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Show ALL DUNN by Roy Dunn HOWDY FOLKS By the time yen read this, man will have left his footprints on the surface of the moon and we all pray for their safe return to mother earth. And while they are gone, Utah will celebrate cele-brate the 24th of July as jsual and that's the way it should be, and will be. And as Apollo II's astronauts speed toward the moon, all other oth-er news is dwarfed by such a feat. But life must go on for the earth-bound folks and if we stand in awe of the prospects of a man walking on the moon, it doesn't lessen our problems any and your boss is going to be just as demanding as ever. So is the finance company. If we think we have problems (and maybe you have) we are not alone in our misery. Consider Con-sider the fruit growers of Utah County. Now they have a king-sized king-sized problem, but most folks have hardly given it a second thought, and if they did, it was fleeting. I'm talking about what all that rain did to the sweet cherry cher-ry crop. How all the water caused the prime fruit to "split" and become unfit for market. For most of the growers grow-ers it must have been like raking ra-king up all the money you could beg, borrow and earn in order to get your house biult only to stand helplessly by and witch it burn to the ground before be-fore any insurance was in force. But there is one slight difference, insurance cannot be boughton a fruit crop. My fiiend who informed me of this Is a grower with thirty acres of' sweet cherry trees and six of soui, or "pie cherries," but he had much more to sav cvveet cherries per acre can be expected at harvest and this yeai the outlook was better than it has been for many years but the rains came. And the growers stood under the dripping leaves and watched watch-ed as all their work and monye soaked into the ground at their feet. And this year the damage was worse than most can remember. re-member. If the damage is more than 407,, it doesn't pay to harvest the other 607,, for the Muir-Roberts Muir-Roberts Company who are the shippers have inspectors who will not accept more than 15', culls in any given lot. Cherries that are not accepted could be sold to the California wineries for which they will pay five cents per pound, but that's what the growers pays the pickers. The shippers pay 13 cents per pound, but the fiuit must be first quality and anything any-thing less is not accepted. Sour cherriers are bending the limbs with a bumper crop but the prospects for a good price is dim and the growers ccsts are higher all the time even as you and I. A 12-foot ladder now costs $30 and still people wonder why the grower don't want to hire a 12 year old picker who can only pick 40 to 50 pounds a day using a $30 ladder. "I have one more question," ques-tion," I said. My friend, the grower, had been drawing abstract ab-stract designs in the dust with a stick. He looked up. "Does the government pay you guys a subsidy?" He tossed the stick away. "No they don't. But things will be better next year." SEE YA'ALL LATER with a little prodding from me. Maybe I could be called "Nosey" "No-sey" but I found out a few things about this little red fruit. I found that (usually) from April 5th to May 31st is the time for watching the thermometer, ther-mometer, day and night, 24 hours a day, for the frost will collect on the fragile blossoms blos-soms if you as much as nod your head in sleep. So it is during this time that sleep is gotten in relays and the growers are relieved if they saved their crops from the frost for if nothing more happens, they just might break even and some dare hope to make a little money maybe. The average cost of installing the L.P. gas heaters is $115.50 each and it takes fifty of these heaters per acre to protect their orchards. The gas to fire them costs much to, too much, depending on how much they are fired. Of course there is the cost of fertilizer which costs about fifty dollars per acre, and the pruning and cultivating and the cost of laboi for all these things. But all this is does not include the spraying and the chemicals and the machinery are not given to them. They are expensive ver yexpen-sive. yexpen-sive. Under normal conditions, seven sev-en to eight tons of sour cherries, cher-ries, and eight to ten tons of |