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BETTER FRUIT 



An Illustrated Magazine Devoted to the Interests 



of Modern Fruit Growing and Marketing. 



Published Monthly 



by 



Better Fniit Publishing Company 



407 Lumber Exchange 

 PORTLAND, OREGON 



THE ORCHARDIST 



The orchardist is a wise husbandman; 



He cannot sow only and reap — 

 He must study and grow and broaden 



While the "hay-seed** is asleep. 



He must study the soil and the climate. 

 He must know the vales of the air. 



He must know of the markets and drainage; — 

 He must answer his own day*s prayer. 



He must know of the trees and their growing. 

 Of sap and of bugs and of blight. 



He must know where the water is flowing 

 At two a.m. in the night. 



He must know of bugs and diseases. 



He nuist know them, and know them aright; 



He must Are the smudge when it freezes ; 

 He must flght, he must tight, he must fight! 



Economy in Raising Fruit. — The 



tractor is playing a very important role 

 in the matter of economy with the fruit 

 grower. During the past two years the 

 question of labor has been a serious 

 one. In many instances the fruit grower 

 had one or two sons and were able to 

 do the work without the aid of outside 

 help. But conditions changed — he was 

 not only dependent on outside labor, 

 but often it was very incompetent. The 

 fruit grower began to investigate labor- 

 saving devices. Tractors have com- 

 manded greater attention than probably 

 any other labor-saving device. With 

 the tractor the work can be done much 

 more quickly. In the spring the soil 

 dries out very rapidly — cultivation must 

 be done quickly in order to conserve 

 the moisture, and this is particularly 

 true in districts that have not an ample 

 supply of irrigation water. The moist- 

 ure condition is far more important in 

 orcharding than in any other kind of 

 farming, because with practically all 

 other farm products they reach ma- 

 turity early in the summer, before the 

 moisture is completely exhausted, 

 whereas apples continue to grow until 

 autumn. A fruit grower cannot always 

 divide his time systematically. Some 

 seasons are much shorter than others. 

 Perhaps during the middle of his culti- 

 vation it is necessary to apply a certain 

 spray, and while he is spraying the soil 

 continues to dry and much of the moist- 

 ure is lost. Many tractors are being put 

 on the market that are adaptable to 

 orchard cultivation, and every fruit 

 grower who is in position to purchase 

 a tractor should investigate and And 

 out the tractor best suited to his needs, 

 making his purchase early so as to be 

 prepared when the spring work com- 

 mences. I know of one fruit grower 

 who had three sons and when the call 

 came each son enlisted. The father was 

 very anxious to keep the orchard in the 

 up-to-date condition in which the sons 

 had kept it. He purchased a tractor and 

 a few weeks ago advised me that when 

 his two remaining sons returned they 

 would be enthusiastic boosters for 

 tractors; that he had been able, with 

 the aid of the tractor and not very com- 



BETTER FRUIT 



petent help, to keep ahead with his 

 work. 



Where the acreage is small the cost 

 of a tractor would be more excessive, 

 and it seems reasonable to suggest that 

 a community plan in reference to 

 tractors would be successful, but where 

 the acreage will justify it, it is the 

 writer's suggestion that the grower in- 

 vestigate some of the makes of small 

 tractors that are being put on the 

 market. 



Standardization. — A meeting was re- 

 cently held in Sacramento, of the 

 County Horticultural Commissioners' 

 Association at which the subject of 

 "Standardization" was the principal 

 subject for discussion. Chief Deputy 

 George P. Weldon, head of the Stand- 

 ardization Division, led a very interest- 

 ing discussion, and we give a list of 

 some of the problems that were dis- 

 cussed: 



1. The problem of preventing the shipment 

 of green, immature fruit. 



2. Tlie problem of uniform grading. 



3. Tlie problem of determining the most sat- 

 isfactory package for the packing of each 

 fruit and the standardizing of same. 



4. The problem of picking, handling, pack- 

 ing and transporting fruit with less 

 bruising. 



5. The problem of amending the standardi- 

 zation laws so that some of the present 

 weaknesses may be overcome. 



The fruit growers of California in- 

 tend to standardize their grade, so that 

 no fruit will be shipped that is not 

 "true to grade." The purpose of the 

 standardization act of California is to 

 promote and protect the apple industry. 

 Large quantities of apples from Oregon 

 and Washington are shipped to Califor- 

 nia each year, and, generally speaking, 

 this fruit has commanded a high price, 

 but some of it was very inferior. The 

 apple-standardization act will stop this 

 practice, for it will be possible for Cali- 

 nia to condemn all shipments that are 

 not up to the standard of the act. The 

 fruit growers of the Northwest, in 

 order to get the highest prices for 

 their fruit, must standardize their grade 

 and pack. 



The Importance of Spraying. — A few 

 of the fruit districts of the Northwest 

 did not pay as much attention during 

 1918 to the subject of spraying as was 

 necessary. The loss from codling moth 

 last year was so extensive that it ought 

 to be evident to fruit growers that 

 thorough spraying and good materials 

 from reliable manufacturers are abso- 

 lutely necessary. With the splendid 

 prices that apples have been bringing 

 fruit growers will fully realize their 

 loss. Even at the price of one dollar 

 per box, if a grower suffers a loss of 3 

 per cent, which sounds very small on 

 a crop of 300 boxes per acre, the loss 

 will pay for the cost of extra spray 

 material. The year 1918 was very 

 favorable and growers suffered but 

 little from fungus, but this does not 

 mean they can afford to be careless this 

 season or omit any sprays, and the 

 grower who has the idea that he will 

 save money by omitting one application 

 may find he has learned a dear lesson. 



February 



The Price of Apples 



Sir: Mr. Clyncs stated in St. Andrew's 

 Hall that he had been enabled to reduce 

 the price of apples and other fruits. 

 On the 24th September we were in- 

 formed through the press that the price 

 of apples would be sevenpence pei" 

 pound for all kinds. They are still sell- 

 ing at anything up to half a crown. 



A little enlightenment on this anomaly 

 would be much appreciated. — J. K. G. 

 in Glasgow Citizen, October 5, 191S. 



A local fruiterer has some very nice 

 looking Australian apples for sale but 

 is asking the ridiculous price of thirty- 

 five cents each for them, at which fig- 

 ure, he says, he realizes just a bare 

 profit, states the Straits Echo. This is 

 about a dollar a pound, and at this price 

 apples must, in Penang, remain a for- 

 bidden fruit for most people. It would 

 be interesting to know what price the 

 Australian and Tasmanian orchardist 

 gets for his apples on the spot where- 

 they are grown. It is probably in the- 

 neighborhood of a penny per pound, so- 

 that every pound of apples sold at a' 

 dollar in Penang represents a gross 

 profit of 2,700 per cent. Who gets all 

 this? asks the Penang paper. — North 

 China Daily News. 



Dynamite for Tree Planting 



By R. O. Keller, Manager The Plymouth Tree 

 Expert Co.. Ohio 



I want to describe a method we em- 

 played to plant a thousand plum and 

 sweet cherry trees in the fall of 1915. 

 The method was new in this section 

 and probably will be new to a good 

 many of your readers. 



They were planted on the Honey 

 Creek Poultry Farm in Huron County, 

 Ohio. For forty years it had been run 

 as a stock farm. Many of the fields had 

 been used for grazing purposes and the 

 sod was very heavy. It was not desired 

 to disturb this sod unnecessarily, as the 

 owner desired to use the fields as feed- 

 ing grounds for his poultry. 



The tramping of the larger animals 

 for so many years had made the sod 

 very tough and hard packed. At a depth 

 of from ten to twenty-four inches, we 

 discovered a hardpan or shale which 

 was from six to ten inches thick. We 

 found it necessary to use a sharp- 

 pointed instrument to get through this. 

 Underneath the shale was a heavy clay. 



After drlling our bore holes to a 

 depth of about thirty inches, we loaded 

 them with half cartridge charges of 

 a low dynamite, which was tamped in 

 with wet sand. The results of these 

 shots were beautiful tree holes. 



To keep our trees straight, we used a 

 yoke and two extra stakes. A lot of 

 scrub trees and granile boulders which 

 were in the fields were blasted out 

 before the planting was commenced. 



On account of the poor soil on the 

 orchard site, we deemed it necessary to 

 haul in some richer dirt to fill in around 

 the roots of the trees. 



After the blasting, the holes were dug 

 out to locate the pot-holes which were 

 filled with the subsoil loosened by the 



