The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1910-07-28
SHIPPING APPLES
TO BE A TASK
UNION TO RUN PACKING SCHOOL
Growers Organization Preparing to
Handle Bulk of Crop Rae & Hatfield
Contract Two Orchards.

IN three mOnJnS from now when the
business of shipping the biggest Hood
River apple crop yet harvested is on
there will be considerable doing in the
valley of the Spitzenberg and New
town. In an interview, Manager G.
II. Sproat emphasized the fact that
the packing and shipping of the Hood
River crop this year would be a rather
big undertaking. He estimates that
there will be between 300, 900 and
400, 600 boxes, which means over 500
carloads to be handled.
1t was announced at the union office
Tuesday that there would be packing
school conducted by the union this
year, and Manager Sproat thinks that
there may be scarcity of packers to
handle the crop. The exact date for
the school has not yet been set, but it
is expected that it will be run for
two weeks, probably the last week in
August and the first week in Septem-
ber. All apple growers will be urged
to attend the school SO that they will
gain an insight into the packing
methods which have made Ethe Hood
River pack the standard of the world.
The union will need about l50
packers according to MIR. Sproat, and
while the basis of paying the packers
has not been definitely decided on, as
yet, .he says good packers will be able
to make $2.50 day and board
About SO per cent of the crop of the
valley fis represented by the member
ship of the union and while all of the
members Lhave not yet signed up their
crops it is expected that they will, and
the union officers will not make any
personal canvass among their members
for the crops. Manager Sproat is in
correspondence with number of
eastern buyers who will be in the mar
ket for all or part of the Union out
put. The buyers of certain varieties
say that they will only take apples
which are signed up for at the time of
the sale as they do not want large
surplus thrust upon them later. For
this reason Mr., Sproat says it is very
desirable for the growers to sign up as
soon as possible so that the officers of
the union will have definite lines to
work upon when the negotiations are
on with the buyers. 1t is possible that
the sale will be made as early as the
middle of August.
The union this year according to Mr..
Sproat, will PROBABLY not handle the
apples OF any growers who are not
members of the union. At present
only eight memberships of the union
remain open and when they are sold
the entire capital stock of the organ
ization will be subscribed and paid up.
The first two days of this week, five
memberships in the union were taken
and it is expected that all stock will
soon be sold. There are at present 900
shareholders and it will be necessary
for the members to take action increas-
ing the capitalization or providing for
membership with smaller blocks of
stock before more than the eight new
members may be taken.
The matter of to whom and for how
much the Hood River crop would be
sold this year is thing which is still
problematical and Manager Spr0at did
not care to say anything at this time
concerning the sale. AS the crop this
year is larger than ever before, it is
probable that one firm will not buy
the whole output as has been the case
in some other seasons, and the chances
are that some of the apples will go TO
Chicago and other cities in this country
as well as to New York where nearly
the whole crop has gone in the past.
Steinhardt 4 Kelley, of New York,
who last year bought the Hood River
apples have not yet had man in the
field here, but as they have specialized
Hood River apples during the past
two years it is pretty sure they will
be on hand. 1t is probable that the
Gibson Fruit company, of Chicago,
which handled the carload of prize
apples after they were exhibited at the
Land Show last December, will be
buyers of Hood River apples this
| season.
George Rae, of the firm of Rae a.
Hatfield, in New York, was here
several days last week and in speaking
of the significance of his visit Mr..
Sproat said: "Mr, Rae met with
the members of the board of directors
of the union and gave them pleasant
and profitable talk Saturday. Mr..
Rae's conversation is always very in
teresting because Of his strong person
ality. He has handled Hood River
apples more or less for the past six
years and he stated to the directors of
that this year he would handle the
crops Of Sears g. Porter and August
Paasch as ther sales agent in New
York City. He is not buying apples
on his own account, but is handling
on commission,
A new box label design will be seen
on the Hood River apples this year and
the pastors which are now at the
Union Office are very artistic. The
diamond shaped mark Of the union Is
in the center of the label as last year
but the fruit designs are different.
Three labels will be used. There will
be Extra Fancy Spitzenbergs, "
Extra Fancy Newtown Pippins, " and
on the third label which will be placed
on the other varieties no name will be
placed, other than Hood River
Apples" which is the most important
feature of all the labels.
The Apple Growers Union is getting
ready to ship the pears which will
come on first, and Manager Sproat
says that, while he has not been able
to get a definite line on the pear
crop yet, there will probably be about
the same number of pears as last year
when eight carloads were shipped.
The union has made returns on the
strawberry crop during the past ten
days and Mr.. Sproat said that the
average price for all the crop shipped
through the Union was $2. l3. This is
regarded as a very good showing in
view of the obstacle with which Hood
River berries had to contend during
the past season in the way of an early
crop, poor transportation facilities and
some not weather met by berries in
transit.