Page 



BETTER FRUIT 



June I pip 



Figure 3 — Tree in Mr. 

 inches in 



Bowles' orchard on wliich cut six 

 diameter >\as made. 



tree. Another tree, I stood by 

 with axe in hand, but before 

 the first cut I saw signs of life 

 and decided to leave the trunk 

 with a few short branches, just 

 to see what it would do. I made 

 the largest cuts that could be 

 made, except the trunk. It is 

 now a fine tree with a crop 

 that looks like a quarter of a 

 ton. 



Several of the trees becaiue 

 too tall for profit; but a few 

 big cuts brought them down to 

 normal proportions, reducing 

 the height of the main crop five 

 to ten feet. Some trees require 

 two or three years to get the 

 proper readjustment, as there 

 is apparently little left after 

 cutting out the branches not 

 wanted. In extreme cases the 

 cutting should be done only a 

 part each year. I like to bring 

 a tree to its proper height all 

 at one time by three or four 

 cuts; but no two trees can be 

 pruned alike. There can be no 

 definite rule to follow. 



As to the best time for this 

 logging work in the cherry 

 orchard — well, I don't know. 

 I do most of it after harvest, 

 but have worked at nearly 

 every time of year. I do it 

 when I have time; and so far 

 1 can see practically no ditTer- 

 ence, whether it be spring or 

 fall, summer or winter. 



The accompanying cuts are 

 from photographs taken on the 

 17th of August, 1918, by C. T. 



Kinnian, a government agent, who came 

 here to study the large-cut method of 

 pruning cherry trees. He failed to get 

 a view of the largest cuttings, as they 

 were in the heavier part of the orchard 

 where the light was insufiicient for the 

 camera. 



No. 1 is only of medium size, but it 

 shows how the tall, upright center has 

 been removed, leaving a wide open 

 center, which made District Horticul- 

 turist Luke Powell spread himself to 

 the limit to find support. This tree 

 also shows the fine condition of the 

 foliage, which is not common with trees 

 in late summer which are compelled to 

 support all their large branches. 



No. 2 is a larger tree, with a wide 

 open center, but this result was secured 

 without cutting any branch as large as 

 most that were left. The foliage is 

 good, but most of it is above the por- 

 tion shown. This tree illustrated the 

 "starved center" so common with the 

 Bing, the branches which once formed 

 the main part of the tree having been 

 robbed by the outside branches. 



No. 3 appears as a dead tree, but it is 

 a pruning picked up from the ground 

 and stood upright to show its size. This 

 was a center cut six inches in diameter, 

 and was the only cut of importance 

 from a tree of medium size to leave a 

 well-balanced hollow top. 



It is cause for congratulation for fruit 

 men to know that the Bureau of Mar- 

 kets, whicli has maintained such an 

 efficient service, will be able to continue 

 its work, notwithstanding the fact that 

 Congress failed to make an appropria- 

 tion for it at the last session. 



Co-operation as Seen at the Skookum Convention 



I HEARD one man say: "It was an 

 education!" He might have added 

 that this big convention was a whole 

 Alexander Hamilton Institute Course in 

 Co-operation. "Big work," another 

 said. It was. As I write this I feel it 

 was so big it is diflicult to put it over 

 in mere words. To me the one big 

 significance of this convention of 

 Skookum men was the proof that we 

 lean on each other. We cannot evade 

 it — every man jack of us has one hand 

 anyway leaning on the shoulder of the 

 other fellow. I would say, after listen- 

 ing-in for three days to the brains and 

 enthusiasm of Northwest apple co- 

 operators, that this "hunch" is like the 

 wedge we used to have in the old foot- 

 ball days — of course when the wedge is 

 driving through, shoulder to shoulder, 

 the other fellow can follow walking 

 behind, but it's the wedge that does the 

 work. You have that "other fellow" 

 proposition of course in all walks of 

 life, and I often think it is too bad that 

 this is so — the hard-hitting, stern 

 minded men of conscience and en- 

 deavor, determined on what is right 

 regardless, go through, fight through, 

 take the brunt of it, and then the other 

 fellow comes along in his limousine on 

 the alsphalt for which the other fellow 



Written for Better Fruit by Special Correspondent 



has paid the price. "Let George do it!" 

 It's an old story. Skookum don't let 

 George do it. Skookum does it. That 

 fact just hit me in the face every min- 

 ute for three days. 



Now I don't mean to say that they let 

 George do it because of a slacker dis- 

 position. Not that at all. It is a safe 

 ijet that ninety out of a hundred of the 

 "stay outs" are the right sort, and want 

 to get in on the "wedge" and drive with 

 the bunch. But they don't do it. Why? 

 Because they haven't been at a Skoo- 

 kum convention — at least that is what 

 I think. Because they haven't had this 

 "Alexander Hamilton Institute" course 

 of education! That is the way I look 

 at it. Because all these other fellows 

 that stand out and look on have not yet 

 seen the light! Tliey don't comprehend 

 right down deep how we all "lean on 

 each other," and must lean on each 

 other. 



These Skookum fellows were all in 

 good humor over it all. They had only 

 good words and good fellowship for the 

 other fellow. They are respecters of 

 other organizations, but they told living 

 truths for the man who stood out of 

 any and all organizations. That is, at 

 least, how I was impressed. And I was 

 satisfied right down deep in my own 



mind that the Northwest is, sooner or 

 later, going to he bound together in one 

 co-operative apple cause just as sure as 

 "Sunkist" orange growers are bound 

 together down in California. 



Right at the start, when Corbaley, 

 that stalwart of Northwest develop- 

 ment, made his wholesome address of 

 welcome, I said to myself: If it weren't 

 for organizers like Corbaley, for co- 

 operative work like Corbaley is doing, 

 these growers who stand outside and 

 look on would be beating the walls 

 with their fists. So they would. "What 

 awful conditions would confront the 

 apple business today if there were no 

 organizations," said Corbaley. Yes, said 

 I to myself later when I heard Robin- 

 son taik — Robinson of the Northwest- 

 ern Fruit Exchange, who fights for 

 right rates like a mother fights for the 

 life of a child — what would those out- 

 siders do about it if they did not have 

 experts representing them on rates? 

 Why, the industry would be wiped ofT 

 the map. Robinson showed what or- 

 ganization had done to save the indus- 

 try from rates that would have crippled 

 it. Yes! "lean on each other" — it is a 

 positive, can't-get-away-from-it truth. 

 Then Corbaley pictured the Golden 



Continued on page 28. 



