BETTER FRUIT 



Pioneer Horticultural Journal of the Pacific Northwest 



Entered as second-class matter April 22, 1918, at the Postoffice at Portland, Oregon, under act 



of Congress of March 3, 1879 



^"OLUME XVI 



Portland, Oregon, July, 1921 



Number 1 



Fifteen Years With the Fruit Growers 



^ 



I HAT is the future of 

 the box fruit industry 

 in the Northwest? 

 Could one but look 

 ahead with prophetic 

 eye, and see what is in store for us, 

 he would be much sought after, for 

 this question is the paramount one 

 to all fruit growers. 



Man will suffer much, will bear 

 much, and will hold to the line 

 when ultimate success is guaran- 

 teed, but it takes a big man of 

 strong character to carry on in the 

 face of disappointment and uncer- 

 tainty. When good prices are 

 promised it is not hard to apply ev- 

 ery recommended spray, to culti- 

 vate and fertilize intensively, and 

 to thin adequately, all for the pro- 

 duction of fine and abundant fruit, 

 which will return big profits. But 

 the lean years. There's the rub. 

 There is a general let down after 

 one such, and when several follow 

 one another, planting of new or- 

 chards ceases and care of bearing 

 trees seems not worth while. Then 

 comes the real test of one's faith 

 in the future of one's chosen in- 

 dustry. 



All this you may say is far from 

 the subject of the title of this ar- 

 ticle, but the reverse is true, for the 

 past and future of any industry are 

 linked irrefutably. The future of 

 today is tomorrow's past. A short 

 resume of the past fifteen years, 

 practically the life of our North- 

 west box fruit industry, may be of 

 interest and profit in attempting to 

 draw therefrom conclusions as to 

 the future, which is the real con- 

 cern of us all. 



Many growers have pet theories 

 on co-operative selling and buying, 



By Charles I. Moody of BETTER FRUIT 



on independent shipping, on the 

 best way to assure proper distribu- 

 tion, and of course, how the sales 

 manager should have sold last 

 year's crop. 



Unfortunately very few growers 

 have any real comprehensive idea 

 of the ramifications surrounding 



ized for profit, and at the bottom of 

 the fall of practically all, has been 

 lack of confidence, not by any 

 means always justified, but rather 

 bred of ignorance of conditions on 

 the part of the members. Probably 

 the first growers' association was 

 the original Hood River Fruit 



Scene in typical apple packing-house showing four big, motor driven grading machines and 

 practical application of gravity conveyor. Thi« unit can turn out an average of 4000 boxes 

 a day easily. 



the disposition of several .million 

 boxes of fruit. This very ignor- 

 ance of selling and market con- 

 ditions (which too many association 

 heads seem to foster in their mem- 

 bers), is the rock-bound coast upon 

 which the staunchest co-operative 

 craft have come to grief. 



During the past fifteen years 

 there have risen and fallen dozens 

 of marketing organizations 

 throughout the Northwest, some 

 purely co-operative, some organ- 



Growers' Union, purely co-oper- 

 ative, formed about 1892 to handle 

 only strawberries. 



Since then, and particularly 

 throughout the fifteen years just 

 past, there have sprung up a mul- 

 titude of marketing associations, 

 most of them for, of and by the 

 growers, with kaleidescopic reor- 

 ganizations of the same. 



The first car lot shipment of 

 packed and wrapped apples to leave 

 the Northwest was shipped by the 



