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Page Eight 



BETTER FRUIT 



Homesteaders in the Fruit Game 



By Flora A. Morgenskn 



Mosier, Oregon 



SOMETHING like 20 years ago my 

 husband and 1 found it necessary to 

 move to Hood River for the summer. We 

 moved there in March and were there dur- 

 ing the strawberry season, staying through 

 the long bright summer and until the rosy 

 cheeked apples were harvested. 



Hood River was then famous for its 

 strawberries as it now is for its apples. 

 During the summer my husband, in these 

 surroundings, became enthused over fruit. 

 growing. While on a business trip into the 

 big wheat country, 100 miles further out, 

 he discussed the possibilities of growing 

 fruit for local consumption, somewhere in 

 the wheat belt. 



"It can't be done," the wheat men said, 

 "and, besides, wheat growers don't buy 

 fruit." 



"It can be done and I will show you," 

 said my husband. 



The result was that before he returned 

 that boy husband of mine had filed on 

 160 acres of land in the edge of the wheat 

 belt, intending to show the wheat men that 

 he could grow and market fruit among 

 them at a profit. I was aghast. Neither 

 of us knew anything about farm life and 

 had certainly not included it in our plans 

 for the future. 



I had in my possession, however, a copy 

 of an excellent farm journal and there 

 were also in the house we were renting 

 piles of back numbers of several fruit 

 growers' magazines. Of these I selected 

 copies of Better Fruit and one other stand- 

 ard magazine, for which we subscribed, 

 and early in November of that year we 

 moved out on our homestead, with youth, 

 inexperience and determination as our 

 chief assets. 



We decided to build slowly, but well, 

 and the house was ready to occupy early in 

 December. A level place was then cleared 

 and set to strawberries. Next a large 

 garden spot was cleared, as we would de- 

 pend largely on the sale of vegetables the 

 first year. Then, as land could be cleared, 

 it was set to raspberries, blackberries, logan- 

 berries, currants, gooseberries, etc. These 

 are early bearers and would be furnishing 

 us with cash, we figured, while we were 

 waiting for the orchard to begin bearing. 

 The orchard we set out as rapidly as pos- 

 sible. 



WE WERE pioneers in the fruit in- 

 dustry. Experience was our teacher 

 so we tried out varieties very carefully, 

 selecting those best suited to our location 

 and market. We planted largely peach, 

 pear, cherry, and apple trees, with a good 

 sprinkling of plums, prunes and apricots. 

 Our location seemed especially suited for 



grapes, so one hillside was set to early and 

 late varieties, while row on row of bee- 

 hives were added with excellent results. 



The second year we had to begin hiring 

 help to handle our berry crop. Our pack- 

 ages were standard and up-to-date. We 

 succeeded in finding not only a market 

 locally, but our business circle widened 

 each season. At times we were fairly 

 mobbed by patrons. Some year's crops 

 were engaged practically a year in advance. 

 We could not supply the demand. 



Products of our vines and trees were 

 winning blue ribbons at all the fairs in the 

 country, and our farm was known for a 

 good many miles around by its well- 

 selected name. Of course we had ups and 

 downs, for this is no fanciful sketch, but 

 as one after another of our neighbors made 

 final proof on their homesteads, in order 

 to borrow money to support their families, 

 we were making improvements, building 

 our home and something more than sup- 

 porting ourselves, in the little sheltered 

 valley at the foot of the wheat fields. 



The love of nature and of making 

 beautiful things grow is eternal in the 

 hearts of some, and we are still in the 

 game — back in the land of the big red 

 apples, which go to the markets of the 

 world. And we have found it a good game. 



January, 192^ 



plant is a dormitory, called Skookum hall, 

 with dining room in connection, where 

 125 or more employes usually take their 

 meals. The dormitory provides accommo- 

 dations for 160 single employes. In addi- 

 tion there is an apartment building, where 

 25 married couples may live and keep 

 house. 



Model Packing Plant 



WHAT is credited with being one of 

 the largest and most efficient packing 

 and storage plants in the world is that of 

 the Pehastln Fruit Growers' Association, at 

 Pehastin, Wash., a unit of the Skookum 

 Packers' Association. 



The plant is electrically equipped. Nine 

 electrically operated graders were in opera- 

 tion when packing was in full swing. 

 Conveyors run by electricity carry the 

 apples from the receiving platforms to the 

 storage rooms and other conveyors trans- 

 port them out to the graders. After the 

 apples are packed they are similarly carried 

 to the storage rooms again, or to the load- 

 ing platform if destined for immediate 

 shipment. 



During the busy season the plant em- 

 ployed a force of 225 persons and easily 

 handled 7500 boxes, or 10 carloads of 

 apples in a 10-hour day. There are two 

 distinct units to the plant, one devoted to 

 packing and common storage and the other 

 to cold storage and the grading department. 

 The financing, planning and construction 

 of this model plant is credited largely to 

 the efforts of J. A. Warman, who was 

 manager of the association until elected 

 president of the Skookum Packers' Associa- 

 tion. 



One other valuable feature of the big 



New Walnut Markets 



RESULTS of this season's work in 

 marketing walnuts offer a most prom- 

 ising outlook to the Northwest grower. 

 Early in the season the Oregon growers met 

 and decided to use standard grades in 

 handling the crop, and for the first time 

 Oregon walnuts have been put on the 

 market in large quantities under uniform 

 grading rules. 



Prices were opened at the same time the 

 California growers named prices, but at a 

 two cent advance over California prices on 

 the best grades and a cent on the lower 

 grades. Practically the entire tonnage was 

 sold within a week, with buyers still 

 clamoring for more. Though the volume 

 of this year's crop was not larger than to 

 supply the immediate Oregon demand, the 

 Oregon Growers' Association — with the 

 intent of feeling out new markets for 

 future sales — sent samples of the nuts to 

 representatives in the east and in England. 



The returns from these samples give a 

 most encouraging outlook to the walnut 

 growers. A New York representative to 

 whom samples were sent said that the nuts 

 were of the finest quality he had ever seen 

 and that he could use six cars of them if 

 they could be supplied. Other brokers 

 asked for lots of one and two cars. A mid- 

 dle west man, in order to be sure that he 

 will get some of the Oregon Mistland nuts, 

 has already put in his order for a car of 

 the 1922 crop. 



English representatives are desirous of 

 securing a substantial tonnage, preferring 

 the Oregon Franquettes to those which 

 they obtain in France on account of the 

 high quality of the grade and pack. 



Standardized grading is one of the most 

 important factors in the marketing of the 

 product and, though this season's crop was 

 easy to dispose of, the association is laying 

 plans which will aid in marketing a larger 

 crop in competition with other large pro- 

 ducing centers which furnish nuts to the 

 same markets. 



An ordinary cream separator may be used 

 to clarify apple cider on the farm, experts 

 have disclosed. The separator may clog up 

 a bit, but need only be cleaned out occas- 

 sionally to insure a clear product. 



AAA 



Of 75 3 eastern farmers who replied to 

 a request of the Department of Agriculture 

 that they tell what they had found the 

 chief advantage in owning a motor truck, 

 91 per cent replied, "saving time." 



