FRUIT NOTES - July, 1941 



W. H. Thies 

 Extension Horticulturist 



Arkansas Pic ka Mi chigan Strawberries 



On a recent trip to ilichigan I visited the large fruit farm of 

 Stanley and Glenn Geisler at l.'atervliet, Michigan, Besides peaches and apples 

 these brothers have twenty acres of strav.'berries. Vv'ith so many strav/terries 

 hand labor is avoided as much as possible but picking, of course, still has 

 to be done by hand. 



Last spring the labor situation looked rt.thcr desperate and the 

 Geislers wondered ho\'i'^ they would ever get twenty acres of strawberries picked. 

 But as the picking season drew near, the pickers began to roll in, whole 

 families of them. They csme in jalopies, in trucks, and in cars. They 

 pitched their tents, parked their trailers, or cccupiod \-arious temporary 

 shelters. Pickers viere plentiful and things looked brighter. 



These pickers are an interesting group 7;hose home is Arkansas. They 

 start with the crop in Louisiana and move north as the crop moves north. One 

 family had an old Model T Ford -.vith no radiator cap and the steam poured out 

 like a steam engine. Oth'^rs had the letcst model cars pulling expensive look- 

 ing up-to-date trailers, 



Anoth>-r interesting feature of the Geisler' s strawberry business 

 is their irrigation system. They have ai: eighty foot well with a deep well 

 pvimp driven by a Buick motor. The water is carried to the fields in light, 

 four-inch sectional steel pipes and distributed by a sprinkler system at the 

 rato of about 150 gallons pr,r minute. I\ii irrigation the first of June saved 

 their crop this year. J. S. Bailey 



The Far m Labor Situ ation 



The bimonthly survey of i;he farm labor situation in Massachusetts 

 has Just been completed. One hundred and sixty-three farmers in all parts of 

 the State cooperated in this survey. The farm labor situation has become more 

 stri6us since the first of April. A larger percentage of farmers lost workers 

 during April and May and v.'agcs per month v;ere about ^2.39 higher than they 

 were on the first of April. 



A considerably larger percentage of farmers report that they were 

 not able to replace workers that ^vero lor.t. Mtuay of those v'ho report that they 

 were able to replace the workers who were lost, can do so only v/ith inexper- 

 ienced help and in some cases only v.dth loj's. Many of the farmers report 

 that they cannot get the necessary sei.scnal cr day labor this year. 



Of the farm workers viho were lo.st during April and May, 115 v/ent to 

 jobs in industry, 12 were taken by the /nilitary service and 33 "went to work 

 on other farms. Of the 900 men employed on these farms at present, 149 are 

 of military age and may be subject to military service. It is encouraging 

 to note that only 12 men were taken by the military servico during these two 

 months. This is tangible evidence of the excellent cooperation of the Selective 

 Service Boards v/ith the farmers in these difficult times. 



