The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, August 30, 1917, Page 4

What's the Matter With Apples The Story of the Bitter Root Valley, BY E. B. FUSSELL HAT is the matter with apples? | This is a question that the writer, for the last few days. has been asking of men who ought to know —the apple growers of the Bitter Root valley in western Montana. Of course there is nothing the matter with apples, as apples. The apple, ac- cording to Bibical lore, was a fine enough fruit for Adam and Eve to risk expulsion from the Garden of Iden, just to get a bite. “An apple a day keeps the doctor away,” is an old say- ing with considerable truth in it. But what is wrong, according to every grower with whom the writer talked, is that it isn’t possible, under existing conditions, for every person to get an apple a day. And it is alto- gether impossible for the growers of the Bitter Root valley to dispose of their apples for enough money to keep in the business. Without an exception, every apple grower questioned had the same reply to the question: “What is the matter with apples.” Cvery one said: “Marketing conditions.” The plain facts of the matter are that under present conditions the Bitter Root apple growers can’t sell their product for enough money to keep in the game. But these same apples, pur- chased largely by commission men and ssing through the hands of two or three middlemen before they get to the consuming public, are sold at re- tail at such prices that the ordinary consumer can't afford to buy them. AFPLE GROWERS HAVE BiG PROBLEM The Bitter Root valley is a natural apple growing section. It is a beauti- ful valley extendng south from Mis- soula, with hills and mountains cover- ed with coniferous trees on either side and a wide stream, with water clear as crystal, running through it supplying moisture to the farms and ranches on either side. Besides the orchards there are broad fields of clover and al- falfa, sugar beets and grain, sheep and hog pastures, while many of the ranchers, who went there with the idea of mak- ing Dbig profits with little work, have put up farm residences far above the style that Dakota wheat growers are able to afford. But the resi- dences don’t rep- resent the finan- X - cial standing of the ranchers, in most instances. The .men in ‘the apple growing game are up against the same problems that face the wheat grower, in many cases worse problems. " The apple grower has-a bigger invest- Montana, and the Struggle of the Orchardists for Markets Bearing Alexander apple tree. Logan ranch, Burnt Fork Creek, Bitter Root valley. plenty of fine fruit like this. The trouble ment_ to start with. Most of the irri- gated land is held at around $200.-to for seven or eight years. interest at § per cent, the orchard rep- comes when they try to sell it. Counting resents an’investment of between $500 $260° per acre. 1t costs an orchardist and $600 an acre before it is in bearing. $40 an acre the first yeéar to plant his trees and care for them. After that his yearly expenses will range from $25 to $35 an acre, increasing gradually, for seven years. ’I;he orchards do not begin bearing on a commercial scale Three-year:old apple tree in Bitter Root valley. The Bitter Root Valley Irriga- tion company used this picture to “prove” to easterners that a three-year-old, tree would bear fruit on a commercial scale. 'They plcked the apples from an older tree and tied them onto this tree with thread. This is why a During thm time -the only way the rancher has of _ supporting him- self is by growing Experlence has shown that while voluntary what alfalfa, clo- co-operation will solve many problems, there is often a tendency for the big fellows to drop | rovs out, leaving the little fellows alone to handle a difficult game as best they can. system of public ownership of marketing ma- chinery, which makes the same provisions for the little man and the big man, is considered | wreat erower much the better plan by economists. ver or potatoes he can between the After the or- chard is .in bear- ing, or is suppos- ed to Dbe, the grower takes the same chances with weather that the does. In irriga- ted lands there is no fear of drouth, but there is hail and frost to guard against. Also there are specific diseases of apples, such as blight and scale, which are as bad as rust and smut with the wheat grower. POTATOES HIS BEST “CROP OF APPLES” The writer talked with C. P. Frost of Corvallis, who has a 20-acre apple or- chard, eight years old. Last year Mr. Frost expected to get his first crop, but the hail came along and it was virtually a failure. This year, at blossoming time, Mr, Frost counted on a produc- ton of two carloads, or 1200 fifty-pound boxes.. ‘But a late frost came.along and if Mr, Frost gets 300 boxes he said he would be well satisfied. This won’'t pay for the cost of the labor. -on his land. “What: is. the best you h'we been able to-do with your orchard?”’ 1 asked Mr. Frost. “The best T have been able to do is raise potatoes between the rows,” Mr. Frost said. Some of the apple growers, whe-came to the country early and got raw land at $40 to $50 an acre have been able to get bearing orchards with less ex- penditure than the average and with some chances of making a success at the apple growing game. Rut a. good raany owners of orchard land, on the other hand, have paid far more than the land was worth and havent got bearing orchards yet. = ’ This brings me to the story of the Bitter Root Valley Irrigation company, which was organized 12 years ago as the Bitter Root District Irrigation com- PAGE FOUR The Bitter Root valley can produce - pany. It bought about 40,000 acres of valley land, constructed a big irriga- tion ditch to put water on the land and then went into the business of sub- dividing it into five, ten, twenty and forty-acre tracts and selling it to ea.st- erners. The company contracted to plant the trees and take care of them for five vears, turning them over then to the purchasers, They were then supposed to be “commercial orchards,” though as a matter of fact an orchard in the Bitter Root district is not bearing on a commercial scale until it is seven or eight years old. MUCH OF LAND NOT FIT TO USE These lands were sold under this contract for an average of about $300 per acre, though many sales were at figures as high.as $500 per acre. The sales were principally made to east- erners who wanted.to break away from city life and try farming. The com- pany employed high salaried. agents, court records showing commissions of $50 an acre on $300-acre land. The purchasers in most cases used all their carefully saved nest eggs. - The com- Ppany, in its literature, told them they could make profits of $5000 a year on ten acres of orchard land. Much of the land which the company took over was not fit for orchards or anything else. Residents of Missoula told me that the company for months had teams hauling good earth from the river banks up to some particularly stony land and put in the holes dug for the planting of trees. This would give the trees a chance to start grow=- ing and make some kind of a showing. The company built a splendid country hotel, called the Bitter Root Inn, and entertained parties of prospective in- vestors who came out to look over the lands. They kept these easterners pretty closely herded together so that they wouldn’t get much chance to-talk to the orchardists who were actually engaged in the growing of fruit. The company used all the, photo- graphs of apple growing tlmt they could get hold of. It didn't make any difference if the trees in question were miles away; they just moved them onto their tracts. by changmg the label on the picture, COMPANY BANKRUPT MILLIONS IN DEBT While T was n Missolug I' was: shown one of these pictures. -It was a picture of a three-year old apple tree, just loaded ‘with big apples. The company used this picture ‘inits advertising to