The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-11-27

homo consumption. The ole. time
farmers and villagers In Virginia and
North Carolina always had their or.
chards, and they grew apples and
peaches and cherries and plums and
all of the other fruits, but tho old
timers only used what they and their
families and their neighbors and
friends wanted to eat OF them when
they were In season and fresh, and
never dreamed OF making them mar
ketable products. The surplus went
to the hogs or to the rot pile.
Times have changed, and Virginia
producers have changed with them.
thank the Lord, and now the things
that grow on the trees in the orchards
and the vines In the vineyards and
the plants in tho strawberry patches
and on the briars of the blackberry
shrubs and the raspberry shrubs and
the other kinds OF shrubs are being
marketed and converted into cash.
real, sure enough, hard cash, that
counts in the bank, and these things
are making Old Virginia and all OF the
South greater and richer and largely
more noticeable in the industrial. the
commercial and financial records.
Then and Now.
/ am not an old man. not by q large
sight, but l can remember very well
when the average Virginia agricul-
turaltst thought 1t was beneath his
dignity to orer for sale anything on
the small order: that Is, anything
smaller than big hogsheads of tobacco
big carloads of corn and wheat, and
so long all down the line.
So when the folks commenced to
grow apples for sale. and at first the
old-time nabobs thought that was
something of condensation, they In
sisted upon doing the thing on a very
big scale. Wouldn't think of packing
the goods in anything smaller than a
car at first; then they got down to the
hogshead. and finally to the barrel,
but apples in hogsheads and carload
lots rotted en- route and sometimes
brought the shipper in dcbt-oftene,
so than otherwise
But that kind Of thing paid in
way. and paid very well in the long
run, for 1t was demonstrated that the
Virginia apples and other fruits were
superior to many others, and the grow.
ers Of these Virginia fruits got to In.
vestigating. Incidentally, the Indus.
trial Section got in little investiga.
ton of Its own, and the Industrial
that while the orchards of California
and Oregon and other far Western
sections did not and could not produce
apples near as good as the Virginia
winesaps and the Virginia pIppins,
somehow they sot better prices in tho
New York and European markets than
the Virginia fellows could get
What Was shown.
Persistent investigation proved that
1t was all in the packing. The Vir-
ginians We're packing In barrels and
In carload lots and in bags and in
any old way that was easy and did
not make much trouble. while the CAL
lfornia fellows and the Oregon fellows
paid a great deal more attention to
the matter of packing the fruit after
1T was made than they did to the
original making. Now the VirgIniau,
having already given superb atten-
ton to the matter of making. was
losing all OF his profits by indifference
70 the matter of packing for the mar
ket what he had made. Well, with the
help of the organizations Of fruit
growers in the. State and the much
preachments of the Industrial Section
OF The Times-Dispatch, the Virginia
uit-growers woke up. It was only
a year ago that they did wake up, but
they have accomplished wonders in
short twelve months.
The Shenandoah Valley Fruit Grow.
ers' Association was the first organi-
cation. so far as know, that heark-
ened to the good doctrine preached by
The Times Dispatch, and they did it in
more practicable way than this
paper suggested; that Is to say, they
went down into their pockets and
brought out the money needed for eiu-
purposes.
Instructive Institutes Held.
The Industrial Section gave some
accounts of the Institutes that We're
held by this association in the closing
days Of last summer. Not being alto
gether satisfied with these meagre re-
ports. wrote to Clarence w. Moomaw,
the -cock-a-lorum OF the shenan-
doah association. and asked him what
of the results. His reply is sufficient
account. He writes:
EARLY in the season we imported
the first expert box packers ever
brought into the State. This was done
at great expense to the associa ton
without any hope or expectation OF
coming out even so far as the box
pack is concerned. Knowing the boz
Is the commercial package for the
fancy fruit, and knowing that our
growers can produce fancy fruit. we
thought 1t we'll to introduce the box
pack and lay the foundation for