The evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1914-1922, 1917-09-20

Pennington. Sept. aa. Friday
mrfninR at Q o'clock a special train
whistied into Huntington with q car
lead OF bushel peach baskets-end
thereby hangs a story.
The peach crop IN the valley this
yfnse has been bigger than ever the
widest estimate. and ns q result the
growers are ~ against II 20 find con-
sninrrs In which 10 market the fruit.
A. "a Instance OF she way the crop
fguled the one man estimat-
"a his crop AZ about s0o baskets OF
fruit. He ordered this amount and
this week, when the peach season Is
IN fuii swsnE. Re discovered that his
estimate was Just some SEQ bushels
short The result H. that he will 'ose
the fruit he didn't think ne had. And
failure last season. with the former
cash Coz peaches. has made our grow
crs rather skeptlcal about the busi-
ness anyway. and no one had fore
sight enough &c rnnnce a great
Of fruit containers.
A fruit grower association was or
Eanized IN Pennington several years
ago. but went 10 the bad and practi-
caiiy disorganiaed. The thing that
~ pccded and AZ last our people have
come alive 20 the need. ~ a strongly
organized association. which every
grower OF fruit VIII pledge 20 sup
port with such an organisation this
year. the growers would easily have
saved TO themselves over $4,000.
Fruit containers would have been pro-
cured early In the spring and the
prices received for stuff would have
been much higher than that offered
by the outside buyers who eame in
and saw the d~isoreanized situation and
the lack OF containers.
But everything Is not discouraeipg.
The growers are not the only ones
who lost the ions Of fruit that are
rofflnx beneath trees In the orchards
here. IL In a loss to the government
now az war. and which needs every
available product hat can be saved.
Right here we respectfully the
attention OF this matter TO our state
council Of defense.
Peaches are bringing the growers
about fifty cents a basket cash. with
the basket furnished. This mca
hat every carload shipped out rep
resents s950 cash left here. With
cars shipped out as high sometimes
az six a day. Il can be seen that a
large amount OF ash II being turned
into h growers bank accounts.
Apples have been contracted for at
about SIS cents a box. the boxing.
picking and packing TO be done by
the buyer. This IL also a cash deal.
and while IL In not the price an or
eanizcd body OF growers would COM
mand, IL runs into money very fast.
There In one man In the San Juan
Basin who has the best interests OF
this section at hsarf. and he lives
at Durango. II rs r. b. McAtee of
the Denver a &Rio Grande railroad.
He promised 20 furnish us with cars,
and he has done IL. Further. Mr..
NcAtee has the distinct. credit Of be-
Ing the one man in n whole valley
whose estimate OF the fruit crop was
anything like correct He has insist
ed ali spring and summer that BUR
people were not ordering half enough
boxes and baskets, and with no orr
Eanization TO heed his advice. his wis
dom was not turned into cash. Next
year when Mr.. McAtee guesses at the
fruit crop. ne IL going 10 have some
earnest listeners. The car of peach
baskets that came In this morning on
a special train was the result OF Mr..
McAtee's efforts. The "a had been
missent 20 Denver. and VAS expected
yesterday. Mr.. McAtee was down
here at the time. and for some rea-