The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1915-10-08
THE APPLE
SITUATION
BlackfOot Farmer and Dealer Talks
of Raising and Shipping Apples and
Crabs. The Problems in the Case.

dDOSe LOWH anu manager OF the pack
ing house operated by DeHart &
Buckland, to pack and ship fruit,
when seen at his office this week and
asked for his views on the problems
confronting the fruit growers who
want to sell their product or part of
it, replied as follows
II am glad to have the opportunity
to speak to your readers through the
paper. l have been talking to men
personally about these matters, and
even if we could always have time
to cover the subject and if we could
come to an understanding of each
others views, life is too short and
too full of work to be done, to try to
inform each other by talking over
these matters so many times with so
many people in the locality as are in
terested. have studied the matter
lclosely for several seasons, and have
reached some conclusions that are
based upon the facts, and the mere
fact that l am a dealer does not
change the facts as they confront US.
If what ! shall say is true, people
will know it, and If not true it will
be rejected on that account.
II understand you have been out
interviewing farmers and orchardists,
and are publishing their observations
and | am glad this is being done.
If the local press Is to benefit the
farmers it must give their views more
than has been done.
Every few people have commercial
orchards here, and of course that
makes it harder to assemble enough
apples Of certain variety and grade
to fill large orders. The man who
wants car load of apples of one or
two varieties, has to send his order
to. locality where they can fill orders
of that kind Most of the orchards
that have been set in this part of
the state are mixture of many kinds
of apples. They have been pruned in
many ways, good, bad and Indifferent,
and some not pruned at all. That
makes all kinds and sizes of apples,
nd makes trouble grading them. We
might have warehouse full of ap-
pies and many orders in hand from
the best of purchasers, and yet not be
able to move any of the stock. This
condition forces us to seek out the
small purchasers and fill their orders
for small lots to be shipped at the
higher cost per box. Then there is
the inevitable expense of writing and
teephoning and going to see them, to
get the saes, and this expense forces
down the price that We can pay the
grower.
"If the grower is to bring in good
standard sized apples, then he must
spray to keep out pests, and he must
prune the trees and thin the growing
fruit to get such results. That means
more attention to the orchard and
less attention to the beets or some
other crop. The farmer can't do
everything, and he has to make his.
choice.
Sometimes grower will pick
few sacks of apples and bring them to
town, and unknown to him, every ap-
pie in each sack Is slightly bruised by
pressure upon the one next to it. He
takes them to a grocer, and sells them
for about what the grocer will retail
them at. He takes his pay in goods
and the grocer sells the apples out
before the bruising shows much. The
next day he may bring apples in the
same condition and offer them at the
packing house and we cannot allow
him as much as did the grocer for
the reason that we pay him in money,
land not in goods on which we make
a profit. We have to pack them and
ship the INTO some other market, and
in the sorting and packing We throw
out the culls and off-sizes, so we don't
sell as many as we buy. Then If the
apples are slightly bruised by the tim
they reach their detination, the bruis-
ed surface has turned brown, and rot
begins. It Is only on the surface, but
it hurts the sale and there is some
waste. Not amny of our farmers ap-
preciate the damage done by that
slight bruising that does not show
until day or two after the handling.
lIf an apple falls six inches and lights
on hard surface, It is bruised. 1t
may be only skin deep. but decay
lbegins there and once started 1t never
|stops until the whole apple is spoiled.
II the apple is hard 1t bruises less,
and 1t takes longer for II to turn
oclor AMI reveal the damage, but II is
l