The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1938-03-10
Continued From Page ~

100 crates per acre cleanup after the
shipping season is over, SO it is ap-
parent that both fields have made
an average record yield Of approx
mately 800 crates per acre. would
estimate that the average yield OF
the district is about half that
amount although at least two fields
on the Highlands produced around
600 crates per acre. I always figure
on my own fields going 400 crates
per acre and my average has been
about that on the Highlands.
8. For some time I have noticed
that successful strawberry growers
have a little money to jingle and as
far as I can see the acreage In ber-
ries can be safely increased pro-
vided two very important points are
considered namely avoiding dark
over-ripe berries in the fresh pack
and the development of the frozen
berry industry.
In the old days of Clark Seeding
strawberry production can dis
tinctly remember that growers we're
forced to pick over their fields every
day to avoid having to throw out
over-ripe soft berries. Now since the
Wray Red variety Is grown almost
exclusively 1t has become the GUS
tom to cover the fields only every
other day, and In numerous cases
during the rust as much as three
days of hot weather will elapse be-
fore the vines are cleaned off. The
result Is that large percentage Of
our crop is going onto the market
too ripe and dark in appearance. Not
long ago I read q report Of the
Northwest strawberry markets and
1t stated that the Kennewick crop
sold In competition with California
at Csc per crate less than the Cal
ifornia berries because the Kenne-
wick berries were dark and looked
old In comparison with the lighter
colored California berries. Where
the trouble comes In is that Wray
Red berries remain firm enough to
ship after they are over-ripe and
are consequently left in the pack
whereas other varieties the over
ripes become too soft to ship and
are necessarily culled out.
Now what Kennewick Is going to
have to do is to quit putting dark
berries on the market. The way to
do this is to sort out the dark red
berries and freeze them. Last season
I froze S tons Of over ripes at the
end Of the season and they sold like
Hot cakes. They net me SC per
pound for the berries alone. One
creamery used 4 tons and they made
me promise to supply them again
this season. In q frozen pack this |
objectionable dark color gives way to
q bright red attractive color and
the flavor of Wray Red IS far SUI
perior to the coast Marshall which
at present Is frozen by the train
load for the eastern markets. The
government Frozen Food Labora-
tories at Seattle speak highly Of the |
quality and color Of Wray Red froz-
en-. Hood River says its the berry
they want to freeze provided they
can grow 1t there where they have
90 much trouble with the Cyclamen
mite. This is q cool climate pest as
1t perishes at 10 degrees temper
4ture and does not survive the Ken
;newick summers.
In the past there has been argu-
ments with inspectors over the green
tolerance on Grated berries at the
warehouses. The state grade rules,
I believe, call for two thirds red
with no allowance on varieties like
Wray Red that color up fully in
transit II picked only half red. All
my experiments and observations In
picking Wray Red half red is that
they color up fully a light attractive
red and have a full strawberry fla
yor and will ship to Chicago. How
inconsistent the lawmakers are.
Here we ship carloads of green
prunes out of the district that new
er ripen up the least bit after be-
ing picked and are so sour and
worthless they are not fit for hog
feed in my estimation and that is
OK because the law says SO. AS far
as am concerned am going to in
sist on half red tolerance on Wray