The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1910-11-09
100 WOMEN
AND GIRLS AS
PACKERS
Free Packing School at Third APP
pie Show Will Show Entry of
Feminine Sex Into This In
dustry.

<NlllOllS tIiC SOOlu0HlS DIT Jtle Tree
packing school in connection with the
Third National Apple show the week
of November IA, will be not less than
100 women and girls from the neigh
boring orchard districts in eastern
Washington and northern Idaho, and
at least IS from western Montana and
other parts of the Inland Empire
Rem Fl. Rice, secretary and manager
five young Chicago women, who will
be in Spokane at that time, are plan
ming to prepare themselves to follow
the circuit in the northwestern and
Pacific states as packers of apples
and other fruits.
"a. p. Bateham and j. M. Carroll
of Mosier, Ore, who will have charge
of the school, are expert packers u
said Secretary Rice, land they ex.
pect to handle between $50 and 500
students during the week. There will
be accommodations for IS at each
session according to the present ar
engagements and we are now planning
for more room to teach those who
have expressed a desire to take the
course.
I'VE are not surprised in the least
over the large number of prospective
pupils from this part of the country
as it would be difficult to find more
pleasant work at better pay than will
be offered to Spokane women when
the many orchards in the vicinity OF
this city come into bearing neXt
year.
Experts say that a good apple an6
pear packer ought to average S4 q
day, while on other fruits the aver.
age is from 50 to $3.50. The harvest
season covers about 100 days. After
that, of course, there is as much more
work in the warehouses; So far the
demand for experienced packers il
far below the supply and the time i.
not far off when this will be recog
nized as profess onal work.
AT present the sole objection tc
fruit packing as a profession is tina
it furnishes work only part of thu
year in any district. That is true
but for women and girls who are no
W
desire to earn money for dresses, va
cation trips and the many other in
cidentals that count when papa foot
the bills, it is ideal employment
What is more, it is possible to make
it paying business the entire veal
by travelling the fruit circuit.
THE seasons for fruits in Wash
ington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana
vary from three to five weeks while
after the harvesting and packing
periods in the northwest 1t is pos.
sible to do the quick-ripening fruits
in California before the apple sea
son opens in Washington and then
return for the orange and lemon sea-
sons. Thus they have a change OF
climate and scene and work, all the
while receiving good pay. Ray Pad
dock, manager of the Horticultural
union at North Yakima, says that
two California packers went to that
city last year to learn apple packing
and returned home for the citrus sea-
son. They are earning more than
$3.50 a year"
There are many good packers in
central Washington and among them
is Hazel Gerber, who is now cashier
in a store at North Yakima. By
working a little overtime one day last
year Miss Gerber packed 100 boxes
of pears and earned SIS, the record in
the Yakima valley. To pack 100
boxes in a day, or even 80 means not
single false movement, not the
slightest waste of energy and prac-
tically infallible judgment in the mat
ter of size and perfection of the in
diVidual fruits. 1t is a sight worth
going miles to see to watch the pack
ers at work, the right hand picking
up the square of paper in which the
fruit is wrapped, the left taking the
apple from the box or heap. the
wrapping and the slowing away in
the shipping box, a blending of sew
eral movements in one.
Commercial apples are graded ac-
cOrding to size and to do the work
we'll requires judgment and precision
on the part of the packer. The aver
age apple run from GA to 1SS to the
box, though some of the giants have
been packed SO and As apples to 8
box. A packer is not infrequentg
packing into three boxes at once,
ana it is a trick not to get mixed
and put first grade apples into a Sec
ond grade box Packing the smaller
fruits is comparatively easy. Experts
say that if a woman cannot learn to
mack cherries DruneS and reaches in
a day, she will never learn. But with
apples the packers require a more
pIaCtised hand.