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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 3, 1963)
& Oft MMO M VJ TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1963 eteran Packets Reflect On Fruit Processing Changes Bv MARY ALICE BIIUSHA The Rogue Valley's oldest in dustry is the pear harvest, and the multitude of workers em ployed in this crop annually are the packing house employees. Some of the veteran workers are still around and still working Others are retired. Within the thirteen local plants are found packers who remember their beginning days. Clarence Pankcy,' now re tired, spent 55 years in the pear industry and started as a packer at Central Point m 1908. He re- calls the early days with a chuckle. "The weight of each box was a flat 52 pounds. The packer sorted, sized and packed the fruit. After a packer had pack ed 50 boxes he had to go home for the day. Pankcy moved from the packing bench that paid four cents a box to the lid ding job. He later went to work for Raymond Reter where he was employed as a packing fore man. He was promoted to pack ing superintendent, a job he held until his retirement from the Reter Fruit company several years ago. Walked To Work Ray Reter said he first be came involved with the pear business when a lad of 16 years. He walked to and from work un til he could save enough money to buy himself a bicycle. He didn't have to dodge the cars in those days, just the holes in the graveled road, and had to stay out of the way of wagon teams and horses. The lady packers were transported to and Hit-'?' ... ' : ... " "Apt- r s Sk Y" ' A BULL EXPERIMENT Gene Brown, (far right), shows off his bull calves. The experiment being conducted in Josephine county indicates Dulls gain more rapidly Wheat Program Deadline Nearing Time Is short for wlntor wheat producers to consider how their wheat plantings may affect their participation in the 1054 feed grain program, Chairman Albert Straus of the Jackson County Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation (County) commit tee, rcminde:! growers today. New 4-H Market Prograi im Set For State Fair Corvallis A new 4-H live stock marketing program Is planned for the 1013 Oregon Slaie Fair in an effort to in crease understanding of m a r krt demand for meat a n I m als among 4-H members, reports Glenn Klein, Oregon State uni versity state 4-11 extension agent and former Jackson county 4-H agent. For the first time, 4-H mem bers who sell Ihclr beef, sheep or swine will have a chance to see how the animal dresses out, Klein said. All 4-H animals will vbo sold to Mt. Angel Meat com pany on the basis of live grade. In the past, 4-11 animals have been sold through t h e North Portland livestock yards. The animals will be taken to Ml. Angel from the fairgrounds Thursday, Sept. 5. On Saturday, Sept. 7, 4-H members and oth ers interested will go to Mt. Angel to learn why their ani mals graded out as they did. 1 Condiirllng Program Conducting the evaluation pro gram, starting at 10 a.m., will be John Landers, OSU animal srienco specialist, and Bert Ebner, meat company owner. They will use whole carcasses as well as meat already cut up to Illustrate how livestock is graded after slaughter. Using the finished product as an example, the Saturday pro gram Is designed to increase the club member's knowledge of livestock production and marketing, Klein said. Such fac tors as selecting the right ani mal to feed and the Importance of proper rations for best re sults to suit market demands will be stressed. SLAUGHTER PLANTS Salem Slaughter plant coming under tha Oregon Da- fiartment of Agriculture's meat nspection program handled more animals during the second quarter of 1963 than during eithrr the first quarter of 1963 or the second quarter of 1962. from work either in wagons or surreys. Bob Root of the Myron Root company, began his packing career under the supervision of Pankcy. It seems he was left in the foot bin, size 195's, until he learned how to pack. A week before school started he was moved up one bin to the ISO's. Fannie Whitman, recalling the pioneer days, said the pack ing season was of longer dura tion. It began in August, lasting into January. The packer had no paper needle to hold the paper in place then. The loose paper was placed on the left side of the packer. For finger stalls, the packer wore a rubber band around her thumb. The pack was different from the pack to-day. The first layer was packed in one direction and the next layer reversed. The pack ing hours were long. At five cents a box her biggest day was $5.50. At Southern Oregon Sales Mrs. Velma Singler, who was employed for 35 years with Southern Oregon Sales says she believes the only two places In the Dackins house she nasn t tit led are at the dumping and lid ding machines. She clearly remembers the first packing benches she used, The benches were not movable, When the packer moved up the belt she had to pick up her box and move onto the next Dencn. The fruit was brought to the packer on a wide belt, The packer sized her own fruit for packing. Velma was employed for wan (leers for the meat market. Tho chairman said that manv wheat farmers in the county are also feed grain producers and as a result are eligible to par ticipate In the 1054 feed grain program by diverting feed grain acreago out of production. Ite noted the drop in 1964 wheat prices as reflected by the present wheat futures market. currently, the judgment of the market Is a July 1064 Kansas City wheat futures price of around $1.55 per bushel. This price, adjusted to a farm level, reflects a wheat price of about $1.25 to $1.30 per bushel. Under Heavy Pressure A 1964 crop in excess of cur rent disappearance of about 1.3 billion bushels for domestic and export use will undoubtedly put neavy aownwara pressure on wheat prices, probably forcing prices down to a feed price level as ine supply seeks a consump, tion outlet. Chairman Straus pointed out that tho 1004 feed grain program has been designed to reduce pos sible expansion of overall grain acreage. The program provides an effective guide for farmers to follow in keeping their overall crop acreages In 1964 reasonably in line wnn expected needs. Range Growth Aided by Moth C O r V a 1 lis Manas0ma.nl plans are needed to take full advantage of the possibilities for range improvement being offered by the sagebrush de foliating moth now devastating sage throughout much of East ern Oregon, reports Dillard Gates, Oregon State university extension range management specialist. The moth (Aroaa Websterl) Is working on an estimated six to seven million acres of sagebrush rangeland. Areas badly Infested In 1962 show evidence of an al most complete kill of sage, but it is still too early to determine the final effects, Gates said. Older, stsgnated ssge stands ap pear to be the most vulnerable. However, he cautions, range owners, managors and users need to be ready to act to take 4 ' full advantage of the altuallon.jof all the packers from the plo- which is much like having large areas of the range chemically treated to kill sagebrush. Gates urges that where sage has been killed, range managers take a serious look at the pos sibilities of seeding the area with adapted forage species, primarily crested whoatgrass. t o many years as an instructor at the local packing school. She thinks there have been some 2,200 students taught how to pack at the school since it was first started 25 years ago. Like Pankcy, Velma has retired from the industry, she says she en- joyed every minute of it. Stu dents In high school and cot lege have been able to earn money which enabled them to help with the expenses of their education. Young housewives helped meet household needs with their pay checks from the pear harvest, Florence Drake of Phoenix said she learned to pack in an orchard packing house minus all the modern conveniences. In 1921 she was hired by the Bear Creek Orchards and continued to pack there for 27 years. She says the sizing in those early days was the problem. A pack' er had to be almost an artist in order to work. It was nothing lo see several unfinished boxes sitting around on the floor with only one layer in the box. The packer packed a few pears in one then the other. Only the exact size could be used In each individual box because of the weight required by the manage ment, The spray dope was wiped from the pears with the gloves worn by the sorters. After packing the gloves were wash ed by the men and hung up to dry for use again the following day. The hours were long, 12 through the week, five on Satur day, and during the peak of the season all day Sunday. At Rogue River The present packing super visor for the Rogue River Or chards is Mrs. Jess (Vera) Cum mings. She has been an em ployee of the company for 23 years. Beginning as a packer, she worked for Elmer Adams who retired a few years ago. She has never packed for any other shipper, and la ol this date the oldest employee. . Lloyd Caton, the packing su perintendent for the Myron Root company began his em ployment with the firm back in 1933 as a packer. In 1937 he was hired on a permanent ba sis. His promotion to superin tendent soon followed. Once there were three generations of one family packing for the company in the same season. Nora Baker and Ethel Hocker smith were two of the original packers. Both have since re tired from packing. In 1938 the Myron Root com' pany purchased a sizing ma chine from the Food Machi nery company. That machine is still in use at the plant. Other than the addition or new tubs and a few minor repairs it is the same, The first sizing machine brought to the valley was In 1917, It was set up lor the Par sons and Barwell Fruit com pany and was manufactured by the Cutler Manufacturing com pany of Portland. This parti cular type of machine was de vised for apples, and according to Raymond Reter, It wasn't successful in sizing pears. The Cutler machine sited by weight, The first successful diver gent slier was brought to the valley in 1928 and was devised by Floyd (Cookie) Cook. Happy day for the packers- no more picking, waiting for me correct size. The only worry after that was the weight of the box after it was packed. Jim Semple, packing super intendent for the Nye and Nau mes company, was once a packer himself. He began at the Newberry company In 1938. A student in high school at that time most of his earn ings went towards his educa tion. After a few years as fruit Inspector for the state ,'lm was hired by the Nye and Naumcs company. Jim be lieves that Mrs. Dora Blan ched, a packer, has been with the firm longer than any of the other employees. However, the packing fore man Manual (Red) Llebman of that company, is one of the vet eran packers of the valley pear Industry. Mrs. Mabel Penland, the packing superintendent for the Modoc orchards, la also a for mer packer. However, she be gan packing In California in the apples and oranges In 1929. For over 20 years she has been with the firm. She Is also the supervisor for the local pear packing school. Marjorle Tear son has the record tor the long' est time In the packing opera' lions at Modoc. George Anderson, luperUv tendent for the the Gorden Green company said their vet- eran packers are A. C. Puckett and Mr. and Mrs. Harry Rasmussen. The plant, for merly known as Stagecoach Orchards, la now In operation In the old Modoc packing house on Fir at. This Is not a complete list neer dayof the Industry, only a few, but of the hundreds of persons employed In the pear harvest all tem to .hues a certain project In mind. The wages earned by the house wives, high schnol and college students are S(ent right here in the valley. ( MEDFORD s - fit' i " 1 f lr ll h fi mm CORN INSPECTED Experimental crop of corn planted as part of an irrigation and crop research project financed by Pacific Power & Light and conducted by Oregon State university special ists on the Glenn L. Jackson farm in Linn county was inspected Tuesday by Dr. Dan Evans, left, OSU soils physicist, and Glenn Jackson, Medford, owner of the farm east of Albany. Five-year program seeks to learn ways of raising higher-value crops on so-called "wet soils" of western Oregon, to add to agricultural economy of Oregon. NEW ROOTSTOCK The F12-1 rootstocK which are bacterial canker tolerant and are being used to propagate new cherry varieties are being grown behind the office of the Southern Ore gon branch experiment station on Hanley rd. These were shown to approximately 30 farmers and visitors touring the station last week. DHIA Shows Gains In Milk Production Dairy cows have been pro-1 ducing about three per cent more milk, on the averago, than they produced the year before each year since 1950 according! to Earle Jossy, county extension agent. Each year since 1950 dairy cattle in the United States have increased the amount of milk produced per head by three por cent. This amounts to a 36 per cent increase in production por cow in the 12-year period. The number of cows kept for milk has decreased each of those years so the total milk pro-i uced has increased only slightly One reason for increased pro ducing efficiency of individual cows is the Increased use by dairymen of the dairy herd im provement records. Cows in herds on the D.H.I.A. program average well above the national average for production of milk and butterfat. The Dairy Hord Improvement association in Jackson County Medford Area Gets New Vet Salem Three veterinarians with the meat Inspection serv ices of the Oregon Department of Agriculture will shift their locations. Dr. Ernest Watkins, who has been at Eugene and with the department since Novemb e r, 1961, will go to Medford the first of September to serve the Southwest Oregon area former ly served by Dr. Charles Lukor. Dr. Luker resigned to take a position with the screw worm control program In Texas. Filling the position at Eugene will be Dr. W. R. Joneschild, who joined the department in April, 1962, and has been at Al bany. The Albany post will go to Dr. Richard H. Jurdin. He has been working out of McMlnn villa since joining the depart ment In May. For the present the McMlnnville position will re main vacant, with the work done by men out of the Salem office and a temporary employer. MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD, OREGON is made up of a group of dairy farmers who bond together to hire and pay a man to weigh the milk from their cows once each month. Each cow's milk is tested for butterfat content and a record of production pro vided for the herd owner. Record Valuable This record is valuable. It points out the low producing cows which may be eliminated from the herd. It points out the high producing cows and fami lies of cows from which replace ment heifers can be kept. It is useful in determining an effi cient feeding program. It also tells the dairyman how his herd compares with the other herds in tho area. Twenty-two herds are active in the Jarkson County associa tion. In June 1399 cow records were prepared. The Jackson County association was one of the first in Oregon to have all records processed on IBM cal culators. This service is avail able through Washington State university and provides a very complete and accurate record. Agate Dairy of Central Point has the honor of being the top producing herd for June, the average production per cow be ing 1554 lbs. of milk and 54 lbs. of butterfat for the thirty day period. Following In order of production for June are herds owned by Jake Vander Stoel, Jackson ville; John O'Brien, Jacksonville; Edgeoaks Dairy, Eagle Point; and Bob Burk. Eagle Point. The top row fr the month produced 16.551 Iks. of milk and 563 lbs. of butterM in 305 days. She Is ownc y Don Gercn. Eagle Point. STOCKMEN FEED PELLETS Your coarse or unpalatable roughage will make bast tor a modern balanced ration that you can (tad with little labor and no wastage. Tht incraaitd meal or milk pro duced will girt you mail mum mums on small cash Investment. MORTON MIUINO CO. S00 Rstt lane, Medford Dairy Foods Drop in 1962; Cheese Up Salem Oregon plants man ufacturing dairy products used less whole milk in 1962 than in 1961 but nationwide there was a slight increase in the amount of whole milk used in manufac tured dairy products. Totals supplied the Oregon de partment of agriculture by the U.S. Department of Agriculture showed an estimated 64 billion pounds of milk used nationally in manufacturing dairy prod ucts. This was an increase of one per cent above 1961. Oregon's 491,616.000 pounds of milk used were three per cent below the 1961 use. In Oregon the butter plants used 44 per cent of the total manufacturing milk and Amer ican cheese plants 33 per cent. Other manufactured dairy prod ucts used the remainder. Butter Drops Oregon butter production in 1962 dropped seven per cent be low 1961 and cheese production that year showed a two per cent decline from the previous year. On the other hand ice cream production was two per cent above the 1961 figure. Total buttre production for Or egon in 1962 was 11,546,000 pounds, compared with 12,423, 000 in 1961. The 1962 figure for cheese production was 20,008,000 pounds, while the previous year it was 20,320,000 pounds. Ice cream production reached the 5,679,000 gallon mark in 1962. Nationally the production of Italian cheese, cream cheese and other than Cheddar types of whole milk American cheese was at a record high in 1962. Also topping all previous rec ords in 1962 were creamed cot tage cheese, ice milk, Mcllorine type frozen desserts, nonfat dry milk for human food, dry whey and plain condensed skimmed milk. OREGONIAN NAMED Salem Paul Rowell, chief of the Agricultural Development Division of the Oregon Depart ment of Agriculture, has been appointed chairman of a three man task force to make a study of marketing and transportation matters that might need the at tention of the Western Associa tion of State Departments of Agriculture. (Gimimg (CdD(Dip The Best Place for FARMERS and RANCHERS to Trade For ALL Your Feed, Fertilizers, Petroleum and Farm Supplies For Fast, Friendly Service Locally Owned Locally Controlled Locally Financed Owned by Its MEMBERS and OPERATED for Their BENEFIT Hiway,99 n 0 CENTRAL POINT Ph. 664-1261 or 773-4022 SHARES CANDY Julienne Essen, 3, shares ter Oaks, Calif., and a Los Angeles county her candy with a yearling from her father s fair exhibitor, holds the animal. (UPI) Hereford ranch. Her dad, Jene Essen of Char- Care of Berries Follows Harvest By DON BERRY County Agent Care and training of trailing berries such as boysenberries, blackberries and loganberries should be continued even after harvest. Training the canes during Au gust will give a six to eight week period for the new canes to "harden off" on the wires be fore cold weather occurs. Al though canes which are on the ground are not as exposed and therefore are less subject to winter injury than the canes put up on the wires many growers prefer to put the canes up after harvest. Cleaning out all of the old canes and burning them will help to reduce the amount of leaf and cane spot disease in the field next year. Canes which have been put up on the wires in the fall may be sprayed with a bordeaux or fixed copper spray in the fall to help prevent disease. Also, chemical weed control is easier to apply on canes which are already on wires. Washington ( UPI ) Moham med Zahir Shah, ruler of Af ghanistan, arrives in the United States Wednesday on a 12-day gct-acquainlcd visit to promote friendship for his mountain kingdom. GRANGE 14 5Jt CENTRAL POINT jMW dnirapge -iimf(J f Y'l IS Negro Student, White Man Wed New York (UPI) The first Negro girl admitted to the Uni versity of Georgia married a white Southern student at the university last spring, it was disclosed today. Charlayne Hunter, whose ar rival on the Georgia camplus two years ago touched off riot ing, was reported to have se cretly wed Walter Stovall, son of a Douglas, Ga., mill ex ecutive. The couple expect a baby in December, according to the New York Times, which pub lished an interview with them today. Miss Hunter, 21, and her "5-year-old husband are living in a one-room apartment in Green wich Village. A journalism ma jor at the university, she moved to New York after graduation and became an editorial assis THIBENZOLE DRENCH Sheep and Goaf Wormer NOW AT NEW LOW PRICES Pre- fob Was paid Port'd Plairic Pack (drenches 33 ewes) per pack 6.35 5.00 4.35 Container 19 packs! per container 50.00 38.95 38.00 Case ot 4 Containers per container 49.00 37.54 37.00 LAPGs STOCK IMMEDIATE DELIVERY (Containers may be used for mixing drench) PACIFIC WOOL GROWERS 734 N.W. 14th Ave. Portland, Oregon 97209 CA 7-2631 REMEMBER . . . You don't have to be a MEMBER to trade here and SAVE. ... ,. i' : (CudDji) 421 A Street ASHLAND Phone 482-2143 11 Jo tant on the New Yorker maga zine. Stovall worked for the At 1 lanta Journal during the sum I mer, and arrived in New York j Friday. "This is the end of the world, waiter quotea nis la ther George Stovall, as saying when he learned of the mar riage. In Atlanta, Mrs. Althea Hun ter, Charlayne's mother, con firmed her daughter was mar ried but gave no details. WOULD BAR MARTELLI London (UPI) Britain an nounced Monday night it has asked the European Atomic Agency not to renew the em ployment of Italian scientist Dr. Giuseppe Martelli, who was tried and found innocent of charges of preparing to spy for Russia. (
