Williams news., 1917-09-13
WAR APPLE CROP
This Years Harvest of Fruit Will
 Help Whip Enemy.
SCARCITY OF PACKERS FELT
Size of Crop, Equal to Two Bushels for Each Person in Land, Calls for Special Methods of
 Handling for Market.

In couple of weeks we will begin harvesting all over the United States an apple crop equal to two bushels for every man. woman and child in the country. This Is a war crop. The consumers of the United States will be urged to use apples in the food sav- ing campaign by which we are in- creasing the amount of wheat and other staple foods sent to our fighting allies.
 "Eat an apple and send a biscuit" is the motto this year.
 War conditions also confront the apple growers, for there is a scarcity of pickers, and careful preparations crop is all safely harvested and put into storage. Now Is the time to be- gin organizing picking crews in every apple growing section. A survey of the situation shows that the farmer will need cooperation from business men in the towns and cities round about at which he trades, and which have just as great an interest in this crop as the farmer himself. This is emergency organization work to be taken up immediately by chambers of commerce, boards of trade, state and county councils of defense, and busi- ness men generally.
 The labor supply to harvest this crop exists right in the cities adjacent to the apple orchards in most cases, but the draft and demands of fac tories and railroads for labor have disturbed the normal supply of work CTS upon which the farmer usually draws, and it Is necessary to recruit new kinds of workers. People who have never regarded themselves as ap- pie pickers may this year be asked to go to the orchards and help get in the crop for patriotic reasons.
 Much is heard about the scarcity of labor, but there is not as great scar city as most people imagine. Workers upon whom the farmer depends in or dinary times have simply been shifted into other occupations, and war condt- tions demand that business men step in, locate other classes of workers who can be shifted to the orchards for this
 
 plenty of help.
 There will probably be some diff culty in harvesting the apple crop with these volunteer workers, many of whom have no experience at the work. Perishable fruit must be handled care fully to prevent injury to the skin and bruises. These would later cause de- rrrhn rr0 info cfn
 The principles of careful fruit pick ing are very simple, and easily under stood. If the farmer can start with two or three experienced pickers and spend a little time explaining good picking methods to his volunteers he should get excellent results, for these volunteers, while new to the work, will also be people of good average intelli- gence, and the war emergency will ap- peal to their interest so that they will be more than ready to help harvest the crop skillfully.
 Apple growers are advised to get in touch with the business organizations in their nearest town, ask that help De given in securing pickers and report the number of pickers needed by them selves. One of the greatest difficult ties in organizing harvest hands for any crop is that of gathering accurate information as to how many helpers are needed on each farm and in each township. For lack of such informa- tion it very often happens that one township will be handicapped because 1t is without sufficient helpers and a township twenty-five or thirty miles away will have a surplus of workers. By ascertaining in advance just how many workers will be needed in each locality, business organizations will be able to recruit sufficient force.
 This years apple crop calls for spe- cial methods of handling. The size of the crop makes it necessary to send only the first-class fruit to market and to see that all seconds and culls are sold in bulk around home or worked up into by-products. There must be great care to see that apples are not exposed to the heat or outdoors after picking, but are properly housed in temporary storage places on the farm and carefully cooled. The scarcity of pickers will probably make it neces- sary to pick and house the crop first and grade and pack 1t afterwards. Full directions for handling the fruit will be published later.
 The great big task immediately ahead is that of securing a picking force, and in this work the business man and the farmer are cooperating to an extent never known before. This
 is a war crop. It will be harvested with a nuar nrpanizatinn