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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 8, 1922)
r THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX. PORTLAND. OCTOBER 8, 1922 Long Before City Folks Are Awake, Gardeners Are Marketing Their Produce. h of iutiqs J .-:-yTs uxor? - - ,c. tsKtfr-r h ii MM$&X !m '- - r -r-.... W iW4V ; life"-1- 4ii BY DeWITT HvlRRY. COMING home with the milkman is not such a Joke except to the roy 8terer. The early morning hours are periods ol feverish activity on the part of the many servants preparing for another day in a big city. The roads into the town bustle with traffic, and not all of it is of gay parties returning If am a night of jazz. The milkman and the truck gardener are coming in to supply their customers for the next day, and theirs is a serious and important part of any city's life. This matter of food is a vital necessity and when the right foods, fresh and in ample Quantities, are avail able, the happiness and success of any city are doubly assured. One of the most striking short stories of recent months was one that dealt with a small city that developed an ugly spirit of disagreement and rancor. For years this remained a mystery until a far-vi-sioned son of the town, on his return to the old home, discovered that the fault was the village baker's. This baker would save all he could in his fuel bill, with the result that the most of his bread was delivered raw and unpalatable Inside. Indigestion resulted and the populace grew ugly and there was no co operative spirit; all of the town was at loggerheads and ready to fight at the drop of the- hat. Good Food Breeds Contentment. Unquestionably food supply has a great 'deal to do with the peace, contentment end prosperity of any place. People who have to import their food and necessities are at a disadvantage with those who produce their own. How many times have you thought of the "pies that mother used to bake" or the cider that could be had on the old homestead? The proposition might not be so evident, but reflect on the fruits and vegetables tfiat you have at your table here in Ore' gon. In other communities it would arouse envy, and their recognition of the excellence of Oregon products has re sulted In the building up of a high-class export trade in this state's produce, i'ortland, in the center of a fruitful belt, possessed of a kind climate, can set a table Impossible in most other cities. But where do all these things come tromT Who grow them? When you go shopping In the morning the corner grocery already has on display erisp, fresh fruits and vegetables with the dew yet on them? Seventeen years ago the gardeners of Portland and vicinity realized that they must have some sort of a place to meet where, they could attract buyers and dis pose of their wares. At first they gath ered each morning on the streets near the plaza blocks. In front of the old courthouse, but this created a nuisance, and they had to seek other grounds. The majority of these growers were Italians there were about 35 or 0 of them and they organized a co-operative marketing corporation, calling tt the Gardeners' and Marketers' association. They set aside a certain portion of their earnings and managed to finance a huge frame struc ture covering an .entire block on Union avenue at East Madison street. Here they held forth for nearly 15 years until they outgrew the place. They Come With the Sun. Now there stands, In this same loca tion, one of the largest concrete build ings jn the city, covering the entire block, J 00x100 feet, two stories in height, with full concrete basement. This is the new building of the Gardeners' and'Market f rs' associrtion, a structure costing them in excess of a quarter of a million dol lars, and all for their own use. For most of the day it stands In seeming Idle ness, and if you want to see It teeming with action you'll have to get over there before sunrise. At 6 A. M. It is a hive ef afctiivty, and by 6 A. M. the marketer have overflowed the building and sur round it on three sides In the streets. While the present association comprises come 150 or more members on the ordi nary day In the usual season, there will be 400 or more dealers on the ground. Not only the producers come there, but all the buyers for the big grocery Ltores and the peddlers to stock UP their carts for the day's trading. It Is a mart of commerce of exceptional scope and the Quantity of produce handled through this building in any one day ,is enormous. Most of the green food of the city comes here and is distributed. Here producer meets consumer or middleman, and they create their own market and set the prices for the day that rule the entire city. All of this is regulated by well understood rules of supply and demand. The association derives its income from a dally or monthly rental charged for each stall or place in the building. Fortunes Found in Vegetables. Officials of the association, from their years of experience In the trade, estimate . that the truck gardeners who trade in their' place have 4000 or more acres lllllili S5s?w.! Ill 1. ' under cultivation. They are practical business men and understand. their game thoroughly. Many of them have amassed fortunes at it. There is no restriction In trading; any producer can come there and market his stuff. There are Italians, Americans, Chinese and Japanese. The Japanese have obtained a firm .foothold In the trade of late years, especially dur ing war times, when most of the other nationalities were engaged in helping out with the carrying on of the war. The Japanese did not go into the ship yards or Into the forests; they were not called to their flag; they stayed on the land, bought more and with the high prices that prevailed took a firm and lasting position in the trade. The Italians and Chinese have been in the gardening game here for decades. They were the original truck farmers. They have not managed to broaden their activities to the same extent that has been the case with the Japanese. The Italian and the Chinaman are hard work ers, but the Japanese puts his entire fam ily, women and all. Into the fields, and they manage to cut prices and produce cheaper. Many of the farms are 100 to 150 acres in size, and anyone who hat . L J f t L, . r turn ' i' i tried intensive farming out here on the back-yard gardening plot can realize something of the excessive labor neces sary. Early Fmlta Bring Big Money. The aim of all of the growers is early production or off-season growing. When everything is cheap is no time to market your stuff: The one who can bring In the first fruits of the season reaps the big profits. With corn at three sacks for $1, tomatoes at 15 cents a box and other vegetables In proportion, there is not much profit for the grower. A good sized load of fresh and appetizing vege tables does not bring many dollars. Many times the wagon or truck the gar deners bring In will carry as high as $200 worth of produce and $100 and $50 loads are usual. In June, with the spring berries and other early vegetables, $200 a load is not a high average. One Clack amas rancher last spring brought in 300 crates of strawberries, the first of the season, and got $5 a crate. It does not take many loads like this to pay off the mortgage on the old place, but the grow ers take what they can get. They never destroy their produce, bringing it all in ills "'"I 43 sdJS-i.v "lit 44 and taking what they can get for it in the open market. Prices are not influ enced like it is possible with the im porter, who does not hesitate, at times, to throw away carload lots when the market breaks. To be a successful, market gardener a close game is necessary. The farmer must know his soil intimately and make the most of it. He must know what crops do the best and specialize to a cer tain extent Then he must have enough rotation to refresh his soil without rely ing on expensive fertilizers. The land near Portland is exceptionally rich, and this places the city in an enviable posi tion. Produce is always low In cost, there Is plenty of It, and the city table does not have to do without seasonal delicacies. This has the world and all to do with a contented populace and health. A great deal of credit Is due the truck gardeners for their work along this line. Their farms nestle as close as they can get to the city limits, and they are making the surrounding territory a vast garden plot. Already the city is stepping Into the role of an exporter, end it is only a question of a short time until it Is able to send a goodly quan -tt tity of farm produce away, importations of green stuffs are on the decline, and with the production of new land, such as that Just reclaimed from the Colum bia to the north, there should be no ne cessity for any shipments into Portlsnd. Cornucopia of Plenty Here. To get an idea of a real horn of plenty, a visit to this huge mart of trade in the oarly morning would be necessary. Most of the stuff that is later displayed at the publfc market first reaches the city from here. As the city grows the pro ducers place new areas Into production. Their claims to a better grade of produce than can be had in any other city 'on the coast are sustained by comparison. 'This Important matter of supplying a city with food is vital. Feeding an army has its difficulties, and the immense quantity of green vegetables and fruits needed is astounding. Families est but a small quantity each, but the aggregate lb enormous. These producers are amply able to supply the needs of Portland and have been doing it satisfactorily for years. While the association is in a sense a private enterprise, it caters to all the growers and buyers in the district and practically has a corner on the trade. A few commission houses import thlr ont-cf-season stuff to the west side of th river, and Front street Is yet another great section for this class of trade. But those two places are not a great deal In com petition. They deal with different va rieties of produce. Some plans lately have been made to have the Front-ntrtet commission broker district moved to the east side, and promoters already are en gaged in the forming of a huge corpora tion to develop several blocks exclusively for their use. This may be werkd out In short time, and then It will centralize the efforts of this line of trde In one section. The sssoctatlon buildings have railroad sidings Installed and are pre pared to handle outside shipments. As assets to a community the garden ers take high rank. They are excellent examples of producers of wealth, taking their profits from the land, making their raw acres pay dividends. With the rapid Increase in population they have ben put to their utmost to keep pace with the demand. They are men who know their line, who have devoted a life to specialization, and the majority of them are either in comfortable circumstance or on the way to riches. We do not psy much attention to the peddler who comes to the side door or who offers his wsres in the market stall, bat he Is often In much better circumstances than the av erage customer he serves. Steers Help Build Airship. CLOSE to two million cattle will eon tribute to the making of the ZR-1, the huge airship now being built by th U. S. navy. The part that they take In the construction of th most modern form of transportation through furnish ing "gold beater akin" for the airship forms a new chapter in the romance of Industry. Oold beater skin Is nothing more nor less than a small tough section of the intestine of a steer. It got its nam from the middle ages when goldsmiths discov ered that by putting gold between two strips of this skin they could hsramer it for dsys. makjng the finest gold leaf without tearing the skin. Its great strength, along with Its light ness of texture and the further fact that It permitted less diffusion of gss than any other known substsnce, recommend ed It for balloon work. This was trl'd out in England before and during the war and proved successful. The ZR-1 is the first American air ship to be constructed using the gold beater skin. It is a companion to the Ill fated Englisb-built ZR-2 that went down in the Humbcr. river near the city of Hnll a year and a half ago. The grrat packing houses of Chicago, Kansas City and of South America are setting aside for the ZR-1 all the gold bester skin segment nf the intestines ef all the cattle kl!ld aid send thm sslted In a brine to the work shop at Akron.