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BETTER FRUIT 



AiiPiist 



BETTER FRUIT 



HOOD RIVER. OREGON 



Official Organ of Tlie Northwest Fruit Growers* Association 

 A Monthly lUiistrated Magazine Published in tlie 

 Interest of Modem Fruit Growing and Mariteliiig 



All Communications Should Be Addressed and Remittances 

 Made Payable to 



Better Fruit Publishing Company 



E. H. SHEI'ABD. Editor and Publisher 



STATE ASSOCIATE EDITORS 



OREGON 



C. r. Lewis, Horticulturist Corvallis 



WASHINGTON 



Dr. A. L. Melander. Entomologist Pullman 



O. M. Morris, Horticulturist Pullman 



W. S. Thomber. Horticulturist Pullman 



• COLORADO 



C. P, Gillette, Director and Entomologist Fort Collins 



E, B. House. Chief of Department of Civil and Irrigation 



Engineering, Slate Agricultural College Fort Collins 



E. P. Taylor, Horticulturist Grand Junction 



UTAH 



Dr. E. D. Ball. Director and Entomologist Logan 



MONTANA 



O. B. Whipple, Horticulturist Bozeman 



CALIFORNIA 



O. W. Woodworth. Entomologist Berkeley 



W. H. Volck, Entomologist Watsonville 



Leon D. Batchelor. Horticulturist Riverside 



INDIANA 



H, S. Jackson, Pathologist Lafayette 



BRITISH COLUMBIA 

 R. M. Winslow, Provincial Horticulturist Victoria 



SUBSCRIPTION PRICE; 



In the United States. $1.00 per year in advance 



Canada and foreign, including postage, $1.50 



ADVERTISING RATES ON APPLICATION 



Entered as second-class matter December 27. 1906. at the 



PostolHce at Hnod River. Oregon, under Act 



of Congress of March 3. IS79. 



The Fruit Marketing Agency. — Capt. 



Pfiul Wcyrauch leport.s that 75 per cent 

 of the tonnage of the Northwest has 

 joiiieil the Agency, which assures a suc- 

 cessful organization. Tlie Bureau of 

 Markets, connected with Hie Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, has worked very 

 strenuously and is to be congratulated 

 on having given the Agency a success- 

 ful start. It is reported that the gov- 

 ernment has spent $10,000 in assisting 

 to create this Agency. The cost to the 

 growers, according to the budget, will 

 be -*8.^00 for the first year, or not to 

 exceed a maximum of $1.00 per car. 

 It is to be regretted, but nevertheless 

 it is a fact, that growers have not been 

 .suflicienlly informed in reference to the 

 purpose of the Agency. No one is to 

 blame for this. However, it is a fact 

 that the local newspapers in the various 

 fruit sections, as well as the big dailies, 

 have not given sullicient ])ublicity to 

 the movement. It is impossible for the 

 few government oliicials, in the limited 

 time, to meet all of the growers and 

 explain fully to them, although meet- 

 ings were arranged for such purpose in 

 various sections, but man\- of these 

 notices did not have sufficient publicity 

 and therefore the attendance was not 

 such as it should be. The Uniform 

 Contract and the Ry-I>aws have been 

 extensively published; these have been 

 published in "Better Fruit," as well as 

 in a number of other publications, 

 .lust a few words about the Fruit Grow- 

 ers' Agency seem in order now that the 

 growers may understand briefly its 

 purpose. The Agency is created for 

 the purijose of assisting the fruitgrow- 

 ers in the Northwest. One of the pur- 

 poses will be to obtain and furnish the 

 selling organizations with valuable 

 estimates about the crops in all of the 

 districts, to enable the selling organi- 

 zations to better determine values. The 

 Agency will receive and disseminate 

 information to its inembei's from the 



Bureau of Markets, as to marketing 

 conditions in all of the principal cities. 

 This report will state the number of 

 cars arriving daily, the number of cars 

 on storage, and also state prices at 

 which fruit is selling at the time of 

 the report. The Agency will use its 

 tonnage and influence to improve trans- 

 portation facilities wherever possible. 

 The Agency will aim to disseminate in- 

 foi-mation that will prevent selling con- 

 cerns from piling fruit into alreatly 

 glutted markets and also endeavor to 

 give information in reference to mar- 

 kets not ijroperly supplied, the oppor- 

 tunities for supplying Ihem and the 

 possible prices that may be obtained. 

 In other words, the .\gency will assist 

 in giving information which will create 

 a more intelligent and general distri- 

 bution and belter prices. All of Ibis 

 information will be of great value to 

 the trustees and salesmen of the differ- 

 ent organizations aliiliated with the Ex- 

 change in determining actual sales 

 values of dilTerent varieties of fruits 

 and apples, which in itself ought to be 

 a big factor in preventing unnecessary 

 cutting of prices and unnecessary com- 

 petition which has existed in the past. 

 This partially covers the field of activi- 

 ties for the Fruit Growers' Agency for 

 the coming season. Growers must not 

 be unreasonable in their expectations 

 and should bear in mind that in the 

 first year the Agency can only reason- 

 ably be expected to make a fair start. 

 One thing which many growers fail to 

 understand is this fact. The Fruit 

 Growers' Agency will not sell a box of 

 apples for any selling concern or any 

 indivitlual grower. They will make no 

 prices and in no way endeavor to arbi- 

 trarily fix the price of any kind of fruit 

 or any variety. It is up to each selling 

 organization to do this for itself .just 

 the same now as it has been in the past, 

 but the Fruit Growers' Agency will be 

 a big factor in helping them to do it 

 more intelligently in the future. 



will continue for many years. There- 

 fore at the present time the situation 

 is such that there is good reason to 

 believe that ajiples will sell for a fair 

 price this year and pay the grower a 

 satisfactory profit on his investment 

 and for his work. 



1916 .4pple Prices. — The June esti- 

 mate of the government indicates 6 per 

 cent less apples than the actual amount 

 grown in 191.5. It is to be borne in 

 mind that many things may happen, 

 and they usually do, between now and 

 harvesting season to reduce the quan- 

 tity estimated as early as June. It must 

 be admitted, however, that occasionally 

 the final harvesting is greater than the 

 early estimates. So far, there is not n 

 single aople-producing district in the 

 I'nited States that is reported heav>. 

 Many are reported light. In 1914 the 

 United States iiroduced a bumper crop 

 of 84,000,000 barrels. In 1915 Ihe actual 

 crop grown was estimated by the gov- 

 ernment at 70,000,000 barrels, or onh 

 10 per cent less than in 1914, making 

 two bumper crops in succession, which 

 lessens the ijossibility of a third bumper 

 crop in 1910. It seems reasonable at 

 the present time to assume that the 

 crop of the I'nited Slates will be a mod- 

 erate-sizeil crop, neither a heavy croi) 

 or a light crop. Business conditions 

 have improved in many sections of 

 the United Slates and there is every 

 assurance to assume that the I'nited 

 States is on the eve of prospeiity which 



Hogs and Sheep in the Orchard. — 



Fruit districts where diversity farming 

 has been more or less of a factor in 

 connection with orcharding are a 

 slanding testimonial to the value of 

 diversity in connection with the or- 

 chard business. It is a fact that where 

 any district is engaged in or has 

 gone into diversity in connection with 

 orchard business, the district and the 

 business condilion of that district in a 

 financial way is much better than in 

 the fruit districts which have depended 

 entirely upon fruit. There is nothing 

 like a reasonable amount of diversity 

 to help a fruitgrower out in the years 

 when prices are low or in the years 

 when the crop is light. Hogs and sheep 



W^^TEFt. ■_£%/£■- 



PORTLAN 



NORTH BANK 

 ROAD 



EASTWARD 



By way of Spokane, 



the Inland Empire and the 



Yellowstone or Glacier National 



Park Routes 



Round Trips by Direct Lines 



St. Paul $ 60.00 



Chicago 72.50 



New York 110.70 



Des Moines 66.85 



St. Louis 71.20 



Denver 55.00 



Proportionate fares to other places. 

 Slightly higher going or returning 

 through California. 



The ships of de luxe service. "North- 

 ern Pacific" and "Great Northern" for 

 San Francisco ever>- Tuesday, Thurs- 

 day, Saturday. Fares include meals 

 and berths and extras without extra 

 fare. 



Are You Going Away this Summer? 



CLATSOP BEACH 



IS THE PL.'KCE. 



Send for booklet. 



R. H. CR02IER. Ass't Gen. Pass. Agent 



Ticket Office. 5tli and Stark Sts. 



Portland. Oregon 



