The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1911-08-17
EXPERTS PLAN
STORAGE TESTS
GOVERNMENT Is EXPERIMENTING
Representatives from Agricultural De-
partment Visit Valley Storage
Plant at Spokane.

X. h. Pratt and II. j. Ramsey. ex-
perts from the pomological offices Of
the United States Department Of Hor-
ticulture, spent last Friday and Satur-
| day here to make an investigation of
local cold storage conditions. Both
men have been making a study of
refrigerating problems for the past
| few years in the State of California.
They have recently been at Puyallup,
Wash, and at Salem, where expert
ments were made with preceding sys-
TENS by the government.
Friday afternoon the government
experts, after a trip to the Union s
cold storage rooms. where they We're
presented by James +. Montgomery
with Yellow Newtowns grown last
season in the Central Vale orchards.
were taken over the Valley in an
automobile by Secretary j. c. Skinner.
of the Commercial Club. and Prof.
Nv. II. Lawrence, the Fellowship eX-
pert. Every section of the Lower Val
ley was visited. and the party pene
trated the Middle Valley, in order that
Mr.. Pratt and MIR. Ramsey might get
as comprehensive an idea as possible
of the different soils of the region.
They left here Saturday afternoon for
the White Salmon country, where they
will spend day in going over condi-
tions.
The storage experts will visit every
important fruit section between now
and picking time, when they will
secure samples of apples from the
different localities for the purpose of
experimenting with them at Spokane,
where the government will conduct its
storage tests. The Agricultural De
partment is conducting the tests for
the purpose of working out the proper
details of refrigeration for the differ
ent varieties of apples from the differ
ent communities. Apples of different
keeping qualities should be subjected
to different storage methods. This
years work. which is of a preliminary
nature, will be for the purpose of
determining the keeping qualities of
apples from each section. II is prob
able that all the fruit will be subjected
to a temperature of 80 degrees. Next
year the work will probably go a step
further and the action sof soils with
reference to keeping qualities Will be
considered. 1t is a we'll known fact
among fruit marketers that the soil in
which fruit has been grown has a
great deal to do with its preservation.
In the tests that are to be made
Hood River fruit should prove to be
among the front rank of keepers. The
frmness of its apples is well known
wherever the fruit has been marketed.
The Newtown Pippins that are Eat
present in the Unions warehoue are
an example of the quality of the Val.
ley's fruit Secretary Skinner pro
cured from the cellar of a raneher in
1909 about a dozen Arkansas Blacks,
which were at the time year old. He
placed them in the Union warehouse,
where they remained in perfect state
of preservation until the next year.
Mr.. Pratt and Mr. Ramsy spent Sat
urday morning going over the local
situation with Secretary Skinner and
Prof. Lawrence and securing data.
Neither of the experts had ever been
to the Hood River Valley before.
They stated that it had reputation
as being pre-eminent among the North
vests fruit districts. Both were en-
thusiastic after the motor trip through
the orchards and were delighted with
the beautiful scenery of the surround.
ing country at is indeed ideal, -
said Mr.. Ramsy. "Your orchardists
should consider themselves particular
ly fortunate. One OF the things for
which you are to be enyied is the class
of people of whom your growers are
made up. With the. exception of one
or two small orange growing sections
in California it is alone, ! suppose. in
the United States And when the
Union's system of grading and the
hearty cooperative spirit with which
the organization was maintained, the
methods of the Fellowship association
and other details of the Valleys bus
mess machinery were explained to him
he concluded No wonder, with such
spirit, you are able to forge to the
front ranks.