Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1916-10-13

thoroughly sterilizing them, ridding
them of all germs and making them
perfectly clean. These machines are
automatically controlled, and are of
the latest design having been put on
the market but three years ago. The
Dallas plant is the only one in Oregon
equipped with them. From the small
en- of these two professors the fruit
is sent to hopper from which it is
taken by girls who are employed to
face the boxes.
The facing operation consists OF
neatly laying two layers of prunes in
,, the bottom of the box container. In
the facing room nearly sixty girls
and women are employed and they are
able to average rs boxes per day. For
this work they are paid 3 cents per
box. After the boxes are faced they
are piled on trucks and taken to an
other hopper which is kept supplied
with prunes from the larger professor.
Here the boxing crew fills these fac
ed boxes with prunes, presses them
down and nails on lid. This lid,
however, becomes the bottom OF the
box, as it was turned upside down
when it was faced by the girls. The
local plant adopted new plan of
facing last year which was declared
by New York jobbers to be more sat
isfactory than the former method, and
which gave the Dallas prunes the rep
utation of being the best "pack'' OF
1915. This same packing method Is
being used this year. Each box holds
25 pounds of the fruit and those that
are shipped to American markets are
only end nailed. On the export box
es, nearly all of which 90 to England,
the fruit is branded "Oregon Plums y
instead of the usual "Oregon
Prmes.' Ordinarily speaking the
English consumer does not know what
a prune is as the fruit is called
"plums' throughout the British
l
Isles. The boxes going to England
are also edge nailed to withstand the
hard knocks of distant shipping.
From the packing crew the plums
ARE taken to the storage rooms on
The first floor where they are again
weighed and piled up to cool. The
piles are air spaced. and after "A
hours thev can be loaded into cars. In
shipping minimum number of 2OOo
boxes is placed in car. the floor OF
" hich has been spread with thin bed
of straw to keep the boxes clean. All
boxes for domestic shipment are
branded on ends. 1910, or otherwise
according to the grade of the fruit
therein, while The export boxes have
the grade brand on the side. The
boxes are also marked with the var
ious brands the company turns out
which include columbia, " "Quail, y
"Sun- -Kist." cargo" and CAIRNS
by." Of these brands the "Colm'
bia" and "Quail" are most popular
} A ten-pound box is also packed I'M
der the "Sun-Kist" brand, for ust
of the holiday trade.
} This season the plant will handle
over 100000 pounds of prunes
which will fill approximately Ion
freight cars. 1t will require from nov
; until the first of the year to com
) plete the pack. and if cars are avail
| able they will soon be going out o
e Dallas at the rate of two carloads pc
/, dav. Of the seasons pack 30 ear
e will be shipped to English jobbers IL
e London, one car will 90 to France
e seven to Canada, and about 60 ear
}, will be marketed in eastern Unite'
: States markets. The wages paid EN-
0 ployees for packing this fruit will av
4 erage more than $25OO per mont
r while the plant is in operation. am
). this year the growers in this immedl
4 ate vicinity will receive $75.OO0 TO
|, their dried fruit. the price at pres
$ ent to the orchardists being about 6I
cents per pound. Over one-fourth o
J. the prunes packed are raised In tn
n immediate vicinity of Dallas, the bal
k ance of the fruit coming from Shel
o idan and other Willamette vale
e points.
Nor is the financial return the Oh
S ly benefit that Dallas receives froi
e this big industry. Each and ever
d box is branded on the end with tn
IS following wording "Packed by the )
IS X. Armsby Company, Dallas, Orr
e gon." and the Dallas prune has a
e ready become a household word !
) many markets of the country. In
q former method of using highly colol
n ed box labels has been discontinue
n because of the fact that pasted labeI
would not stay on the boxes,
n The local plant is managed by
h c. Peterson. J. C. Tracy IS superb
Ie tendent. These men are operating on
g +ho most efficient of the entll