Page 



i8 



BETTER FRUIT 



HOOD RIVER, OREGON 



Official Organ of The Northwest Fruit Growers' Association 

 A Monthly Illustrated Magazine Published in the 

 Interest of &Iodem Fruit Growing and Marketing 



AU Communications Should Be Addressed and Remittances 

 Made Payable to 



Better Fruit Publishing Company 



B. H. SHEPARD, Editor and Publisher 



STATE ASSOCIATE EDITORS 



OREGON 



C. I. I/e\Tl3. Horticulturist Corrallis 



WASHINGTON 



Dr. A. L. Melander. Entomologist Pullman 



O. M. Morns, Horticulturist Pullman 



W. S. Thomber. HorticuUurtst Pullman 



COLORADO 



C P Gillette, Director and Entomologist Fort Collins 



E. B. House. Chief of Department of Civil and Inieation 



Englncoring. State Agricultural College Fort Collins 



ARIZONA 



E. P. Taylor. Horticulturist Tucson 



WISCONSIN 



Dr. E. D. Ball, Director and Entomologist Madison 



MONTANA 



O. B. Whipple. Horticulturist Bozeman 



CALIFORNIA 



C. W. Woodnorth. Entomologist Berkeley 



W. H. Volck. Entomologist WatBonvlIle 



Leon D. Batchelor, Horticulturist Riverside 



INDIANA 



H. S. JactBon. 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 BATES ON APPLICATION 



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



Postoftlce at Hood River, Oregon, under Act 



of Congress of March 3, 1879. 



The Importance of Tractors.— A few 



years ago when the crop of apples in 

 the Northwest was comparatively small 

 and prices relatively high, very little 

 attention was paid to the matter of 

 economy in the cost of production or 

 harvesting. In 1910, when the North- 

 west apple growers had the first jolt 

 in the way of lesser prices, the editor 

 realized that the high prices realized 

 in previous years would not continue 

 to maintain. The editor started the ball 

 rolling with investigation on this sub- 

 ject, pertaining particularly to harvest- 

 ing, publishing an editorial on that sub- 

 ject in December, 1910, showing his 

 own harvesting cost to be 41 1/2 cents 

 per box, which commanded universal 

 attention and resulted in many grow- 

 ers introducing methods of etTiciency, 

 including grading machines, so that the 

 cost has been greatly reduced. In 1915 

 the editor's cost was reduced to 31.97 

 cents per box, which seemed to be a 

 pretty fair general average. The move- 

 ment resulted in the reduction of about 

 25 per cent, or about 9 cents per box. 

 This movement created interest in 

 other features, in the cost of produc- 

 tion. A little over a year ago Professor 

 C. I. Lewis, Horticulturist, Oregon Agri- 

 cultural College, published a most ex- 

 cellent bulletin, entitled "The Econo- 

 mics of Orcharding," including in this 

 cultivation. In June, 1915, Mr. Lang- 

 don, of the.Langdon-Baker Orchard of 

 Walla Walla, Washington, contributed 

 an article on the "Economy of Tractors 

 in Connection With Cultivation." Since 

 then tractors have commanded con- 

 siderable attention on the part of 

 orchardists, more particularly the large 

 orchardisis, it having been ascertained 

 that by the use of tractors the cost of 

 cultivating can be materially reduced. 

 Eciually important with reduction of 

 cost in connection with cultivation is 

 the fact that in the spring the soil dries 

 out very rapidly; therefore cultivation 

 must be done quickly in order to con- 



BETTER FRUIT 



serve the moisture, particularly in dis- 

 tricts which are not amply supplied with 

 irrigation water, in order to keep the 

 fruit crop growing throughout the sea- 

 son. The moisture condition is far 

 more important in orcharding than in 

 most kinds of farming, because a large 

 number of farm products grow into 

 maturity early in the summer before 

 the moisture is completely exhausted, 

 whereas apples practically continue to 

 grow throughout the entire summer, in 

 fact up to harvesting time in October 

 and November. Tractors present a 

 solution of the problem of cultivation 

 in two ways, reducing the cost and en- 

 abling the fruitgrower to do his culti- 

 vating in a short space of time, con- 

 serving the moisture thoroughly and 

 quickly, leaving the balance of the 

 fruitgrower's time to be devoted to 

 spraying and other important orchard 

 problems that come along throughout 

 the entire season. The minimum unit 

 or acreage which will justify investing 

 in a tractor has not been definitely 

 ascertained, so far as the editor knows. 

 Of course it must be admitted the cost 

 on a small acreage would be excessive, 

 censequently it seems well to suggest 

 that, whereas community graders and 

 community packing houses have been 

 successful in not only reducing the cost 

 of packing, but resulting in a more uni- 

 form packing, it looks reasonable to 

 suppose that a community plan in refer- 

 ence to tractors would be practical and 

 successful. We fruitgrowers realize the 

 necessity of economy in production in 

 every way possible. Now that the mat- 

 ter of economy is well under way on 

 the cost of harvesting, the editor sug- 

 gests that the fruitgrowers endeavor 

 to introduce more economy methods 

 pertaining to cultivation and other 

 problems. 



March 



it being a well-known fact that a strong 

 demand means firmer prices. By that 

 is meant firm prices under existing 

 market conditions, taking into consid- 

 eration the effect of the natural law of 

 supply, demand, competition, etc. The 

 Yakima Fruit District Association has 

 been watching the advertising cam- 

 paign that has been carried on during 

 the past two or three years very closely, 

 and at a recent meeting took steps to 

 create a fund for advertising by mak- 

 ing a charge of 5 cents per box to 

 advertise the "Y" brand throughout the 

 United States. These three concerns 

 and the North Pacific Fruit Distributors 

 handle the largest tonnage of any of 

 the marketing organizations in the 

 Northwest. Their experience and judg- 

 ment therefore .should be very con- 

 vincing. There is no getting around 

 the fact that an immense demand has 

 been created by advertising for many 

 brands of articles and products. Adver- 

 tising has been tried out and proved 

 successful for Northwestern brands of 

 apples to such a degree and so success- 

 fully that the fruitgrower should be 

 willing to contribute a reasonable sum 

 per box for the purpose of creating a 

 still wider demand and a greater con- 

 sumption, both of which mean firmer 

 prices and generally better prices. 



Advertising the Apple. — The success 

 obtained by the Northwestern Fruit 

 Exchange in advertising the Skookum 

 brand in 1914 was so satisfactory that 

 the fund was increased for 1915. Again, 

 even more satisfactory results were 

 obtained and the 1915 campaign being 

 so successful that the Northwestern 

 Fruit Exchange created a fund of 

 somewhere in the neighborhood of 

 .$75,000 for the 1916 campaign, which 

 proved the value of advertising beyond 

 any argument. In 1915 the Hood River 

 Apple Growers' Association put on a 

 moderate advertising campaign, the 

 result being so satisfactory that the 

 Board of Directors felt justified in 

 recommending a more comprehen- 

 sive campaign for 1916, amounting to 

 approximately $30,000. This campaign 

 for Blue Diamond brand has been car- 

 ried on principally in New York City, 

 San F'rancisco and Los Angeles, com- 

 prising newspaper advertising, street- 

 car advertising, booklets, receipt books 

 and calendars. The results of the 

 Northwestern Fruit Exchange adver- 

 tising and the Hood River Apple Grow- 

 ers' Association advertising in the year 

 1916 have been so effective in creating 

 a demand for these popular brands 

 that all those who have kept well in- 

 formed feel justified in this progressive 

 movement of creating a wider demand. 



Zero Cold Test for Motor Oils. — A 



very interesting article on this subject 

 has been prepared by P. R. Melchert, 

 automobile engineer of the Standard 

 Oil Company. The space in "Better 

 Fruit" is limited. The vital problems 

 connected with fruit growing usually 

 take up so much space that many other 

 important articles must necessarily be 

 condensed. The main features in the 

 article are that the users of motor oils 

 on automobile engines and machinery 

 which are operated in cold climates 

 should first use an oil that will stand 

 a cold test, in acordance with the 

 climate in which they operate. If an 

 oil has a cold test of 30 degrees it will 

 pour at that temperature, but becomes 

 solid at about five degrees lower. Oils 

 that congeal when the weather is at 

 freezing are therefore not suitable for 

 lubricating purposes where such tem- 

 peratures prevail. Every man oper- 

 ating an engine knows that it starts 

 hard in cold weather, which is due to 

 the fact that the fuel does not vaporize 

 as readily during the cold weather as 

 it does during the warm. This condi- 

 tion taxes the light batteries to their 

 limit. If an oil is used that makes a 

 poor cold test an additional power is 

 necessary to turn the motor over, which 

 is a constant drain upon the batteries, 

 meaning an expensive upkeep. If an 

 oil is used with an insufficient cold test 

 it will not lubricate the motor cor- 

 rectly, because the oil will be too thick 

 and sluggish to pass between the close- 

 fitting bearings, and if used in a motor 

 which is lubricated by splashing the 

 oil it will not be splashed properly 

 through the cylinders, pistons and 

 wrist piris in adequate quantity for 

 lubrication until the motor has been 

 run fifteen or twenty minutes, and the 

 temperature of the motor has thinned 

 the oil down so it will begin to operate 



