The Kennewick courier. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1905-1914, 1912-03-22
ASSOCIATIONS
may COMBINE
Wenatchee and Hood River Fruit
men would Join Yakima Valley
New Packing Rules

There is a possibility that the
Yakima Valley Fruit Growers As
sociatiOn and the associations OF
Wenatchee and Hood River will be-
come one federated organization
within short time. These associa-
tions have asked to come into the
Yakima Association because at the
present time it's various branches
are working smoothly and it is Civ
ing the most satisfactory results to
its patrons of any in the Northwest.
General Manager J. H. Robbins and
his staff have the matter under con-
sideration and it is a question of
some discussion in the upper valley.
A committee of three men ap-
pointed by the association, Mr.. Rob-
bins, S. P. Smiley, of Nachez, and
l.. S. Grassland of this city, met in
North Yakima Thursday afternoon
of last week to formulate satisfac-
tory rules for shipping Strawberries
and grapes. These are subject to
modification but have been care
fully compiled and are designed to
further the best interests of grower
and consumer. The necessity for
such rules has been born of the care
lessness of many farmers who in
past years have flooded the markets
with inferior fruit, poorly packed
and altogether below the market
standard. 1t is recognized by the
association men that the valley must
establish reputation for high grade
fruit if good prices are to be obtained,
otherwise the honest packer suffers
the consequences of his neighbors'
lax methods and no one is able to
get good prices.
The committee decided to have
only one grade of strawberries, after
considerable discussion of the ad-
vantages and disadvantages of es-
tablishing two, and their purpose in
this was to exclude the smaller
berries being packed with larger ones
and sold for first grade prices. The
smallest berries to be used in max
ing up this grade are No. SIS. It
was argued from the standpoint of
the grower that these small berries
could be boxed without packing and
placed on the market as canning
berries and better profit be realized
on them than if they were scattered
amcng the large berries and the
grade of these demoralized.
In coloring, the berries which are
three -fourths red or all pink are ripe
en- ough to ship and in picking, the
fingers should be placed under the
base of the berry and the berry sew
cred from the stem by pinching off
with the finger nails.
In packing they should be placed
in the boxes carefully and solidly,
using uniform berries for facing.
In full crate the berries should be
one-fourth ofan inch above the edges
of the boxes and when the covers
are placed on the crates there should
be slight pressure on the berries in
order to keep them from lid in G
around. Labels, such as will indi-
cate the contents of the boxes, must
be placed on the outside of all crates.
For grapes the following rules were
established: The grapes must be
fully matured, carefully pic ked,
properly trimmed and wilted "a
hours before packing. They are to
be packed in crates, four baskets to
the crate, the crates to be four and
one-fourth inches deep with an
eleven-sixteenths cleat under the
cover. No stems are to be in sight
and the weight of the crate is to be
not less than 26 pounds. The crates
are not to exceed five inches in depth,
inside measurement.
A copy of these rules given in
greater detail will he mailed to every
member Of the Association as soon
as they can be printed and sent out.