Page 14 



BETTER FRQ IT 



Ma'\ 



BETTER FRUIT 



HOOD RIVER, OREGON 



Official Organ of The Northwest Fruit Growers' Association 

 A Monthly Illustrated Magazine Published in the 

 Interest of Modem Fruit Growing and Marketing 



MX Communications Should Be Addressed and Remittances 

 Made Payable to 



Better Fruit Publishing Company 



E. H. SHEPARD. Editor and Publisher 



STATE ASSOCIATE EDITORS 



OREGON 



C. 1. 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. 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. Woodworth, Entomologist Berkeley 



W. H. Volcll. Entomologist Watsonvllla 



Leon D. Batchelor, Horticulturist Riverside 



INDIANA 



H. S. Jackson. Pathologist Lafayette 



BRITISH COLUMBIA 

 R. HL 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 



Postofflce at Hood River, Oregon, under Act 



of Congress of March 3, 1879. 



Wilmer Sieg. — Mr. Wilmer Sieg, who 

 has been sales manager for the Hood 

 River Apple Growers' Union and its 

 successor, the Hood River Apple Grow- 

 ers' Association, from 1912 to 1917, ten- 

 dered his resignation to fake effect May 

 1st, to accept a position with the Earl 

 Fruit Company, one of the oldest, 

 strongest and largest of the selling 

 organizations in California. Owing to 

 the large business which they have 

 been doing in the Northwest, the Earl 

 Fruit Company incorporated a separate 

 company to look after Northwestern 

 business. At the time when Mr. Sieg 

 took the position as sales manager of 

 the Hood River Apple Growers' Union 

 in 1912 the condition of the Union was 

 critical. The Valley was fraught with 

 strife, due largely to factional conten- 

 tion, and as a result the Valley became 

 split, more self-competition prevailing 

 than ever before. The Union was im- 

 paired in strength, which made Mr. 

 Sieg's beginning a most dillicult one in- 

 deed. Yet out of that chaotic condition 

 he has been a factor in building one of 

 the strongest and largest Associations 

 in the Northwest. Mr. Sieg's accom- 

 plishment and success is due to his 

 ability, to his loyalty and to hard work. 

 No man ever worked more faithfully or 

 harder than Mr. Sieg, nor more devot- 

 edly. During the busy season he could 

 be found at his office every holiday, 

 every Sunday and every night. Those 

 who knew him best — those who were 

 most intimately associated with him in 

 connection with the work, appreciate 

 his work to the fullest extent. But in 

 addition to this it may be said there is 

 a genera] feeling of regret over his res- 

 ignation, and perhaps no man feels his 

 departure more keenly than Mr. Sieg 

 himself. However, on account of the 

 very attractive position offered it is 

 well understood that in justice to him- 

 self he could not decline. The success 

 of any selling organization depends 

 principally upon the net returns paid 



to the grower. The Apple Growers' 

 Association has received significant 

 prices for apples compared with any 

 other district in the world during the 

 last few years, and in as much as the 

 selling end of the business was man- 

 aged and controlled by Mr. Sieg it goes 

 without saying that he has achieved 

 success. While success in business be- 

 speaks much for a man, especially in 

 the commercial world, there is much 

 outside of business that is equally if 

 not more significant than success in 

 business. Mr. Sieg has accomplished 

 much in addition to his success as a 

 salesman, while a resilient of this Val- 

 ley, and perhaps the greatest compli- 

 ment after all that could be paid him 

 would be to say he has been known and 

 regarded as a most faithful worker, as 

 a man absolutely loyal to the Associa- 

 tion, as a man noted for his generosity, 

 for his kindness and for his liberality. 



The Fruit Growers' Agency. — The 



United States Government knows that 

 the prosperity of the country depends 

 upon the prosperity and success of the 

 farmer. The success of the farmer and 

 fruit grower depends upon his being 

 able to market his pproduct in an 

 economical way at the true market 

 value. Every farmer and fruit grower 

 knows that in the past he has not been 

 able to do this to the fullest extent. 

 The United States Government desires 

 to co-operate with the fruit growers 

 and farmers in helping them solve the 

 problem in marketing in the most 

 economical way and at the same time 

 obtain true market values for their 

 product. The Bureau of Markets have 

 agreed to furnish the Fruit Growers' 

 Agency with all the marketing informa- 

 tion obtained through their many rep- 

 resentatives pertaining to the fruit in- 

 dustry of the Northwest. In 1916 the 

 Fruit Growers' Agency was incorpor- 

 ated. The first year, as a matter of 

 fact, it could not be expected to be very 

 much more than an experiment. The 

 experiment has been made. Those con- 

 nected with the Fruit Growers' Agency 

 feel that the way is clear now for them 

 to render an efficient and valuable ser- 

 vice to the fruit growing industry of 

 the Northwest. The Government is 

 fully convinced, consequently the Fruit 

 Growers' Agency stands ready to co- 

 operate with the fruit grower, to help 

 the fruit grower, providing the fruit 

 growers will support the Agency. There- 

 fore, in the year 1917 the Fruit Growers' 

 Agency for the first time is really pre- 

 pared to render a service of value 

 founded on experience, consequently 

 every fruit grower and every shipping 

 concern should support the Agency. 

 Every fruit grower and every shipping 

 concern who wants better prices, who 

 wants to market more eccmomically, 

 who does not feel satisfied with the past 

 has no excuse for not helping the 

 Fruit Growers' Agency, except the 

 matter of expense, which is nominal, 

 as the same will probably not exceed 

 50 cents per car for the ^ca^ 1917. The 

 official representatives of the different 

 shipping concerns affiliafcil with the 

 Fruit Growers' Agency met in Spokane 

 in April. They believe they have re- 

 construcli'd the Agency and placed it 



on a practical basis, making it possible 

 during the year 1917 to render a real 

 service of great value to the fruit 

 grower in marketing his fruit more 

 economically and obtaining the real 

 value. It is with regret, on account of 

 limited space, "Better Fruit" is not able 

 to publish a full report of the aims and 

 objects of the Agency — the changes that 

 have been made and the work of the 

 Agency for 1017, but all these particu- 

 lars can be obtained by addressing the 

 Fruit Growers' Agency, Walla Walla, 

 Washington. 



The War. — The President's address, 



published in this edition of "Better 

 Fruit," in the view of those most able 

 to pass judgment, is well worth read- 

 ing, and reading carefully. The causes 

 for war have been a matter of dis- 

 cussion for many weeks and months 

 with everybody, especially with the 

 administration and Congress, who of 

 course, as we all know, are much more 

 fully informed than the average indi- 

 vidual citizen. No nation in the world 

 loves peace more devotedly than the 

 United States. Whether the United 

 States could have kept out of the war 

 is a subject that seems useless to dis- 

 cuss at the present moment. The 

 administration and Congress are our 

 chosen representatives. The time for 

 argument is past — "My country, may 

 she ever be right, but my country right 

 or wrong," was probably the most 

 patriotic remark that was ever made. 

 Each one must do his .share. The work 

 to be done in the rear is equally impor- 

 tant with the work at the front. Every 

 one who does not go to war should do 

 his share in his service and work to 

 make it efficient and productive and in 

 the most economical way. Many will 

 be drawn from the field of endeavor to 

 the army and navy, so those who do 

 not go should make extra effort in the 

 way of productiveness as well as in 

 many other ways too numerous to men- 

 tion, so that everyone engaged in the 

 army and navy, and everyone at home 

 will be fully supplied in a comfortable 

 way with all the necessaries of life, 

 which can only be done properly and 

 economically by everyone doing his 

 share to the fullest extent. 



Spraying. — It is unanimously agreed 



that the profit in growing fruit depends 

 to a large extent upon the high per- 

 centage of Extra Fancy and Fancy. 

 This can only be secured by intelligent, 

 thorough and careful spraying with 

 the right materials at the proper time. 

 Those who have not looked info the 

 matter carefully and analyzed their 

 returns, perhaps do not realize how 

 much extra money the high percentage 

 of high grades means on the net re- 

 turns. The writer had occasion to look 

 over a crop of Newtowns that ran par- 

 ticularly high in grades, and was sur- 

 prised to find that, although the crop of 

 the district on the average was good 

 for Extra Fancy and Fancy, this par- 

 ticular fro]) was so good that it netted 

 the grower 12 cents more per box. But 

 if must be admitted that the other fel- 

 low's experience is not always quite 

 so good, as you know, therefore the 

 following suggestion: Take this year's 



