Page 6 



BETTER FRUIT 



November 



packing, and it is said that it helps the 

 fruit industry of California more than 

 any other single bill that has been 

 passed in late years. This bill is man- 

 datory. The second bill has to do with 

 the packing of apples. This is entirely 

 optional, but it undoubtedly will be 

 accepted by a large nuniber of the 

 growers, and if it is, it will mean very 

 much to the California apple. Possibly 

 it will be impracticable for the horti- 

 culturists to try to pass tiirough the 

 Legislatures of the several Northwest- 

 ern states this next winter laws and 

 bills which will cover this point, be- 

 cause they will mean appropriations, 

 and the spirit of the country has not 

 been favorable to such appropriations. 

 At least, they can only be brought about 

 by very energetic work on the part of 

 the fruit growers. They will have to 

 show a keener interest than they have 

 been showing in the past four years if 

 such legislation can be brought about. 

 Possibly the Fruit Gi-owers' Agency 

 may be able to get all shippers alhliatcd 

 with this organization to agree to some 

 efticient form of inspection. The sys- 

 tem used by the Wenatchee-North Cen- 

 tral Growers' League is one of the best 

 which has been tried on the Pacific 

 Coast. This inspection was conducted 

 at an expense of one cent a box, and 

 seems to have been very ellicicnt. The 

 great difliculty in carrying on inspec- 

 tion work seems to be finance on the 

 one hand and maintaining the confi- 

 dence of all parties on the other. Per- 

 sonally we believe that perhaps the 



Figure 9 — Fruit received on \vason by gravity carriers from the packing and 



store rooms. Note that the fruit is always moved in one direction and that 



trucks have been done away with. 



best results could be obtained if we had 

 national inspectors, who were under 

 the authority of the United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture. 



We are not going to attempt in this 

 article to discuss packs and packages in 

 detail. It is well to know, however, 

 that the adoption of one package is a 

 step in the right direction; also the 



elimination of the ofTset and most of 

 the stpiare packs; and that limiting the 

 nund)er of diagonal packs to be used is 

 very desirable. We have had a ten- 

 dency to use too many packages and too 

 many packs. This has complicated the 

 situation and hasn't really helped us 

 connncrcially in any sense. 



Continued in next issue 



Are We Growing Fruit Successfully? 



By J. Howard Wright, President Washington State Horticultural Society 



I BELIEVE there are certain facts 

 that we have overlooked in figuring 

 the reason why we have not been 

 more successful in the fruit business. 

 Too many of us are prone to lay the 

 blame on the other fellow, believing 

 that we have done all when we have 

 delivered our crop ready for shipment 

 to our marketing agency or to the cash 



dealer. But have we? Are there not 

 many things that we might have done 

 that would have made better qualitv of 

 fruit ■? 



Now 1 am going to enumerate some 

 of our faults as they seem to me. If I 

 am too hard in some of my criticisms 1 

 hope you will bear with me and take no 

 offense, for I am verv much interested 



Figure 11 — Type of house being erected in Southern California by the orange 



growers. Note the large shaded loading platforms and also the provisions 



made for good ventilation in this building. Pliotograph by courtesy of Dr. 



Leon Batchelor, Riverside, California. 



in this business. Every dollar I have 

 has been earned in it, every dollar 1 

 possess is still in the game, and I hope 

 is going to remain there. One of the 

 very worst things that ever struck the 

 Northwest was the boom prices in fruit 

 lands a few years ago, resulting in many 

 people buying land at fabulous prices 

 and setting to fruit. No doubt at the 

 time the prices did seem reasonable 

 when compared with the returns to 

 growers in 1907 and in 1011. But we 

 must remember that the tonnage mov- 

 ing from the Northwest at that time was 

 ver\' small and of course found very 

 good prices; also times were very good 

 then and people were ready to pari 

 with their money for big red apples. 

 15ut al the present time conditions have 

 changed very largely. Times are hard. 

 .\ terrible war is on hand. Money is 

 light and people are not so willing to 

 barter their money for a red apple, 

 (^onseouenlly fruit lands have fallen in 

 value, and on account of the planting of 

 so many orchards the loniiage has in- 

 cieaseil immensely. Therefore we are 

 not gelling rich so (|uickly as in our 

 dreams of a few >ears back. vSheriffs' 

 sales, foreclosures and the like are the 

 order of Ihe day. Many people are 

 condemning the fruit business and seek- 

 ing some other means of getting rich 

 ([uickly, and why? 



