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BETTER FRUIT 



April 



BETTER FRUIT 



An Illustrated Magazine Devoted to the Interests 



of Modern Fruit Growing and Marketing. 



Published Monthly 



by 



Better Fruit Publishing Company 



407 Lumber Exchange 

 PORTLAND, OREGON 



Early Prospects for Fruit. 



Reports on the early prospects for 

 the Northwest fruit crop are optimistic. 

 For the first time in several years the 

 fruit grower, the expert in horticulture 

 and the fruit shipper of the Pacific 

 Northwest and the fruitmen of Cali- 

 fornia also are hopeful. This new 

 beam of sunlight in the fruit-growing 

 industry is due somewhat to the suc- 

 cess attained last year but not alto- 

 gether. Fruitmen generally are now 

 feeling that the fruit industry has been 

 more nearly stabilized and standardized 

 and that new markets at home and 

 abroad promise a much greater con- 

 sumption. The favorable wintering of 

 all fruits is also a factor. 



While the optimistic tone of the out- 

 look for fruit crops in 1919 more par- 

 ticularly applies to orchard products, 

 there seems to a be a general feeling 

 among all fruitmen that the coming 

 season should be a good one. From 

 Oregon, "Washington, Idaho and Cali- 

 fornia come reports containing great 

 expectations. In presenting these in- 

 teresting reports to its readers Better 

 Fruit takes occasion to warn them that 

 the season is yet young and that many 

 things may occur to cut down the ex- 

 pected output considerably. The course 

 of the Northwest fruit grower, there- 

 fore, should be to bend every energy 

 toward guarding against all contingen- 

 cies as far as possible. The success 

 attained last year and the promising 

 outlook for 1919 should be the signal 

 for renewed effort instead of a let-down 

 due to over-optimism caused by the 

 splendid prospects for the fruit industry 

 during the coming season. Retain your 

 optimism but let your watchword be 

 "EfTiciency," with a big E. 



Future Apple Production. 



A tree census just completed in the 

 State of Washington shows a marked 

 reduction in the acreage of fruit trees 

 since the last census was taken in 1915. 

 The greatest reduction according to the 

 census is shown in peach trees, which 

 in some districts have declined in num- 

 bers 50 per cent. \Miile figures for 

 apple trees do not show such a startling 

 decline, still the reduction throughout 

 the state runs into a large total. In four 

 of the large fruit-growing counties in 

 Washington the loss is given as 7,000 

 acres. In these same counties the num- 

 ber of apple trees has declined from 

 2,678,172 in 1915 to 2,288,490 in 1918. 



Oregon, Idaho and Utah do not show 

 such large losses in apple acreage as 

 Washington, but the number of trees 

 that have been eliminated runs into 

 thousands of acres. For the past three 

 years the planting of new apple or- 

 chards in the Northwest has practically 

 ceased and although a considerable 



acreage of apples will come into bear- 

 ing in the next few years it will be a 

 negligible quantity as compared to that 

 which has been uprooted. 



The world war has also resulted in 

 the loss of an enormous number of 

 fruit trees. In France alone the de- 

 struction of apple and pear orchards 

 has been enormous, and it will be many 

 years before these orchards can be re- 

 planted and brought to the stage of pro- 

 ductivity that existed previous to the 

 war. What is true of France in respect 

 to its fruit production is also true in all 

 the other foreign countries which were 

 overrun by battling armies. These 

 countries will need fruit, and the only 

 nation that can largely supply it is the 

 United States. 



The cause of the diminution in apple 

 acreage in the Northwest has of course 

 been due to the planting of orchards in 

 sections where neither the climate or 

 soil was adapted to their successful 

 propagation, and also to bad market 

 conditions, during a period of several 

 years previous to 1917 and 1918. With 

 these facts and figures in mind it would 

 seem that the "overproduction fear" 

 which harassed the apple grower for 

 several years has to a large extent been 

 eliminated. Over-optimistic orchard- 

 ists and promoters of apple lands to be 

 sold regardless of their productive 

 qualities have learned their lesson. In- 

 crease in orchard acreage in future will 

 be studied carefully with a view to 

 supplying actual demand instead of ex- 

 ceeding it. 



Apple Powdery Mildew. 

 Although not a new apple-tree dis- 

 ease apple powdery mildew is now 

 assuming such proportions in some of 

 the Pacific Northwest fruit-growing 

 districts that it is becoming recognized 

 as being as serious as scab, anthracnose 

 and other more common diseases that 

 the apple tree is heir to. Its most 

 serious result is a general devitalization 

 of the tree with a consequent lowering 

 of output and the production of inferior 

 fruit. Better Fruit, through the cour- 

 tesy of D. F. Fisher, Assistant Patholo- 

 gist of Fruit Tree Investigations of the 

 U. S. Department of Agriculture, pre- 

 sents in this issue a very able article on 

 this subject — one of the first to be pub- 

 lished. As Mr. Fisher not only de- 

 scribes the general symptoms of the dis- 

 ease in detail, but also prescribes a 

 remedy, apple growers where it is 

 found to exist should be enabled to 

 combat its ravages in the early stages, 

 the most effective time to fight fruit-tree 

 diseases of any character. 



The New Remedy for Pear Blight. 



In discovering that cyanide of mer- 

 cury apparently is an effective remedy 

 for pear blight F. C. Reimer has given 

 the fruit grower a boon of incalculable 

 value. Heretofore the only known 

 remedy for blight was to use the knife 

 so freely that in many instances the 

 trees were ruined, or if very badly in- 

 fected had to be cut down and burned. 

 Of all the tree diseases pear blight is 

 perhaps the most infectious and the 

 most deadly, the germ even clinging to 



the tools used in cutting and frequently 

 transmitting the disease to trees that 

 were sound or only slightly affected. 

 After experimenting with various dis- 

 infectants Mr. Reimer tried cyanide of 

 mercury. The results have been so 

 beneficial that they should lead grow- 

 ers in pear blight infected districts to 

 become extremely hopeful of eradi- 

 cating this fatal tree disease. 



The Small-Fruit Grower. 



While apple growing has occupied the 

 center of the stage in the fruit produc- 

 ing industry of the Northwest for some 

 years, owing to the big tonnage shipped 

 and the large income received from this 

 fruit, it is now apparent that the smaller 

 fruits are going to play a very import- 

 ant part in the Pacific Northwest in the 

 near future. Prunes and berries of all 

 varieties are going to take their place 

 alongside the apple as an income pro- 

 ducer on a big scale, for a new factor 

 has entered the field for the small-fruit 

 man. In addition to his market for the 

 fresh fruit, the small-fruit grower is 

 going to have that of the canner and the 

 juice, jelly and jam producing plant on 

 a scale never before attempted — and it 

 is safe to say that he is going to get a 

 profitable price for his product. 



A nation-wide advertising campaign 

 has already created a strong demand 

 for the products of Northwest small 

 fruits, and this advertising campaign 

 will be made even more extensive this 

 year. The opportunity, therefore, is 

 ripe for the fruit grower who may not 

 have made a success in the larger fruits 

 to grow a product that should bring 

 him quick and sure returns. 



It will be the aim of Better Fruit to 

 keep the fruit grower informed on this 

 new phase of fruit raising as thoroughly 

 as it has on the orchard fruits. It calls 

 the attention of its readers to a number 

 of special articles in this issue on the 

 subject of small fruits, believing that 

 the opportunity of the small-fruit 

 grower is at hand. 



The Apple Growers' Calendar 



Spray well that your fruit will be 

 free of insect pests and other causes 

 that will affect its quality. 



Thin that the size of your fruit will 

 make it all marketable. 



Prune that you may let in the sun- 

 light and give it the color necessary to 

 place it in the extra fancy class. 



Cultivate that you trees may receive 

 the necessary moisture and nourish- 

 ment to develop and mature their bur- 

 den of fruit during the growing season. 



Irrigate if soil moisture in your dis- 

 trict is lacking, but remember that there 

 is such a thing as using too much water. 



Tlie value of bees in or near an 

 orchard has been admitted by fruit 

 growers for a long time. A little co- 

 operation between the orchardist and 

 bee keeper therefore ought to result in 

 mutual good. 



