The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1917-08-09
BERRY HARVEST
INTERESTS EDITOR

The following is in part an article
written for the Western Farmer by
the editor of the publication after he
had visited the local strawberry fields.
The editor of Western Farmer
through the courtesy of the Fruit
Growers Exchange of Hood River, was
taken for a trip through the berry
fields when the harvest was in full
blast. E. V. Cramps, field inspector
and warehouse foreman of the above
firm, conducted the writer on this trip.
We found that most of the berries
were grown between the trees in young
apple orchards and also that practical
ly two-thirds of the strawberries are
grown by Japanese gardeners, who
lease the land for a term of years.
The rental runs from SIS to $40 per
acre. Tom Ogawa. Japanese fruit
grower, is one of the largest growers
in the valley. His work shows eff
cheney plus in everything he does.
He has an IL acre strawberry field.
In good years he produces as high as
1000 crates per acre. This year he
will harvest about 1900 crates per
acre.
Four crops of strawberries are har-
vested, then follows a cover crop of
clover or similar crop and Strawberries
are planted again. Commercial fer
tilizers are used in most instances.
Special fertilizer brands are employed
and bone meal is also used as fertil-
izer.
The strawberry crop is harvested by
pickers from cities and towns of the
adjacent territory. The price paid for
picking runs from 8 to cents per car
rier, holding six hallocks, or 36 cents
per crate. AS fast as carrier is filled
it is taken to the packing shed, where
the berries are sorted and graded. All
berries must show three-fourths red
and none must be picked while vines
are wet. Stems three-fourths of an
inch long are left on the berry.
In packing, the berries on the top
layer or facing cannot have more than
five rows to register extra fancy"
and not more than Is cent per cent of
the berries under the facing are al
lowed to be smaller than the face ber-
ries. Great care is exercised on the
part of the packer to see that the
packing is uniform. Second quality
berries are often bought by cash buy.
ers, but it is bad practice because it
tends to give bad reputation to the
district. The fruit association firms
endeavor to make growers see the i'm
portance of consigning the seconds to
the cannery and not to cash buyers.
Each crate bears the variety of
fruit, grade, growers name and the
brand of the firm or company shipping
the berries. Crates are kept free
from dust and are hauled by growers
in spring wagons or automobiles to the
warehouse.
Here the fruit is again inspected and
then shipped. The bulk of the ship
ments find their way into the large
cities and central west points. We
| followed the process of handling ber-
ries from the field to the warehouse.
We also visited the Newtonia Com
pany cannery, which cans the New
Ford" brand. In this cannery only
perfect fruit is put in cans. Each can
is enameled and furnished with cop
pered bottom base. The above con-
cern has capacity of 600 acres daily
The handling of the berries is done by
women and girls and is very sanitary.
All fruit is thoroughly washed before
being placed in cans for cooking.
j. R. Newton, the proprietor, gives
rigid inspection of all fruit canned.
Our readers will be interested in
knowing of the method employed in
the handling of Strawberries in the
Hood River district, which is one of
the largest straw berry districts of the
Northwest.