Show FRUIT GIVEN FREEl I IN VALLEY OF I 1 YAKIMA I Farmers Say It Would Not lot Pay to Ship Their TheirS I Produce S By LEE J. J SM ITS Newspaper Enterprise Association Staff Correspondent YAKIMA Wash Oct 23 Invitations Hons are being Issued b br by ranchers 1 in m the Yakima valley to free melon parties Motorists ts are arc hailed with with the the request to Tear in and help your- your self elf elt The wayfarer establishes himself in inthe inthe inthe the center of ot ota a ten-acre ten patch of lucious watermelons or and slices open one after another until antil the ultimate in melon delight Is ot obtained The small boy does not forth by starlight to coon melons ho borrows a big big- bigknife knife or a a. a gunny sack i at the farmhouse door and plunges int a melon debauch Its It's the same ame with tomatoes and sweet peppers in many sections of the valley alley IN N SEATTLE MARKETS Meanwhile J in the Seattle market canteloupe are two for a quarter and anda a slice of ot watermelon costs 15 cen cents s. s The rhe cheapest varieties of at melon sell tor f 5 cents each hero here in Yakima yet the growers cannot afford to crate and ship their product Thousands of dollars and months of hard toil toll are lost and th the ranchers hardly can understand un un- why I pack thirty-six thirty canteloupe in a aI crate explained one grower I am I paid 50 cents for foi the lot Jot in Yakima and promised the return of the crate If I 1 dont don't t happen to get the crate Im I'm ou out 26 cents for that The express rate to Seattle the nearest large market is 72 cents The commission man gets 42 cents I have been paying and a aday aday aday I day with board for packers and eve evry evey y crate of melons I 1 have shipped has res resulted in a dead loss It is I cheaper to let them rot on the v vines mes DOGS DRINK JUICE N Xo X attempt is made to charge anything inv any thing for melons or tomatoes During the week that pheasant shooting was sa vas ru n Yakima county l quenched the thirst of their dogs by hy bre breaking king open a dozen or more of big rips ripe watermelons and letting the animals ani ani- mats mals lap up the Juice The finest Quality of ot canteloupe could be carried off without price I Only the Japanese were pack ng and they made use exclusively of or orI home nome labor women and children 0 o o- o I ing the work for which the white I farmer would be compelled to pay high wages Tho heavy Yakima potato crop is I alsi als being sold at a loss the ranches ranche's say v 1 |