The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1909-12-16
TEN ACRES AND A
LIVING
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placed all over the orchard This sys-
tenn has only been used of late years
| but it has been so successful that
more orchards are being continually
fitted up with heaters and the frost
alarm system. Many thousands Of
dollars have been saved to the grow
ers by this combination of inventive
genius and midnight activity on the
part of the energetic horticultural
Professor Craig of Cornell univer-
sity while addressing group of
western fruit growers, cOmplimentei
them upon the fact that their Or
chards were comparatively free from
insect pests. In order to impress
upon them their enviable position, he
stated that the fruit growers of the
New England states spend annually
twenty per cent of the gross returns
from their orchards in fighting three
of the worst insect poets. But in the
northwest comparatively small
amount is spent in fighting the var
ious pests which infest the orchard.
Such a favorable condition would
not be possible without the most
hearty cooperation of the various
governments in providing large
force of inspectors who make reg
ular visits to all commercial orchards,
and in some localities. to orchards of
any kind British Columbia. with
scarcely more than one hundred thou
sand acres in orchard. has twenty-Six
inspectors, and partly because of this
very efficient inspection, and partly
because it is the newest, of the new
fruit growing districts of the west, it
is more free from insect pests than
any other section of North America.
Fruit Grower a Business Man.
Eternal vigilance is the price of
success in this, as in many other call
ings. The man who wins in modern
fruit culture is man of technical
knowledge in his line, and a special
ist as well. A prominent eastern
fruit grower, after having visited
some of the great fruit districts of
the northwest, and having noted the
large returns compared with those of
the less fortunate growers in the east,
expressed his opinion in language
something like this:
He said that in the east, the or
chard was more or less the adjunct
of the farm, while in the west it was
an occupation by itself AS a con-
sequence, given acreage received
good deal more attention in the west
that it did in the east The western
men were reaping the results of spe-
cializing. They were growing a quail
ity of fruit which could not be sur
passed anywhere and which was be-
markets of the world. The eastern
grower was right A specialist al
ways succeeds.
Packing, grading and marketing
are the greatest problems which
face the holder of ten-acre tract
He may grow the very finest quality
of fruit but if he does not under
stand how to pay it properly, to grade
it accurately. or market it to advan-
tage, his efforts are a failure
He overcOmes these obstacles by
practical cooperation. There is not
a valley or a district which is pro-
ducing fruit in comercial quantities
that has not its own cooperative fruit
association. It is an absolute neces-
sity. 1t packs, grades and sells the
fruit. In the larger centers cold stor-
age and cooling stations are erected.
No stone is left unturned to make
the organization as technically per-
feet as possible
The manager of the association is
busy man during the shipping sea-
son. He has to be a clever business
man as we'll as fight class fruit
man. During the period when the
shipments of small fruits are going
forward he must keep in constant
touch with the great consuming CEN
tiers by telegraph. If the day is cool
and cloudy, much less fruit will be
required to meet the requirements of
the trade, while If it is warm and
sunny the demand for fruit will be
unusually large. Some associations
spend as high as twenty-five dollars a
day in sending kilograms in order to
keep in touch with the changing mar
ket conditions. 1t is great deal
easier to keep their fruit in the cool
ing station for an extra day or so
than to have it in the hands of the
commission men at the other end.
In former years one of the great
est difficulties was in getting a suf-
ficient number of cars when needed.
This difficulty prevails to a very large
extent yet, but a recent law enacted