El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-12-10

, Every tree in the orchard should be
properly gone over at least once year.
1t should not be allowed to grow too
close, thereby shutting out all the sun,
which is a requisite in coloring and
ripening the best fruit.
Gathering
Few people realize the importance of
gathering, not that they do not gather,
but that they are not particular as to
how they gather and what they gather.
1t is very necessary that every picker
know just how long il will be before
his fruit will be on the market, for
there is a chance of picking the fruit
either too ripe or too green. For this
reason much of the MesiIla valley fruit
does not top the market Many grow
ers do not know how to pick their
peaches. They go into the orchard and
pick as though they were blind, gath
ering green, ripe, large and small, as
though it made no difference, just so
it was a. peach. People do not realize
that difference of two or three days
in the picking of a peach will deter
mine whether it is salable or not. The
peach increases from a fourth to
third in size the last few days before
softening Another grave fault is that
the picker mashes every peach he
touches. thus making a bruise or black
spot on the fruit, which, if pulled off
and shipped, will cause a complaint
from the dealer. and if left on the tree
until later picking, will without doubt
be discarded by a careful packer. Do
not overlook the fruit grown in the
top of the tree. 1t receives the most
sun and is the first to ripen. Use a
ladder and get the best and ripest
peaches every picking. In this way a
full crop is harvested, while if picked
from the ground only the top fruit gets
overripe and drops. thereby causing
only a partial crop to be harvested.
Packing.
Packing is the most important phase
in the raising Of peaches. A neatly
packed box of small peaches will sell
for more than poorly packed box of
large ones. This has become an art
in itself and many fruit growers will
hire nothing but expert packers. The
peaches must be assorted so that all
the different sizes can be packed to-
gether; that is, do not put in bullets
with cannon balls. Soft ones should
not be put in with firm ones, as the
soft ones will soon be mashed, thereby
running the entire box Wrapping pa
per should be used, as it forms a cush
ion and will aid in absorbing moisture
that may happen to be in the box. 1t
also prevents them from gathering dust
or foreign material during transpor-
tation. Place the peaches in the par
eel one by one, don't throw them in
and think that any way is good enough.
Put them in so that they will fit tightly
and fill up the space; there is no dan
ger of getting in too many; your dealer
won't complain. instead. he will give
you more than if they were loose in
the box. Be sure that they are we'll
assorted and the undesirable ones lis
carded. A fancy price for half the
crop is better than poor price for all
the crop.
Use clean packages for packing. A
package discarded by a dealer is not
fit for reuse. Outward appearance
goes a long ways. A neat and clean
package filled with an inferior grade
will bring better price than a dirty
package filled with fancy fruit.
Marketing.
Marketing is very essential to the
grower. In former years the grower
was compelled to, be his own sales
man, but this is being overcome by the
appearance of commission men and the
formation of farmers associations.
This is an advantage to the grower.
as he has all he can do TO care for his
orchard properly In this locality a
farmers association is very necessary,
as the local markets are small and a
man must know just where and when
a nefghboring town needs fruit AS
yet very little fruit has been shipped
to eastern markets from this valley,
owing to the fact that it is not grown
in sufficient quantity. yet there is
enough grown TO almost flood the local
markets. This is a vital question and
should be looked into at once.
Why Few Succeed.
Few in this valley are making mon
ev ont Of peaches not because of any
fault of the valley, but because they
go at the business in a luberly way.
They are not familiar with the bust
ness. nor do they seem to care to be.
Modern methods are slow of adoption,
and yet we boast Of our fruit growers.