that at 

 the beginning of the second year, they cover the entire area of three feet back from 

 the ditch, each way. requiring about eleven-rooted runners from the parent plant. 



When these are full grown, they allow only a narrow path in the middle of the 

 bed for the picker's use, one person picking from side to side over the entire bed 

 as he goes along. 



The three principal varieties now commonly grown are in their order of maturing; 

 Jesse, Oregon Plum and Dollar. The Jesse is large in size, but rather soft, and is 

 used very little for distant shipping and is fast being supplanted by the Oregon 

 Plum, which is much larger, sweeter and certainly the most attractive berry. While 

 not quite as firm and while not possessed of the shipping qualities of the Dollar, 

 it has commanded very high prices in the markets of the North during the entire 

 past season. 



The Dollar berry is by far the best shipper grown in this district. It colors well, 

 and is fairly uniform in size and very firm. This variety averages in a normal year 

 about 250 crates per acre, while the Oregon Plum, being much larger and therefore 

 requiring a less number per basket will often yield 500 crates per acre. 



Crates contain 20 one-pint baskets, weighing 12 ounces each or 15 pounds net per 

 crate. It generally requires about three men to pick and pack two acres of ripening 

 berries per day. These men average 10 crates per day when picking by day work, 

 but during the height of the season when piecework prevails they pick from twelve to 

 fifteen crates per day at from 27 to 34 cents per crate. 



Much of the poor packing is done by the hired pickers at this time, who, caring 

 very little about the owner's responsibility to the law, pick to suit themselves. 

 During the rush season, when labor is scarce, they dictate their own terms to the 

 growers, and if the grower remonstrates about the condition of the pack they 

 will often leave him on the slightest provocation, work being plentiful elsewhere at 

 this time. 



Prior to 191G a concerted effort was made by (he various shippers of the Florin 

 district in an earnest endeavor to enforce some sort of standardized pack. 

 Inspectors were employed to visit the various fields and endeavor to have the berries 

 packed in accordance with the rules agreed upon, but lacking any authority to 

 enforce these rules, the attempt became a pronounced failure. 



