Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1924-05-30

al Agree to Undertake Cam
paign to Organize Grower
Into Groups For Uniform
Packing and Grading Un
der Federal and State In
spection Laws.
Harrisonburg, Va, May pa fan
4 reaching movement to increase the de
mand and sale of Virginia's $4,000. 90
apple crop, to protect its presen
market, to develop new markets an,
to tell the outside world" that tn
Old Dominion. non irrigated apple i
the 'sbest for flavor aud quality" wa
launched yesterday by fifty apple
growers of the Shenandoah Valley ant
Piedmont Virginia and directors of tn,
Virginia Horticultural Society VIII,
imet at the headquarters of the Shen
landoah Valley, Inc.
i In a nutshell, Virginia apple grower.
pledged themselves by formal reso
luton to do the following
1--Organize the growers in con
lvenient sectional groups to standardize
the packing, barreling and grading o.
Virginia apples in accordance with the
Federal and Virginia state inspection
laws under the supervision of official
inspectors, so the buyer will know
exactly what he is buying when he
purchases Virginia trade-marked apples
| packed under official SEAL
2-Inaugurate an advertising cam
paign setting forth the high flavor and
quality of the Virginia apple, telling
buyers the apples are packed and grad
ed under state and Federal laws. This
advertising campaign will follow some
what along the lines, which the Pacific
Coast fruit people have adopted to
make their product almost household
name.
The meeting yesterday was more or
less spontaneous. No call for it had
been sent out. The idea originated
some time ago with State Senator
Harry F Byrd and H. Clay DeGrange,
Of Winchester two of the largest
growers in the East. Senator Byrd
has been quietly talking of such a
movement, especially the standard
izatiou cfpack, with apple growers for
years. He and mary other Frederick
county growers have been packing
their apples under, the government
rules and state inspection laws, and
while it has helped the sale of their
crop they have found the Virginia
apple consumption will be greatly en-
HANGED if all the Old Dominion crop is
uniformly graded and packed
Senator Byrd was made chairman of
the pestng. He slated its object. G.
S Ralstor, of the Virginia Bureau of
Markets and an authority on packing,
told the apple growers that their
Southern markets have been threaten
ed because the Virginia apples are not
packed according to the government
uniform standards He said the time
has come when the "output of the
Virginia orchards, when put on the
market, must be standardized.
Senator Byrd then briefly told the
lapple market situation in the Southern
markets. He said the sale of the Vir-
ginia apples in that territory reached
Its peak in 1918. In 1919. he said, an
infection of the cedar rust hurt the
sale of the apple. In 1921 and 1922, he
declared, the freeze cut the Virgins
crop to a minimum, and that opened
the way for the Pacific Coast apple tt
bid for the Southern, market. The
ipeople of the South, he added, ther
found the Pacific Coast apple wa:
uniformly packed and graded, and in
1928 many Virginia buyers had grea
difficulty in recovering their former
markets.
/ Senator Byrd then explained how the
Frederick county Fruit Growers
| Association, composed of 43growers o
the Winchester, Berryville and Timber
Iville section, pack their apples unde
the U. S. Standard rules. He said in
| spectors, named by the Virginia State
bureau of Markets under the Virgins
lapple inspection law, visit the orchard
during the harvest season, pick Ger
tain percentage of barrels, weigh AM
lopen them, and if the pack compile
with the grade requirements it i
IoIficially marked by Standard No.
lU. s. Standard Dbl Virginia State In
spected." Mr.. Byrd said the cost
labout two cents barrel.
| Mr.. DeGrange declared the appl
IRrowers, now members OF the Fred
erick county association, are sticking
He said few of them dropped on
because they sold their crop abroa
land this inspection was not require
flor exported apples last season. TIL
Igreat majority Of the growers, he ad
Fded, ffndtf1e state Inspection heips IN
sale. of the apples.
DR.. w. B. Atwood, of Greenwood de
Iclared the Virginia apple grower
Imustrealize now they win be force
Ito do so later-that unless their apple
are packed and graded under the un
form government standard they wi
Hose their trade. The apple is packet
The said, in a closed container. Th
.Ibuyer must have some assurance {
what he is buying. The FEEDERS
government and state of Virginia hav
provided The machinery, and unles
the Virginia growers uniformly grad
and pack their fruit he fears for th
future.
| i q Al