Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1911-10-28
HAWkEYE PRODUCERS AWAKE
70 GOLDEN OPPORTUNITIES
OF the ORCHARD.
wEsTERN IOWA CROP WORTH
At LEAST s2ooo,aoe
Scientific Methods Employed 70 I'm
prove Fruit and lnersass Weld
More Than 5000 Employed in
Orchards This ssasen-lntsrsst
Facts andf isurss.
ecial to Times Republican.

Special 10 meS.EtepOOllSln.
Council Biuns, Oct 2s--Increasing
in value SO rapidly, and from an Incl
dent in farm life. growing to the
! first magnitude within five years. own
ers of apple orchafd in western IOWA,
taught with otherssto believe that only
in certain favored sections OF the west
can apples be produced with success
have only now begun to. realize sha1
they planted better THAI: they knew.
The year 1903 was the best that had
yet been enjoyed by Iowa orchardists,
and when the season had closed and
stock was taken it was not believed
+; that such a golden harvest of fruit
would ever again be realized, yet this
year. following the adoption Of more
i scientific methods, still greater results
!: have been obtained. 1t was easily prov
/ en- that the soil Of western Iowa and
(; especially along the Missouri river bot
tom where sheltered hills and hollows
were mostly selected for the orchards.
! is equal to the best Of any state. and
all that is required is scientific culture
and favorable weather to produce de-
sired results. Appeal was made to the
| agricultural college of Iowa and ex-
| perts were sent to all parts of the state
! where the production of fruits was be-
(. ing attempted, and here is western
!, Iowa, where there are some orchards
of large size. men from the college
! passed the entire season experimenting
! with the soils and instructine owners
of orchards thow, and when. and what
to use, in spraying their trees to get
the best returns. The results have been
astonishing. r. Farmers who heretofore
! gave little, or no thought to their apple
trees suddenly awakened to the wealth
contained in their orchards and for the
past two OF three years the same at
tention has been given to the culture as
has always been given to the raising Of
grains and the feeding Of cattle and
hogs. ~ 81
Awake to Golden Opportunity.
| In previous years SO little was known
! concerning the proper gathering and
marketing Of the crop that great losses
| were sustained, altho at the time the
| owners did not realize it. With prac-
tical work and scientific methods in
| producing the apples has come q de-
| velopment in the matter of marketing
that has saved the owners a large per
cent over previous years and has again
demonstrated to them what they have
been losing all these years.
| To the commission men in the large
cities much 10 due for the awakening.
During q lean year In the apple crop
in Missouri and the east, buyers were
| sent scouting. Some of them came to
/ western Iowa where they found q fairly
I good crop of apples. Naturally, there
was some spirited bidding for the fruit
and farmers saw light. From that
time until the present there has been
q steadily increasing interest in the
production of apples and many small
| orchards this year produced for the
first time while hundreds Of others
were made to produce double and
treble the best previous yield.
Quality 10 Improved.
| And, along with increased yield came
q better quality Of fruit Very few
there are who even realize now that an
Iowa apple Is marketable. The pop
ular conception Of an Iowa apple is
half worms and half core. That is 1t
was before present methods were
adopted.
| Estimates on the value Of this years
| crop in western Iowa vary. just as the
perspective Of the one making the esti-
mate, shows, but 1t is certain that It
will eceed 100000. Several thou
sand people have been employed in the
work Of gathering, sorting, packing and
shipping the fruit, mainly experts from
the commission houses being employed
to superintend the work. There are
various methods of marketing. Some,
and in fact the majority Of the smaller
owners. sell their apples on the trees.
either for a lump sum after an estimate
has been made, based on the number
Of trees, or for a fixed price per bar
rel. Usually the commission men pre-
fer to do their own sorting. An apple
Of a certain size only Is allowed to go
into the barrel All others are culls
and to the neophyte in apple producing
the culls generally look like gold dol
! lars.
This work comes at time when 9TH
er farm work is not pressing or out Of
the way entirely and as good wages are
paid for> harvesting apples there Is
added cauAe for rejoicing by those who