September, 1920 



BETTER FRUIT 



Page 25 



IDAHO. 



H. A. Lyon, director of the Bureau of Mar- 

 kets, has issued a statement in regard to 

 Idaho's fruit crop prospects, in which he says: 



"Idaho anticipates a bounteous harvest this 

 season and if prices remain good, farmers of 

 the Gem state are bound to be prosperous, as 

 an excellent crop from the field and the or- 

 chard is the present outlook. 



"For the first time, the true orchard acreage 

 of the state is known and files of the Idaho 

 Department of Agriculture give a description 

 as to acreage and varieties of every orchard. 

 These recods show 20,759 acres of apples, 3,962 

 acres of Italian prunes, 308 acres of cherries, 

 ISO acres of peaches, 50 acres of apricots, and 

 284 acres of pears, or a total of 31,848 acres. 

 With such records as a guide, it has been 

 possible to make a worth-while estimate of 

 production from the visitation and reports of 

 22 horticultural inspectors. 



"The detailed estimate shows 4,769 cars of 

 apples, 1,818 cars of prunes, 64 cars of cher- 

 ries, and 5 cars of pears, with peaches a 

 minus quantity, because of severe winter kill- 

 ing. However, when deductions are made for 

 home orchards and home consumption, it ap- 

 pears that Idaho will ship about 4,000 cars of 

 apples, or approximately the same amount as 

 last year. In 1919, the Boise valley had a 

 small crop, while the Payette section, includ- 



ing Fruitland, had plenty of apples, but this 

 year the tables are turned about and the Boise 

 valley has a bumper crop of both apples and 

 prunes, with an estimate of somewhere near 

 800 cars of apples and 1,000 cars of prunes. 



"Nineteen twenty has seen the Bureau of 

 Plant Industry putting over as good a cam- 

 paign against orchard pests and diseases as 

 any state can boast of, and it is expected that 

 the four or five hundred cars of culls of 1919 

 will be reduced to less than 100 cars for the 

 present season. Through the efforts of the 

 State Department of Agriculture in its rigid 

 inspection of shipments, as well as orchards, 

 fruit growers have come to a realization that 

 thoroughness and caution are essential if fruit 

 growing is to be profitable. 



"Few states, if any, have as extensive and 

 efficient a system of grading as does Idaho 

 and fruit growers as well as farmers in gen- 

 eral are rapidly coming to a real appreciation 

 of the superior prices which come from the 

 production and sale of products of real 

 quality." 



The harvesting of early apples has com- 

 menced at Lewiston, Idaho. For the first time 

 in several years a considerable part of the 

 crop will be labeled "hail-marked," as the 

 western section of Lewiston orchards was hit 

 by a severe hail storm several weeks ago. 



j. 



i,ui). 



Apple Exporters 



Headquarters in United States 



60 State Street 



Boston, Massachusetts 



The Largest Handlers of American Apples 

 in English Markets 



You can send your apples direct from the 

 United States into the industrial centers 

 of England. The same organization (J. 

 & H. Goodwin, Ltd., throughout) which 

 ships your fruit from the U. S. A., sells 

 and distributes in London, Liverpool, 

 Manchester and Hull, and on the Euro- 

 pean Continent. 



This means quick handling, considerable 

 economies and the fruit being sold in the 

 freshest possible condition, which means 

 greater returns. 



For dependable export information write 

 or wire us at 60 State St., Boston, Mass. 

 or 97 Warren St. , New York City. 



With the cherry crop in the Lewiston, Idaho, 

 district at about half its normal output, it is 

 estimated that the tonnage from the valley 

 reached 90 carloads this year, including the 

 cannery pack. Sixty-two carloads were shipped 

 out by the American Express Company, and 

 the Oregon Packing Company says it canned 

 100 tons of the Clarkston cherries alone. The 

 shipment of cherries in barrels was an im- 

 portant item at Lewiston this year. Approxi- 

 mately 500 barrels of 250 pounds each, or a 

 total of 125,000 pounds, in from seven to 

 eight carloads, were shipped by Bailey and 

 Wicks of this place to the Puyallup Fruit 

 Growers' Association, at Puyallup. These were 

 all of the Royal Anne variety. 



Contracts have been made at Latah, Idaho, 

 at if 60 a ton bulk for pears, the growers pick- 

 ing the pears in boxes furnished by the can- 

 nery and delivering them to the railroad. 



What They Are Doing In 

 California 



The California apple crop is estimated this 

 year at .1,500,000 boxes, as compared to about 

 5,000,000 boxes last year. 



According to a statement from the California 

 Peach Growers' Association, the opening prices 

 on dried peaches for 1920 should net growers 

 17 cents a pound as against slightly less than 

 15 cents a pound in 1919. 



The prune crop in Butte county, California, 

 is said to be exceptional this year in that 80 

 per cent of the crop is averaging 50s in size. 

 A heavy percentage of the crop will run to 

 30s and 40s, it is predicted. 



Another dehydrating plant, which will be 

 erected at Paso Robles, it is believed, will 

 adequately take care of all the fruit and 

 vegetable tonnage in that district. With the 

 building of the new plant, Paso Robles will 

 have three drying plants. 



In the San Luis Obispo district one firm 

 has placed an order for 30,000 almond trees to 

 be planted this fall, and it is stated that there 

 is a probability of the planting of 1,000,000 

 almond trees in this county this season. A 

 large cannery is also in prospect in this dis- 

 trict to take care of a prospective planting of 

 1,000 acres of tomatoes. 



The chambers of commerce in many of the 

 districts in California have started a campaign 

 to insure labor for harvesting fruit and have 

 very materially assisted ranches in getting the 

 needed help during the fruit season. 



Prices for the 1920 prune crop which were 

 recently announced by the board of directors 

 of the California Prune and Apricot Growers, 

 Inc., assure the prune growers who are mem- 

 bers of the association another golden harvest 

 equal in value to the record-breaking one of 

 last year, according to a statement just issued 

 by the association. The prices named are 

 three cents a pound higher than last year's 

 prices on 20-30's, from a cent to a cent and a 

 half higher on the next thee sizes, the same 

 price as last year for 60-70's and slightly 

 lower on the smaller and less desirable sizes. 

 On sizes from 20-30's to 60-70's inclusive, 

 which usually comprise about 73 per cent of 

 the crop, the average price for this year's 

 crop is one and a third cents a pound above 

 the price the growers received for these sizes 

 last year. The prices announced for 1920 crop 

 of prunes are: Sunsweet quality, 20-30's, 25 

 cents a pound fiat; 30-40's, 17 cents bulk 

 basis; 40-50's, 15>/i cents bulk basis; 50-60's, 

 13 cents bulk basis; 60-70's, 11% cents bulk 

 basis; 70-80's, 10% cents bulk basis; 80-90's, 

 9V> cents bulk basis; 90-100's, 9% cents bulk 

 basis. Growers' Quality was set a half a cent 

 a pound less than Sunsweet. 



Bits About Fruit, Fruitmen 

 and Fruitgrowing 



There were 10,200.899 pounds of shelled 

 walnuts, valued at $5,317,276, imported into 

 the United States during the calendar year 

 1919. The greater amount of these walnuts 

 were imported from France. 



According to reports from the eastern barrel 

 apple-raising districts there is a gain of nearly 

 1,000,000 barrels of apples over the crop of 

 hist year. The information is also forthcom- 

 ing that barreled stock will be more care- 

 fully guarded this year than formerly. This 

 is said to be particularly line in the eastern 

 states, where the competition between box and 

 barreled fruit is the keenest. 



Notwithstanding the fact that attention has 

 been repeatedly called t<> tin- fart that it is 

 necessary to take extra care hi preparing box 

 apples lor export, the t nlted States Bureau 

 of Markets is again warning shippers to se- 

 lect the strongest boxes for the export trade 

 and to have them secured with iron straps. 



BETTER FRUIT 



