Page i8 



BETTER FRUIT 



HOOD RIVER, OREGON 



Official Organ of The Northwest Fruit Growers' Association 

 A Monthly Illustrated Magazine Published in the 

 Interest of Modern Fruit Growing and Mariieting 



All Communications Should Be Addressed and Remittances 

 Made Payable to 



Better Fruit Publishing Company 



E. H. SHEPARI), Editor and Publisher 



H. E. VAN DEMAN, Contributing Editor 



STATE ASSOCIATE EDITORS 



OREGON 



A. B. Cordley. Entomologist Corrallli 



C. I. Leivis. Horticulturist Corvallli 



P. J. O'Gara, Patiiologist and Entomologist Medford 



WASHINGTON 



A. L. Melinder, Entomologist Pullman 



O. M. Morris. Horticulturist Pullman 



COLORADO 



C. P. Gillette, Director and Entomologist Fort Collins 



K, B. House. Chief of Department of CiTil and Irrigation 



Engineering, State Agricultural College Fort ColUni 



E. P. Taylor. Horticulturist Grand Junction 



IDAHO 



W. H. Wiclts. Horticulturist Moscow 



W. S. Thornber. Horticulturist Lewiston 



UTAH 



Dr. E. D. Ball. Director and Entomologist Logan 



Leon D. Batchelor, Horticulturist Logan 



MONTANA 



O. B. Whipple. Horticulturist Bozeraan 



CALIFORNIA 



C. W. Woodworth. Entomologist Berkeley 



W. H. Volck. Entomologist Watsonyllle 



BRITISH COLUMBIA 

 R. M. Winslow. Prorincial 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 



Entei«d aa second-class matter December 27. 1906, at the 



Postofflce at Hood River, tiregon. under Act 



of Congress of March 3, 1879- 



California State Fruitgrowers' 

 Convention 



By E, H, Shepard. 



THIS convention \va.s held at Davis, 

 California, June 1st to 6th, and was 

 the largest and most enthusiastic con- 

 vention of fruitgrowers I have ever 

 attended. It was held on the Experi- 

 ment Station Farm at Davis, consisting 

 of 720 acres, which is operated in con- 

 nection witli the University of Cali- 

 fornia. Ahout 200 students are taking 

 courses at the Experiment Farm and 

 arc engaged in practical work of gen- 

 eral farming of all kinds, that is, the 

 students attend the courses and do the 

 actual work on the farm, and conse- 

 quently get hoth the scientific and 

 practical side of the work at tlie same 

 time. The program was arranged Ijy 

 Professor A. J. Cooke, State Horticul- 

 tural Commissioner of the State of 

 California. The arrangement of the 

 program and the place of meeting was 

 original and new. Every other fruit 

 convention I have attended has been 

 a continued scries of lectures all in one 

 room, covering a period of three days 

 or less. This meeting lasted a week. 

 At every hour in the day there were 

 seven lectures, addresses or talks being 

 given on different subjects, so that 

 every fruitgrower could pick out the 

 particular subjects in which he was 

 most interested. 



.•\inong the principal kinds of fruit 

 that were covered were prunes, 

 peaches, apples, plums, pears, cherries, 

 grapes, oranges, lemons and olives. 

 However, addresses were delivered in 

 reference to the production of every 

 kind of fruit that is grown in the State 

 of California. In addition to this there 

 were splendid addresses on the differ- 



BETTER FRUIT 



ent problems connected with the 

 orchard business, such as control of 

 the codling moth, aphis, red spider, 

 San Jose scale and other insects and 

 I)ests. A series of addresses were also 

 given on pathological troubles and also 

 a series of lectures on other important 

 matters in connection with the fruit 

 industry, such as pollination, cultiva- 

 tion, pruning, spraying, inter-cropping, 

 wine making, grape culture, fertiliza- 

 tion, co-operative farm credits, frost 

 damage, decay of fruit in storage and 

 in transit and other subjects too nu- 

 merous to mention. 



The plan of holding the convention 

 at the Experimental Farm was cer- 

 tainly a success and I believe it would 

 be an excellent idea if state horticul- 

 tural conventions could be held at agri- 

 cultural colleges during the vacation 

 periods in the summer or winter. The 

 agricultural colleges furnish just the 

 kind of opportunity that is needed. 

 The various class or lecture rooms 

 could be used for addresses and dis- 

 cussions on different topics, so the 

 prune grower would not be compelled 

 to listen to the talks on apples, in 

 which he is not interested. Such an 

 arrangement would overcome what to 

 me seems the most objectionable fea- 

 ture in the usual arrangement of pro- 

 grams. It would enable the grower to 

 select the subject in which he was 

 most interested and at the same time 

 during every minute of attendance en- 

 able him to listen to the subjects or 

 discussions on matters of practical 

 value instead of compelling him to 

 listen to a discussion on some kind of 

 fruit or some matter in which he was 

 not interested. There is nothing that 

 ii'akes a grower tired more quickly 

 than to listen to a long address on 

 something in which he has no particu- 

 lar interest while waiting to hear some- 

 thing else. _ 



The California idea of having a re- 

 cess of one-half hour in the morning 

 antl afternoon gave growers a splendid 

 opportunity for perhaps what is one of 

 the most ini|)ortant parts of the meet- 

 ing, — the individual discussions with 

 each other about their own practical 

 experiences. .\ part of the afternoon 

 coulil be devoted to some general sub- 

 ject in the auditorium in which i)racti- 

 cally all fruitgrowers would be inter- 

 ested, such as an address on the mar- 

 keting problem, association work or 

 co-operation and financing. The even- 

 ing addresses could be broader and 



July 



consist of a general course of lectures, 

 and could be made entertaining and in- 

 teresting for the general public as well 

 by having stereoptican lectures on sub- 

 jects that would be instructive and in- 

 teresting to all ])eople engaged in farm- 

 ing or living in the country. Such sub- 

 jects as good roads, rural life, country 

 schools, farm credits, etc., could be 

 discussed. 



The ideas I have suggested in this 

 article are not at all original on my 

 part, but are the ideas as carried out 

 in the California Fruitgrowers' Con- 

 vention, which was most successful and 

 the largest that has ever been held in 

 that state. Over 1,000 fruitgrowers at- 

 tended this meeting, although it was 

 held at a time when many were en- 

 gaged in harvesting strawberries, cher- 

 ries, apricots and peaches. 



California is a very large state, in 

 fact so large you could place New 

 York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maine, Ver- 

 mont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, 

 Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware 

 and New Jersey on the map of Califor- 

 nia and still have space left. The state 

 is very long, being about 800 miles in 

 length, so therefore the summer meet- 

 ing is generally held in the northern 

 part of the state and the winter meet- 

 ing in the southern part of the state. 

 The idea of holding the convention at 

 the Experimental Farm, as I have al- 

 ready said, was very practical because, 

 being vacation time, the dormitories 

 were used for guests and bed or room 

 could be secured for fifty cents to one 

 dollar. The large dining room was 

 used and as good a meal as anybody 

 could wish was served for 35 cents. 

 The matter of expense is quite an item 

 with the fruitgrower in attending meet- 

 ings of this kind, and by holding such 

 a meeting at the colleges the expense 

 while in attendance could be made very 

 much less than in a large city, where 

 fruitgrowers would be compelled to 

 board at a hotel, which would cost con- 

 siderably more. 



In all of our agricultural colleges 

 there are very excellent exhibits and 

 collections of all the different insects, 

 pests and diseases, showing their life 

 history. Arrangements could be made 

 for an hour a day in each of these 

 rooms, in which a number of the pro- 

 fessors, assistants and instructors could 

 assemble to explain and instruct the 

 fruitgrower. This is among the most 

 important reasons for suggesting that 

 fruitgrowers' meetings be held at agri- 



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