Page 22 



BETTER FRUIT 



Where Currants and Gooseberries Grow Best 



CURRANTS and gooseberries are val- 

 uable small fruits for many farmers 

 and gardeners, but the area of the 

 United States in which they can be 

 grown with marked success is less than 

 one-half of the country. The section 

 most favorable for them is the north- 

 ern half of the country and east of the 

 one-hundredth meridian, which runs 

 near the center of the Dakotas, Ne- 

 braska and Kansas, according to the 

 Wisconsin Experiment Station. 



Currants and gooseberries require a 

 cool, moist climate, are injured by the 

 long hot summers of the Southern 

 States, except in the higher mountain 

 altitudes, and do not succeed very well 

 even in Missouri and Kansas. They are 

 not adapted to the hot interior valleys 

 of California, but are grown in the 

 northern coast counties of that state 

 and in the coast portions of Oregon and 

 Washington. Planting may be done in 

 late autunm or early spring. 



Even in the states where currants 

 and gooseberries grow best there is a 

 limiting factor which cuts down their 

 cultivation materially. They spread 

 white pine blister rust and it is neces- 

 sary to eradicate currant and goose- 

 berry plants already growing and to 

 prevent new plantings wherever the 

 white pine is an important forest tree 



and there is danger of the disease being 

 spread to valuable forest areas. Farm- 

 ers' Bulletin 1024, just issued by the 

 United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture, discusses the cultivation of cur- 

 rants and gooseberries in detail and 

 gives a summary of state laws con- 

 trolling them. 



Another limiting factor is the currant 

 maggot, for which there is no known 

 means of control. 



The amateur in the cultivation of 

 these fruits, after finding that he is 

 subject to none of the factors referred 

 to, will get a product useful chiefly in 

 making jams, jellies, preserves and 

 pies, rather than in the fresh state. 

 Both fruits contain a large amount of 

 pectin, which is necessary for jelly 

 making. The currant is commonly con- 

 sidered the best of all fruits for making 

 jelly, but comparatively few know that 

 gooseberry jelly is nearly, if not quite, 

 as good as currant jelly and may be 

 made much more cheaply. In addition 

 to numerous ways in which currants 

 and gooseberries may be used, they are 

 especially valuable for combining in 

 jams with other fruits. They are also 

 useful for unfermented juices, con- 

 serves, preserves, pastes, marmalades, 

 spiced products, catsups, and for can- 

 ning. 



June igip 



writer says that the Oregon soldiers 

 who purchased the fruit were highly 

 delighted. 



Oregon fruit-crop conditions are re- 

 ported to be splendid. Apples, peaches, 

 plums, cherries and pears are reported 

 to be well set. Prunes, with the excep- 

 tion of some of the older trees in the 

 Willamette Valley, show promise of a 

 good crop. 



Almost all of the prune crop of Clarke 

 County, Washington, has been sold and 

 the average price paid, which was 14 

 cents, was the highest that Clarke 

 County growers have received in recent 

 years. Present indications, it is said, 

 point to a large crop of prunes in this 

 county. Three large prune-packing 

 plants will operate in the Chirke County 

 district this year to pack out the crop. 

 In addition to the older plants of the 

 J. K. Armsby and the A. C. Burdick 

 companies, a new company, the Colum- 

 bia Packing Company, is now building 

 a large plant at Vancouver. 



Fruit, Fruit Growers and Fruit Growing 



The first representative of an English 

 apple-buying house to arrive on the 

 Coast this year was Arthur B. Johns. 

 Mr. Johns, who visited Hood River and 

 the other Northwest districts during 

 the past month, is from Liverpool, and 

 stated that the idea that the English 

 markets demanded small apples alto- 

 gether is erroneous. He stated that the 

 125 size is the favorite, although fruit 

 as small as 175s is salable. 



THE 1919 fruit crop of the Yakima 

 Valley it is now estimated will be 

 in the neighborhood of 14,675 cars. 

 Earlier in the season the estimate was 

 placed considerably higher, but owing 

 to the frost damage, which is believed 

 by District Horticultural Inspector 

 Wood to have cut down the expected 

 crop 20 per cent, the estimate has been 

 lowered. Another cause for the lower 

 estimate is said to be due to the fact 

 that Winesap trees throughout the val- 

 ley have bloomed light this year. The 

 detailed estimate of the number of 

 cars which it is expected the Yakima 

 Valley will ship this year is: Apples, 

 8,960; pears, 2,500; peaches, 2,475; 

 plums and prunes, 250; mixed fruits, 

 250. 



Forty thousand boxes of Hood River 

 Newtown apples recently reached the 

 American soldiers on the Rhine, ac- 

 cording to a letter received by the Hood 

 River Apple Growers' Association from 

 A. W. Briggs, a former Portland travel- 

 ing man now with the American army 

 stationed at Coblenz, Germany. The 



The first box of California cherries 

 which arrived in New York about 

 April 25th, after spirited bidding among 

 fruit buyer*, brought $50. 



Sales managers of Northwest apple- 

 shipping associations and firms report 



At the present time it is reported that 

 there are many uncertainties as to the 

 fruit situation in Western New York, 

 one of the biggest fruit-producing cen- 

 ters in the United States. A three-day 

 snowstorm and freeze, followed by a 

 warm spring temperature, did consider- 

 able damage. The most severe damage 

 was done to the peach, plum and cherry 

 crops, the injury in some districts being 

 reported as high as 50 per cent. 



Although the 25 per cent increase in 

 freight rates on Northwest fruit ship- 

 ments went into effect during the latter 

 part of May, representatives of North- 

 west fruit-shipping concerns intend to 

 make a fight to have them reduced. 

 Efforts will be made to show that fruit 

 shippers are being discriminated against 

 in the matter of freight rates. 



Seasoned Lumber 



Boxes made from SEASONED lumber insure your fruit 

 pack against mildew which causes thousands of dollars' loss 

 every year where containers made of green material are used 



Bloedel Donovan Boxes 



Are Made of Seasoned Lumber 



Carefully inspected and expertly sawed. 

 Prompt deliveries assured. 



BLOEDEL DONOVAN LUMBER MILLS 



1018 White Building, Seattle, Wasii. 



WHEN WRITING ADVERTISERS MENTION BETTER FRUIT 



