igi6 



BETTER FRUIT 



The Tractor a Requirement for the Orchard 



By C. M. Walker, Stockton, California 



THE importance of cultivation in 

 orchards cannot be emphasized too 

 strongly, especially in those sections 

 where it is essential that the moisture 

 put into the soil by the winter rains 

 should be conserved. Cultivating the 

 soil destroys the weeds, which have 

 millions of tiny tubes sucking up the 

 moisture for their own use, and de- 

 priving the trees of it. It also |)reserves 

 the soil nudch, a blanket of dust that 

 covers the ends of the tiny capillary 

 tubes formed in the soil, and prevents 

 the moisture from rising through these 

 tubes and evaporating into the open 

 air. In many cases, orchard cultiva- 

 tion is neglected. In many others, it is 

 unsatisfactorily or insulliciently done, 

 owing to lack of proper tools or, more 

 likely, lack of adequate power. The 

 coming of the tractor has opened the 

 way to the orchardist for fretiuent and 

 thorough cultivation with a mininunn 

 expenditure of time and labor and, 

 which is probably most important, a 

 minimum of expense. 



There are tractors on the market that 

 are admirably adapted for orchard cul- 

 tivation — narrow, low-down and short- 

 turning — and these three are prime 

 requisites of a tractor for orchard 

 work. The tractor must be narrow 

 enough to work between the most 

 closely-set trees without danger of 

 damage to the bark. It must be low 

 enough to get under the low-hanging 

 branches, and in this connection it is 

 interesting to note that some of the 

 tractors now offered for orchard work 

 stand less than half as high as a horse. 

 As for short turning, it is almost need- 

 less to say that to be successful in 

 orchard work a tractor must be able to 

 circle short, swinging from one row 

 into the next without any dillicult 

 maneuvering or loss of time. 



Granted that the orchardist uses care 

 in his choice of a tractor, picking one 

 that possesses the above qualifications 

 and that is reliable and low in oper- 

 ating and upkeep costs, its possibilities 

 are great. This, for example, is the 

 experience of the Fargo Orchards 

 Compan>' of Portland, Oregon: "Our 

 tractor has simplified our woik at the 

 orchard immenseh'. We find our aver- 

 for plowing is seventy-seven 

 acre; for discing and spring- 

 and foi- spiking and clod 

 sixtv cents per acre. This is 

 a big reduction over the horses, and 

 saves us the trouble of handling a large 

 number of men. Its main advantage 

 has been its abilit\ to do oui' work 

 when we wanted it done, and the way 

 we wanted it done. When the working 

 season is over, the machine goes info 

 its shed and we have no bother, trouble 

 or expense until we take it out again in 

 the spring. If has been a great pleasure 

 to watch it working back and forth 

 across the land during these hot days 

 without a pause, while all about us our 

 neighbors have been resting and blow- 

 ing their hoises a! the end of every 

 furrow." 



age cost 

 cents per 

 toothing, 

 niashini 



This is just one typical example. 

 Scores of similar ones can be found. 

 Xor should the orchardist get the notion 

 that the tractor's usefulness is limited 

 to the work of cultivating. It is ideal 

 for hauling fruit to market or bringing 

 supplies to the ranch. Where teams tire 

 and falter under the heat and long 

 hours, the tractor goes on as long as the 

 tractioneer is willing to work. And if 

 he wishes, the tractor owner can find 

 many opportunities for doing custom 

 work in most conmiunities — plowing, 

 hauling, road grading, etc. — work that 

 pays a good profit and keeps the tractor 

 busy more days in the year. 



A few years ago, the tractor was more 

 or less of a mystery to many people. 

 Today, thanks largely to the popularity 



Page 7 



of the automobile, the gas engine is no 

 longer considered a "fearful and won- 

 derful thing." A man with as nmch in- 

 telligence as the orchardist would want 

 the driver of his horses to possess, can 

 operate and care for a tractor. The 

 tiactor manufacturers as a general rule 

 provide complete instructions for the 

 care anil operation of the machines 

 they build; also, in most cases, they 

 provide an expert operator to unload 

 and start the machine and instruct the 

 purchaser. A few manufacturers even 

 go so far as to hold schools in which 

 owners or prospective purchasers can 

 learn to become expert tractioneers. 

 Service — not only the service in a ma- 

 chine but the service beliind it — has 

 become an important feature of the 

 tractor industry today, insuring the 

 purchaser's satisfaction and success 

 with his machine. 



The Standardization of Fruit Products 



By C. A. Tonneson, Tacoma, Editor Northwest Horticulturist and Dairyman 



THE production of fruit, including its 

 manufacture into the various fin- 

 ished forms, is known by the term in- 

 dustry. The distribution, disposition or 

 sale is strictly a business proposition. 

 Those engaged in the business of sell- 

 ing invariably require from those de- 

 voting their attention to industry that 

 the articles delivered to sell shall be 

 of some standard form. Failure in this 

 particular is, perhaps, one of the great- 

 est causes of loss and dissatisfaction 

 known both to growers and merchants. 

 Those handling the business part say 

 that buyers in the markets are exact- 

 ing and discriminating, and that com- 

 petition is keen on account of the great 

 variety of fruits received from various 

 other avenues and districts. About the 

 only wa\ the man who devotes his 

 attention to industry can fully realize 

 the importance of standardization is to 

 see his product or goods in such form 

 as he chooses to deliver them from the 

 selling standpoint. In concluding the 

 United States Farmers' Bulletin on the 

 Distribution of Fruits and Vegetables 

 on Large Markets, Charles J. Brand, 

 chief of that bureau, states that one of 

 the most practical steps the shipper 

 can fake to better his ccmdition is to 

 familiarize himself with business prac- 

 tices and secuie a better knowledge of 

 the wa>' his produce is handled on the 

 markets. 



('onsiderable progi'css is being made 

 in the standardization of fruits and 

 fruit producls. and f)f the methods em- 

 ployed in the Northwest. The grower 

 who gels the market viewpoint of a 

 standard pack of apples or pears, 

 which includes uniform size, good 

 color, sound fruit in a neat package, 

 fJL'ures far enough back to include good 

 tillage, pruning to oijcn beads in the 

 Coast section, spraying for scab and 

 brown rot, and if the cost of produc- 

 tion cannot be kept low enough to 

 aO'ord some fair margin of profit when 

 figured on Ihe average market price, 

 then it is evident some other form of a 

 standard i)i-oduct for these fruits must 

 be undertaken or the project aban- 



doned, for to offer fruits when not 

 measuring up to market requirements 

 is both demoralizing and unprofitable. 



Let us look at our commercial fruit 

 industry in the coast section of Wash- 

 ington from the maiketing standpoint. 

 Speaking only of the apples offered in 

 properly standardizerl form there are 

 but few varieties grown which, during 

 the past five years, have been sold at 

 prices to return some fair measure of 

 profit to the growers. Among them 

 may be mentioned Yellow Transparent, 

 Duchess, (iravensteins. Wealthy, King 

 and to a limited extent the Spitzenberg, 

 also Golden Glow and Home Beauty, 

 and for future connnerci.il markets per- 

 haps the most promising is the (iraven- 

 stein. What shall we do with our many 

 other varieties? Why not look into 

 the dried fruit markets"? The price to 

 growers today is from 10 to 11 cents 

 for sliced, cored and evaporated apples. 

 A leading apple grower in one of the 

 fruit-growing states east figured a net 

 profit of about 2(1 cents per bushel at 

 that price. He first took advantage of 

 a satisfactory fresh-fruit market, then 

 dried the balance of his crop, drying 

 separately also the peelings and cores, 

 which was sold for stock feed. There 

 is a prospective growing market for 

 dried apples in Alaska, in .South .Amer- 

 ica, and to some extent in I-urope. Let 

 us watch these closely through the 

 United Stales Dcparliiient of (^onunerce 

 and through our leading exporting mer- 

 chants from this Coast. In the market- 

 ing of fall iicars which will carr\ well, 

 rarlicularly the Anjous, the experi- 

 nienls so far are very iironiising. If we 

 can establish a trade for three or four 

 of these fall varieties tiien if will not 

 he dillicult lo adhere to reipiired stand- 

 ards of the markets. 



If is through Ihe bush fruits that 

 Western Washington is making some 

 satisfactory degree of progress com- 

 mercially al the present lime. The 

 berries are all naturally superb and the 

 methods of handling these in fresh 

 form are well up to standard recpiire- 

 '"cnls of the markets in which lhe\ are 



