Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1913-11-27
Tells About the
Profit in Cherries

The low prices obtained for fruit
last year discouraged many horticul-
turists and strengthened that knock
Ing cry, There's no money in
fruit" j. H. Morse, owever, takes
a different view of the matter. He
believes that fruit growing may be
made very profitable and proves his
Ialtn by successful pomological
works. From his two-acre orchard
home, Cherry Crest" between Chest
nut and Walnut streets, $3.50 worth
OF sweet cherries were sold this year.
Mr.. Morse's main business is build
ing and contracting, but a very few
acres at the above rate of returns
would support a family.
The beauty of cherry growing is
that the crop is harvested and out of
the way before peaches are ripe, the
last shipments being made this year
on July fifteenth, the first going out
June seventeenth. The busy season
lasts only about a month and the
crop is out of the way by the middle
of summer. The ground is well cul-
| t'fhbCu anu lllllC t5dlIOu n6tuGu-
none at all in a season like the one
lust past.
The total number of ten-pound
boxes sold was 52S; twenty-pound,
| l26; making a total of $500 pounds.
About $500 pounds of culls were
sold at one to two cents per pound.
The entire crop, therefore, amounted
to something like 10000 pounds
over five tons-which is a pretty re-
| spectacle yield for less than two
acres. The large proportion of culls
was due to the very unusual wet
weather which prevailed at picking
time, causing the fruit to crack bad
ly. The twenty-pound boxes con-
tanned cherries which were very
slightly blemished and brought an
average price of eight cents a pound
If there is one question that inter-
ests the average Ashlander more
than another it is this, how to make
a living on, a few acres of ground.
Lots of people want to live in or near
Ashland, far more than the land oc-
cupied by them will support under
present methods of cultivation. How
to make the land support a larger
population and thus enable more peo-
pie to live in this favored spot is
therefore very vital question.
Most of the cherries were shipped
to San Francisco and brought $1.40
and $3.50 per ten-pound box, a few
going at $1.25 and $1.35. The ex-
press rate is $3.50 per one hundred
pounds, or about twenty-five cents a
box. A few were shipped to Los An
geles. to which point the express rate
is $3.50, top prices being received
for those sent to this point. The
Ashland Fruit & Produce Association
handled ninety-siX ten-pound boxes,
for which returns were made of
eighty-five cents and dollar.
The trees were planted in 1905;
one hundred Bings, seventy-five
Royal AIMS and fifteen Lamberts.
They are sprayed with Bordeaux in
the spring. just before the buds open.
This is to keep the foliage healthy
and destroy the fungus diseases.
Black aphis are destroyed with Black
Leaf 40 and slugs with arsenate of
lead. Borers and gummy spots are
cut out and the wounds painted with
mixture of lime, lye and bluestone.
Pickers were paid three-quarters
cent per pound. Most of the grading
was done by Mrs. Morse and all the
| packing by Miss Mildred Morse. The
latter has become an expert at this
work and it would be hard to find
anyone who could pack more boxes
in a day or put up more perfect
pack. Filling a box with cherries
seems very simple, but it is really
quite a difficult matter to place them
in just right. The largest and most
| perfect specimens are selected for
| "facers," which are laid in the bot
tom of the box, flat side down. Yes,
cherry has a flat side and a round
side, though you may not have no
ticed it. In each end of the box,
which is divided in the middle by a
partition, there are eighty-one cher
ries in the bottom of the layer, which
is composed of nine rows of nine
cherries each-ten if the fruit runs
rather small. The stems all point to-
wards one end of the box and are
turned upward. Not much care is
taken with the second layer, except
to keep the stems up, while the rest
of the cherries are simply poured in
to fill up the box. The first layer
rests on layer of cotton, that side
of the box being opened to display
the fruit.
A box of cherries is supposed to
hold ten pounds, but the Morses
manage to get about eleven pounds
in box, which is one reason why
Cherry Crest fruit always brings. top
prices. The dealers to whom Mr.
Morse shipped his cherries sold them
for fancy prices and each one wished
to handle the entire output of the
orchard. The bulk of the crop was
handled by Seresovich & Co., San
Francisco, and Mr.. Morse speaks in
the highest terms of the business
methods of this firm.
The Cherry Crest orchard is only
beginning to bear, the trees averag-
ing but fifty-four pounds each.
Among the young trees there is an
old Royal Ann that bore 695 poundA
of fruit this year and 72S pounds last
year. This illustrates the possibili-
ties of the future.
o. H. BARNHILL.