Fruit Production in Northern California

Duration: 12:00

Year Published: 1958

Creator: Wes Dempsey

Complete Record: SILENT FILM. Hand printed NOTES fastened to a clip board are filmed like inter titles between different shots. APRICOTS. LS farmer in apricot orchard. Example of Pit Burn of Apricots. CU of apricot halves with pointer showing example of fruit in which the temperature reached above 90 degrees. Individual apricots singled out. CU of temperature graph, and MS of farmer and CU of apricot tree. NOTE: ”Temp. Inside the fruit often reach 130 degrees F! when air temp. reaches 105 degrees F.” MS farmer climbing on ladder in apricot tree and then picking. MS shot of farmer dumping of basket of apricots in box. Apricots are not ripe. CU of box. Label on box reads: CALIF. CORRECTION . . . INDUSTRIES, FOLSOM. NOTE: “Apricot Receiving Station For Transfer to Cannery Trucks. Winters.” LS fruit boxes being unloaded from flat bed truck onto lift tractor. Tractor takes boxes to a central pile of boxes. Boxes labeled HEINZ on short end, and 57 on long side. LS shot of open boxes of ripe fruit in Heinz 57 boxes. NOTE: “Packages of Apricots & Plums for Eastern, etc. markets.” MS shot of female hands holding smaller crate (not lug box shown previously) labeled “California Apricots.” Girl flip the box to show label on other side that reads: “Creme de Menthe, Royal Apricots.” CU girls opening this box to show the packing materials. Apricots look green, but this might be a color development/exposure issue. MS of girls selecting an apricot and enjoying eating them. Regular alignment of fruit in box is impressive. CU another small box with printed label: “Mayflower, California Fruits, Produce of U.S.A., Grown and packed by Mayflower fruit Ass’n., Exeter, California.” To side of this label is a stamped label: “4 X 5 Beauty. Net Wt. 27 lbs.” This box is similarly opened (as box above) -- to show packing method -- exposing a quartered packing method with plums at various stages of ripening. Each quarter of the larger container can be lifted out separately in a light wooden box. Plum picked up and examined for its color and firmness. NOTE: “Grading apricots for maturity by color, San Jose” MS shot of lug boxes of apricots lined up. Man is squatting nearby with cart of color and ripeness that enables him to accurately grade the fruit. He points out different fruit and points to chart. CU branch holding apricots. MS of lug boxes labeled “M.O.” on the short end placed four deep on a flat bed trailer in front of a fruit shed. MS man driving lift tractor with six lug boxes being transported inside the fruit shed. Although it is dark inside the shed and not properly exposed, fruit sorters are standing next t a long table with flat sorting pans. LS of the shed and how the apricot sorting is handled by the workers. LS two men open one of the several garage door enclosures made of cement blocks. H removes a pile of the flat sorting pans. CU of a pan of sulfur and several paper bags, labeled as manufactured under the name of “Anchor” sulfur. LS of man pushing a cart (on floor tracking) of stacked flat sorting pans and lug boxes into a shed full of the pans with apricots on the floor drying. MS of two men moving a ladder in the orchard. LS of shed with two men setting the pans on the floor in order. CU and LS of drying shed with boxes and boxes of dried apricots. MS shot of pans tilted and open to the sun. LS man pushing flat pans of dried fruit into a yard full of stacked pans. The cement brick building where the sulfur is stored is stored, is to his right. We do not see the sulfuring process. Shot of two very cute children (boy and girl) sitting on grass. Boy has a squirt gun. Girl is eating from a bag of dried apricots. APPLES. CU sign that reads “Gravenstein Apple Growers Co-op.” LS view of processing yard. Another smaller sign reads: “Sebastopol Co-op Canning Plant. Home of the Apple Time Apple Sauce. Main Office & Warehouse/Back (with arrow). Phone number (four digits, no area codes!). Sebastopol, Calif.” LS view of processing yard full of lug boxes and orchard collecting boxes (large, wooden), and man driving lift tractor. CU of lug box stamped label: “A. Gerhardt, Sebastopol.” Others hard to read. Shot continuity takes us inside processing shed where the large collecting boxes are being dumped into a machine. MS apples moving by all sorts of conveyor belts and into water baths. Then outside shot of apples going into a large vat. At factory with steam. Cans of apple sauce being shot out of the canning factory and boxed in paper cartons that say 303 cans. Labels are pointed out. Label reads: “Fancy Grade, Apple Time Apple Sauce.” LS Zimpher’s Fruit, Frozen Cider fruit stand. Old cars under spreading tree. LS in apple orchard: Flat bed truck full of lugs of apples. Two men at side of truck. Tractor and Oldsmobile car (?). VLS of Sebastopol landscape panned with orchards and hills in background. CU full lug of apples with stamped box id: “Garbro Ranch.” Shot tilts up to worker descending and moving ladder from tree. NOTE: “Gravensteins, Sebastopol.” CU of worker’s upper leg to show apple sizing wire hanging off his belt. Worker bends to pick up two apples and demonstrates how the apples are sized with the wire device. LS of Mexican workers bending under trees to pick up apples. Distinctive apple gathering sack hangs from shoulder. LS and CU man with shirt off twisting a drill into the ground to lay out soil samples. He then handles the soil for testing of some sort. Moisture content? NOTE: “Bulk Handling of Apples for Applesauce, Sebastopol.” LS in orchard. Pan to lift tractor with large wooden box of apples. Three men in background. Shot of these large wooden boxes being moved and sitting on dirt. Shot of same big boxes on back of flat bed trailer going through the apple rows. Man near tree is lifting lugs of apples to a man in the large boxes. The man in the box dumps the apples in with him. MS of large box of apples on ground being “topped off” with workers bringing in more lugs to dump in bin. CU of apples in bin. Man reaches in and wipes apple on his shirt before taking a big bite. Camera tilts on this shot. NOTE: “Breakage in apples due to improper spacing of scaffolds.” [There is a diagram in this note, but it is hard to know what it means.] Two MS of broken main branches of apple trees. NOTE: “Fireblight Disease (Bacteria), Sebastopol.” Man takes a branch of an apple tree, and cuts it off to show how the dead part relates to the live part. He pares the branch down as if to show how the disease travels from the end of the branch downward towards the trunk. NOTE: Watsonville Orchards. Apples, Plums, Pears. Aerial view of the Watsonville growing area. NOTE: Yellow Delicious pollinates Red Delicious. Intercrops of Bean & Boysenberries. LS of man in orchard. Then MS to Red and Yellow trees. Berries are growing down the rows. CU man holds three apples and polishes them on his shirt. It is clear to see that red and yellow apples combine colors. NOTE: “Hilltop Plum Orchard, Shallow soil over heavy clay. Watsonville.” Pan of the hilltop plum orchard with hills in background. CU of soil tests where cores from the soil are compared. Then systems of irrigation are shown -- water tower and series of wooden slues. Another alternative is releasing ditch water from pipes. NOTE: Strawberries, Watsonville. System of irrigation of strawberries. Water is drawn from pipes and directed through a series of wooden slues to irrigation rows between the plants. Handmade dams are opened up to let water flow. Pan from hill of strawberry fields in Watsonville. PEACHES. NOTE: Shot of water burbling up from open pipe and directed by ditches between the peach trees. NOTE: Inspecting cling peaches. Gridley. GMC flat bed truck pulls through shed yard. Tractor with two flat bed trailers are pulled up to inspection in front of shed. Workers stand by and look at boxes. Shot broadens to show the GMC on the other side of the shed. Man pulls out a printed card that has grading code. CU of card. Man goes to side of GMC laden with boxes and points out other factors on card and others. He then climbs up the boxes and chalks a code on the side of the boxes. MS of men emptying a box of peaches onto a table that has a funnel at one end. Peaches are sorted and culled. Then peaches are pushed through funnel back into a box. CU various types of grading issues: Bruises can be measured; soft sections evaluated. Peaches sliced to show variability. MS of culled peaches (the unacceptable ones) are put into a bucket measured and weighed. Card filled out. Lift tractor gets another vertical row of boxes off a truck and transferred to flat bed trailer pulled by tractor. All MS and all showing men working at different tasks. NOTE: Bulk handling equipment for cling peaches. Gridley. LS multiple ladders leaning against trees. MS Mexican workers climbing up ladders into the trees. Instead of cloth collecting bags they use galvanized buckets to which is attached a cloth top that they hang from their shoulders. Bags are emptied into large container next to each tree. LS of larger containers under trees. Shot in shed yard of forklift taking one box from a clump of boxes to dump into a metal vat area where there is a conveyor belt that carries peaches upward. CU from point of view of the peaches coming out of the box. They are actually going into a vat of water that has some pressure sprays. CU shot of peaches traveling up conveyor belt. MS The peaches arrive at a level conveyor belt where there are various sorters at work. CU sorting process. Sorted peaches shoot out to another large box. LS of yard with a lot of activity of moving boxes around and peaches traveling up conveyor belts. PRUNES. MS of prunes on trees. Tilt down tree to bare chested worker picking up prunes from the ground. MS of bare chested worker shaking prune tree with a long forked pole. LS shot of a couple of workers moving tarps around under the trees to catch prunes that fall from the shaking. CU of tarps being emptied into buckets. NOTE: Breakage in prunes due to: (1) Poorly spaced scaffolds; (2) saw pruning; (3) overbearing. Trees are shown with branch breakage, boards propping up branches, and dirt collected in crotch of tree that a worker removes. NOTE: Brown Rot and splits on French Prunes. CU hands holding and showing rot and splits. IMPERIAL VARIETY, Napa Valley. CU hands picking prunes and holding them to camera. MS worker rapidly picking tree. LS looking down row of prune trees with tractor in front, ladders up, workers, etc. MS emptying sacks into lug boxes. Workers picking on ladders. NOTE: Graft incompatibility with ‘Myrobalan 29’ root stocks, Healdsburg. There is a diagram with this note. MS of small root stock and the heavy graft on top. Another shot of a different issue. NOTE: Manganese Deficiency, Healdsburg. CU comparison of leaves of non-deficient and deficient. MS of tree and hand jumping up to point out pattern of deficiency on tree. NOTE: Prune “dieback.” Potassium Deficiency & overbearing, Colusa. MS and LS of trees in orchard with obvious drying of branches. LS of box under trees and workers around trees. Panning of prunes under trees that the workers are working. Several workers on their knees filling buckets with prunes. Man with electric shaker. Cords go back to a tractor. MS several shots of prunes falling to ground under pressure from the electric shaker. LS of a draped prune catcher under tree as it is being shaken. MS workers handing lug boxes to mean on flat bed. CU of how the draped tree works. The stretched material is a big ‘V’ into which the prunes fall and are carried by conveyor belt to boxes. LS of how the stretched material is moved from tree to tree. MS worker on tractor with a long electric prod that can shake the trunk of the tree. CU of the cuff that grabs the tree. Demonstration of two vacuum harvesters that are like big vacuum cleaners. Demonstration of a huge fan that shakes the tree by air pressure. NOTE: Bulk handling of prunes, Gridley. Man on bulk handler (like a tractor) picks up large metal cans and dumps them into hopper. View of hopper from both ends so conveyor belt seen on other side. View down into cans. Sunsweet factory. Panned and LS of processing yard. Sign reads: “Gilroy Cooperative Dryer, Sunsweet, California Prune & Apricot Growers.” LS trucks with lug boxes going by inspection station and to other parts of yard. Forklifts move boxes around, and eventually they arrive at a hopper into which they are dumped. The prunes come out on the other end in flat, wooden pans for drying. These flats are lifted to be set on top of each other and then moved as a group to a waiting line going into the dryer building. A grader samples the dried flats to assure quality. Eventually the dried prunes end up in large boxes for the Sunsweet Company to package. PEARS. LS view of orchard and harvesters on ladders. MS of tractor pulling flatbed with boxes down the orchard rows. Boxes are labeled “Hunt.” NOTE: Grading Bartlett Pears: Size, Shape, Blemishes, and Mite Injury, Napa Valley. MS pears on canvas tarp and being collected into boxes. CU hands on pear over box. Blemishes pointed out by man handling pear. LS mean on ladders harvesting pears from trees. Shot of men emptying their canvas collection bags into lug boxes. LS with pan of orchard with focus on wind machine that protects fruit from frost. MS large flat wooden pans holding cut up pears for drying. Man samples dried pears and says they are good. NOTE: Bartlett sport “davy red”, Placerville. MS shot of orchard. Man shows in CU hands the green variety and red variety of pears. The trees are more bush like. NOTE: Wind machine in pear orchard frost pocket, Placerville. Panning LS of orchard with wind machine. MS view. NOTE: Placerville Irrigation from farm ponds. Water streaming through ditches throughout the orchard. CU various piping mechanisms. View of pond MS and LS. MS pear lug boxes being loaded on flat bed. Lug boxes read: “Placerville Fruit Growers Association.” Workers use an apron like device to collect pears while they are in the trees. CU wire device for measuring pears. MS views of harvesting and pears tumbling into boxes. NOTE: Fireblight, Auburn. Bare chested man climbs tree to take out branch that is obviously dried. He then cuts into the bark of the branch CU and points to the pattern of the disease. NOTE: Shallow, acid hill soils used for fruit, Auburn. MS bare chested man gesticulating towards bank of soil. MS worker taking core soil samples. Demonstration CU on how to scientifically test for soil acidity with a kit. NOTE: Lime-Induced Chlorosis (iron, zinc, etc. deficiency) due to high PH soils, Hollister. MS man takes branch from tree. CU of pointing out differences between healthy and deficient leaf. Demonstration CU of test to exactly determine soil problems. LS and panning of a field of red zinnias on which there are very young saplings in rows. MS two men examining sapling and pointing out what seems to be graft points.