200 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



lantic seaboard, although a portion of them is sent to 

 the markets of the middle west. Recently a consid- 

 erable consignment of this fruit was sent to the Eng- 

 lish market and sold by auction in Liverpool, at an 

 average of 14 cents per pine. This particular ship- 

 ment consisted almost wholly of small sized fruit, and 

 the prices obtained were regarded as quite satisfac- 

 tory, the freight charge being but about 1 cent each. 

 Growers along the Indian river have suffered some 

 loss the present year from excessive drouth, which 

 has generally reduced the size of the fruit, though it 

 is alleged that the fruit has reached market in better 

 condition than usual. Evidently the Florida pine 

 growers should provide themselves with irrigating 

 facilities, and thus become masters of the situation so 

 far as needed moisture is concerned. '1 here is an 

 abundance of water near the surface in all that re- 

 gion, and to bring it to the surface and apply it to the 

 pineapple plantations is but the work of a short time 

 and the expenditure of a small sum. 



Honesty in Fruit Packing. It has been 

 alleged that a good fruit grader, which can be pur- 

 chased at a comparatively small cost, is a better pro- 

 moter of honesty in fruit packing than a copy of the 

 new testafrient. Be that as it may, a proper grading 

 of fruit before packing for market is not only condu- 

 cive to honesty, but helps the sale in almost every 

 case. It must be confessed that buyers are nearly 

 always suspicious that the fine looking fruit in plain 

 view on the top of the package is not fairly represen- 

 tative of the entire contents. But it may be asked, 

 what has aroused this suspicion and almost universal 

 distrust of fruit packages exposed for sale in every 

 market? Only one answer is possible. It is the too 

 prevalent custom of putting fruits of various sizes 

 and conditions in the packages and then facing them 

 with choice specimens of uniform size and quality. 

 This is certainly deception if not strictly dishonesty. 

 The seller does not necessarily proclaim the uni- 

 formity of the package from top to bottom, to be sure, 

 but the outside layer invites purchases which a fair 

 representation of the contents could not attract. It 

 is customary for farmers and fruit growers quite 

 generally to condemn the habits of dealers, and cer- 

 tainly their condemnation is very often warranted. 

 But the fruit grower or farmer who puts the best 

 goods on the top of the package is equally open to 

 criticism. As an aid, therefore, to honesty as well as 

 to the best returns for farm products, they should be 

 carefullv graded before offering in the market. 

 Every fruit grower should have a proper grader 

 through which his fruit should be put before packing. 

 While such grading must relate mainly to size, yet, 

 when properly sized, hand-grading for quality may 

 be done far more easily and cheaply. Thus every 

 grower should sell his products in strict accordance 

 with honest business methods; not only for the sake 

 of the honesty of it, but also for the profit which is 

 sure to follow. A grower adopting such practice and 

 not pretending that his produce is all first grade, but 

 selling it by its honest grade according to merit, will 

 not only gain but deserve the confidence of the con- 

 suming public and will inevitably profit thereby. We 

 are prone to denounce the "wheat gamblers" on the 

 produce exchanges, and they sometimes deserve stric- 

 tures, but the man who should sell goods habitually 

 which are not " up to sample" in quality would not 

 be allowed to do Business in any exchange in this 

 country. And this is right. The man who puts the 



best berries or other fruits on top and demands a top 

 price on that account should be passed by. Prices 

 should be regulated by size and quality alone, and 

 it should be made a criminal offense to offer fruit 

 for sale whose visible parts grossly misrepresent the 

 contents of the packages. 



Trees on the Plains. The treeless condition 

 of the Great Plains country, between the Rocky 

 Mountains and Missouri river, has been whimsically 

 explained by some as due to the fine and peculiar 

 texture of the soil, which is alleged to be unfavorable 

 to tree growth. The fact that the islands in the Ar- 

 kansas and other rivers of the region were found by 

 the earliest settlers covered by a dense growth of 

 trees, and that nooks along the banks which were 

 protected from sweeping fires by high banks or 

 "breaks" also held many fine trees, shows conclu- 

 sively that the river bottoms at least would grow 

 timber if protected from the ravages of fire. On the 

 uplands, except in a few spots where water is 

 held near the surface, trees cannot grow to any con- 

 siderable size without irrigation, because there is not 

 sufficient moisture to a large arboraceous growth ; but 

 where water is abundantly .supplied, experience has 

 shown that trees do remarkably well. The texture of 

 the soil offers no impediment. 



Growing Apricots is occupying a good deal of 

 attention in the Pacific section. A. M. Cambridge, of 

 Kern county, sold on the tree his this season's crop 

 of apricots, from three-year-old trees, at prices which 

 netted him about $150.00 per acre. It is not claimed 

 that very large orchards will do so well on the aver- 

 age, but that apricot culture will well repay care, 

 attention and cultivation. 



Profit from Peaches. The Visalia Fruit and 

 Land Company, of Fresno county, California, sold on 

 the trees this season, peaches which brought them 

 $13,000. This was the crop from 4,800 three-year-old 

 trees and 3,800 two-year-olds. The land upon which 

 these peaches were grown was bought three years 

 ago last spring at $100 per acre. 



Celery. Experiments have demonstrated that 

 celery is a crop which can be most successfully 

 grown by irrigation. Not only is a fine growth and 

 excellent quality of celery produced by plentiful and 

 judicious irrigation, but the crop is almost wholly 

 free from blight. The plants should be set so that 

 the soil about them may be kept at all times 

 thoroughly moist. 



Felling Trees by Electricity. Trees are 



felled by electricity in the great forests of Galicia. 

 For cutting comparatively soft woods the tool is in 

 the form of an auger, which is mounted on a carriage 

 and is moved to and fro and revolved at the same 

 time by a small electric motor. As the cut deepens, 

 wedges are inserted to prevent the rift from closing, 

 and when the tree is nearly cut through, an ax or 

 handsaw is used to finish the work. In this way trees 

 are felled very rapidly, and with but little labor. 



California fruit growers shipped strawberries the 

 past season north into Washington and Victoria and 

 to the Eastern States, and it is proposed to eularge 

 upon this branch of industry hereafter. 



