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TENTH BIENNIAL REPORT
OF TIIK
Board of Horticulture
TO THE
TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY
OF THK
STATE OF OREGON
1909
BOTANICAL
SA1.KM, OREGON
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LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.
Gaston, Oregon, Jimuarv 1. 1909.
To the Honorable, the Legislative Assembly of Oregon:
Gentlemen : In conformity with the statute which directs ♦'ho
Board of Horticulture to report hiennially to you, 1 herewith submit
my report of the work of the Board for the years 1907 and 1908.
You are, of course, familiar in a general way with the object of the
Board and with the work that has been accomplished, and 1 need refer
to that only briefly, but I hope in a way that will show its imi^ortance
As originally organized, the district commissioners, five in number,
were the active working force, the president being merely a figure-
head who presided at meetings. Later the president was made an
active working member and in 1905 the present organization was
perfected; the work of the Board being supplemented by a force of
county inspectors.
We have now a very efficient working force, having been extrcmelv
fortunate in securing the services of some of the best fruit growers
in the state as county inspectors. Without any desire to boast, but
merely for your correct information, I wish to call your attention to
the condition of the fruit industry in the State, past and present. The
United States and State census figures show for many years prior tJO
the year 1900, a steady decline in the value of the fruit crop in
Oregon. This condition was due to the tremendous increase of insect
pests and fungous diseases and the lack of loiowledge or incentive to
fight them. There was an over-supply of fruit for home use and the
condition of the fruit prevented its being marketed abroad, henee
the industry languished. Since the year 1900 the value of the crop
has steadily grown, increasing from one million, three hundred
thousand dollars in that year to over four million dollars at the present
•time.
While, of course, not being so egotistical as to claim all the credit
for this, it is only fair to say that without the machinery of such an
organization as the State Board of Horticulture, it Avould have been
impossible to have accomplished it. A fact not generally recognized
is that the fruit industry, unlike many others, must depend very
CD largely upon a market outside of the State. Without a high standard,
and the means of attaining and enforcing such standard, it would
l)e impossible to reach these outside markets and the industry could
not enlarge. As it is now, a very large per cent of the crop goes
Letter of Transmittal.
outside of the State, bringing absolutely new mone}- in return.
Oregon apples and pears are now unquestionably the most famous in
the world, and it must be our constant aim to keep them so, that we
may continue to find remunerative markets for the vastly increased
crops of the near future.
Since the addition of the county inspectors to our force the scope
of the work has lieen enlarged, and the duties of the commissioners
have changed somewhat. The county inspectoxs are paid by the
counties, but work under the direct supervision of their respective
commissioners. The commissioners are kept busy training and drilling
the inspectors in their work, traveling here and there to attend
meetings, ox to settle appeals in disputed cases, to gather information
and statistics, and to look after the inspection of nurseries. The
field of work is so vast that the only limit is the time and money
available.
The commissioner-at-large is directed by the law to visit annually
each of the fruit-growing districts of the State. With the funds
available this is manifestly impossibk\ l)ut I have endeavored to
visit just as many as possible, the more important ones of course,
first. In view of the constantly increasing work, and of its importance,
it becomes necessary at this time for us to ask a small increase in
the biennial appropriation for our use. The amount appropriated
has never been increased since the board was organized, while the
work has increased four fold.
The appended semi-annual reports of the commissioners and of
the secretary show in detail the work that has l>een done, and how
the funds have been expended, and I xespectfully call your attention
to them for fuller details.
Eespectfully submitted, W. K. Newell.
Commissioner at Large and President of the Board.
OFFICERS OF THE BOARD
AV. K. NEWELIi - - PRESIDENT
R. H. WEBER --..------ Treasurer
U. -M. WILLIAMSON ...----- Secretary
Office : Portland, Oregon.
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
state at r.ARJE
\V. K. NEWELL ...------- GASTON
FIRST DISTRICT
M. O. LOWNSDALE --------- La Fayette
SECOND DISTRICT
CHAS. A. PARK ---------- Salem
THIRD DISTRICT
A. H. CARSON --------- Grants Pass
FOURTH DISTRICT
R. H. WEBER --------- The Dalles
FIFTH DISTRICT
JUDD GEER ----------- Cove
DISTRICT BOUNDARIES
FIRST DISTRICT
^Multnomah. Clackamas, Yamhill, Washington, Columbia. Clatsop and Tilla-
mook counties
SECOND DISTRICT
Lincoln, Marion, Polk, Benton, Linn, and Lane counties
THIRD DISTRICT
Douglas, Jackson, Klamath, Josephine, Coos. Curry, and Lake counties
FOURTH DISTRICT
Jforrow, Wasco, Gilliam, Tlood River, Crook, Sherman and Wheeler counti?s
FIFTH DISTRICT
UmatiKa. Union. Baker, Wallowa, Malheur, Grant, and Harney counties
COU?>ITY FRUIT INSPECTORS
Baker —
Benton — H. L. French, Corvallis.
Clackamas — A. J. Lewis, R. F. D. No.
3, Oregon City.
Clatsop — Chas. S. Dow, Astoria.
Columbia — J. A. Holaday, Deer
Island.
Coos —
Crook —
Currv —
Douglas— Geo. W. Riddle, Riddle, Or.
Gilliam — T. C. Mobley, Olex.
Grant —
Harney — Hugh Harris, Burns.
Hood River— G. R. Castner, Hood
River.
Jackson — Gfo. W. Taylor. Medford.
Josephine — H. C. Bateham, Grants
Pass.
Klamath — J. O. St> arns, Klamath
Falls.
Lake — A. M. Smith, New Pine Creek.
Lane — J. Beebe. Eugene.
Lincoln — S. G. Irw n, Newport.
Linn — E. W. Cooler. Albany.
Malheur — E. B. Conklin, Ontario.
Morrow —
Marion — E. C. Armstrong, Salem.
Multnomah — Leon S. Baum, Port-
land.
Polk — Ross Nelson. Independence.
Sherman — A. P. Altermatt, Rufus.
Tillamook — •
I'matilla — T. L. Ragsdale, Freewater
I'nion — Garret Oldenburg, La
Grande.
Wallowa-
Wasco — J. P. Carroll. Mosier.
Washington — W. R. Harris. Forest
Grove.
Wheeler —
Yamhill — C. E. Newhouse, Newberg.
- a
55
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REPORTS OF W. K. NEWELL,
President of Board and Commissioner at Large.
APRIL MEETING, 1907
Gastox, Oregon, March 30, 1907.
To the Honorable State Board of Horticulture:
That the horticultural industry of Oregon is growing very rapidly
is patent to the most casual observer. New plantings of all kinds of
fruits are being made on every hand, and never before was there
such activity in pruning and spraying as has been seen this winter.
Horticultural societies have been formed in nearly every fruit
growing locality and have been very active in stirring up interest
in the work. Several of these societies are contemplating the organiz-
ing of co-operative packing houses in localities where such do not
now exist.
Several new canneries will be established this year; plants at
Albany, Eugene, Brownsville, Monmouth, Milton-Freewater and La
Grande are already decided upon. There is fruit enough in these
localities to warrant starting canneries, and if they are properly
supported by the growers supplying them, with increased quantitiej
of good fruit as their market demands increase, they will no doubt
succeed. As has been so often said through the columns of the Rural
Northwest, there is no use expecting to run a cannery on "surplus"
fruit alone. A steady and abundant supply must be assured.
Although, of course, a cannery cannot pay high market prices at
all times for fruit, I firmly believe that they can pay prices that
will be very profitable tp the grower, taking into consideration the
assured market and the "lessened expense of boxing and packing. The
co-operative cannery at Springbrook, a model of its kind, in which
nearly every fruit grower of the community is a stockholder, has
paid remuneraltive prices to the growers for their fruit, and as
stockholders they have taken out neat dividends as well.
As an evidence of what a cannery can do, the Pacific Coast Syrup
Company, of San Francisco, operating a cannery at Seattle, has
contracted for this year with the Sumner Valley Fruit Growers'
Association for their entire crop of raspberries, estimated at 35,000
crates. Certainly the price must be a satisfactory one, as these people
have been making big money selling their berries frcoh on the market.
There is a great shortage in all kinds of canned fruits, particularly
cherries, strawberri&s and raspberries. Gooseberries and currants are
8 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
also in demand for jams and jellies. No one can mal:e nnv mistake
by planting heavily of any of these kinds of fruits. A good and
safe way is to contract; in advance if ^^ossible to some cannery for a
term of years for say half to two-thirds of the prospective crop at
a fixed price, and then take the chances on the market with the
remainder. There is always the proliability of high prices for j^art
of tlie crop, and there is an assured price Ito fall back on if the
market fails.
I would particularly urge the planting of cherries — Eoyal Ann
cherries for the cannery. While there are two serious difficulties in
the way, the gummosis of the tree and the cracking of the fruit in
the rain, still I believe these difficulties can be overcome sufficiently
to make the business very successful. Careful observation leads to
the belief that cherries top-worked in resistant stock and planted on
very well drained soil, particularly high hill sides where there is
rock or gravel near the surface, and kept carefully sprayed from
their youth up, can he brought to maturity with but small loss from
gummosis.
At harvest time, if weather is threatening, great care will he
required in picking. A Eoyal Ann cherry is fit to can. though, of
course, not at its best, before it is ripe enough to crack in the rain.
If a sufficient force of pickers can be secured to keep them picked
very closely, the loss from cracking can be kept at a minimum.
Horticultural conditions in the Eastern States, particularly New
York, Pennsylvania and Maryland, are of great interest to us at this
time. Scale and other insect pests are increasing alarmingly there,
and with their very large, high-headed trees, it is almost impossible
to keep this pest in check. While I am sure there is no tendency to
rejoice at their misfortune, still we cannot help Init see that we will
profit by it. The growing demand for fruit must be supplied.
Orchards can be brought into bearing here quicker than on the
Atlantic Coast, and while they are getting readjusted there, and
working round to the idea that they must plant ]iew orchards, we
can have our fruit in their market, establishing a reputation.
I wish to call your attention to the law passed at the last session
of the legislature compelling the branding of all packages of fruir
offered for sale, with the growers' and packers' name and address.
WHien the packer is other than the o-power the package must contain,
both names. This will prevent any stealing of one communitv's
reputation by anotlier, and will render it very easy for our inspector
to trace diseased, wormy or scalv fruit to its source. It is a good
law and must be strictly enforced.
W. K. Newell^
Cotii inissiuiier at Large.
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10 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
OCTOBER MEETING, 1907
GrASTON, Oregon, September 30. 190'
To the Honorable State Board of Horticulture:
This has been a prosperous and successful year for the fruit
growers in nearly all lines. Although yields in some varieties have
been light, never before in the history of the industry have prices
ruled so high on such large quantities of fruit.
When the report of the Hood Eiver Apple Growers' Union's apples
was made public, it seemed the highest possible mark for prices had
been reached. A price of $2.75 for Newtowns and $3.27^ for
fanciest Spitzenburghs seemed almost beyond belief, but when there
is added to this the report of sales of Bartlett pears from Eogue Eiver
in New York and Boston at $4.80 and $5 per box, and of one carload
of Cornice pears from Medford selling in New York for $4,622.80, or
an average of $3.99-J- per half box. and of a car of Cornice pears shipped
from Salem selling at $3.70 per half box, it is hard to realize. Think
of it ; pears selling at 10 cents per pear wholesale.
The following figures are submitted as a safe and conservative
estimate of the amount and value of this year's fruit crop for the
state. The figures are compiled from the reports sent in by the
county inspectors and others in a position to judge and have been
checked up by comparison with former yields, as well as by personal
observation of the growing crop in nearly all parts of the state, and
are believed to be approximately correct :
VALUE OF 1907 FRUIT CROP.
Apples, boxes, 1,082,200 ?1, 423, 800
Dried prunes, pounds, 25,450,000 1,208,875
Prunes and plums shipped green or sold fresh to canners
and others, tons, 4185 90,650
Pears, boxes, 247,760 286,600
Peaches, boxes, 445,870 248,260
Cherries, pounds, 5,459,000 230,500
Apricots, boxes, 9500 7,500
Strawberries, pounds, 6,980,000 407,500
Blackberries, pounds, 2.150,000 79,500
Raspberries, pounds, 1,450,000 74,500
Loganberries, pounds, 1,140,000 33,500
Currants, pounds, 370,000 21,000
Gooseberries, pounds, 375.000 12,500
Grapes, pounds, 3,945,000 124,500
Other fruits 26,000
Total value $4,275,185
The estimated value of the crop ot dried prunes after being packed
ready for shipment is $1,590,625.
It will be seen that the total value is far in excess of that of any
previous year. The figures included in making up the total are not
dealers' prices, but the amounts paid to growers, and show a very
satisfactory increase of 53 per cent over the value of the crop of 1906.
The heavy plantings of the past few years are commencing to bear
and the increase in the value of the crop will be very rapid in the
near future.
Report of W. K. Newkll. 11
The jjlienomenal prices received this year for the fancy fruit will
prove the most effective of advertising, afid will spread our fame
still more widely over the land and will increase the demand. The
Pacific Coast is the natural fruit garden of the country, and we have
advantages of soil and climate unsurpassed by any other section, and
it only remains for us to maintain our present high standard of
product to step into the front rank and in a short time make fruit
groAving the greatest source of wealth in the State.
COUNTY FRUIT INSPECTORS.
The careful and efficient work of our county fruit inspectors has
been a great source of satisfaction. By a personal demonstration
where needed they have shown people how to spray, and then protected
them by preventing the sale of infected fruit. As an example I call
attention to what has been accomplished in the Freewater-Milton
district. Two years ago the fruit there was so scaly and wormy as
to be almost unmarketable, but a united, determined effort among
the growers, led by Inspector Evans, has this year produced over
one hundred thousand dollars' worth of clean, sound apples, pears,
prunes and peaches. The growers know now that they can control
pests, and the industry in that locality is saved. Equally good results
have been accomplished in other counties. The work of the inspectors
should be enlarged as the industry sfrows. Our larger counties should
now put their men on salaries and let them devote all their time to
the work. Let them be instructors and advisers, traveling to every
farm and talking and working personally with every. man. That is
the kind of work that brings results. T ho]>e you will, each of you,
urge this upon your growers and your county courts.
Another thing that should be made part of the regular duty of
the county inspector is the gathering of statistics, particularly of
the vield of fruit. They should each be provided with the proper
blanks and be instructed to gather the figures of yields and values
of each crop as it is ready to market.
SPRAYING AND SPRAYS.
From some localities reports have come of poor results from
spray iug this year. The use of the ready- prepared lime and sulphur
sprav was almost universal last winter, and the investigations of
Professor A. B. Cordley and others lead to the conclusion that there
w;is a irreat variation in the strength of the sprays put upon the
market, and that in many cases it was diluted too much. It is
difficult to make th's spray always of the same strength; hence the
Xiasrara Spray people propose this year to test each vat separately
and laliel the barrel with the actual strenirth of that lot. and state
how much it should be diluted. Growers should be careful to demand
a guarantee of actual strength before purchasing.
Again T would urge the importance of beginning the winter
Report of W. K. Newell. 13
spraying early. In the fall the San Jose scales that are to winter
over on the trees are not nearly so well protected as they are in the
spring, and they can be killed with greater ease. Then, where
anthracnose or dead spot of the anole is prevalent it is absolutely
necessary to spray early to do any good. Begin to spray just as soon
as the leaves begin to fall.
A notable example of effect of spraying occurred at Beaverton.
Mr. Anderson at that place has one large tree near his house, with
one limh projecting over the house so that it was not sprayed during
the summer. From the balance of the tree which was sprayed he
gathered ten boxes of apples, of which only ten were wormy. From
the one limb that was not sprayed, one box was picked and every
apple was wormy.
FRUIT CANNERIES.
More progress has been made in the canning industry this year
than in all the previous years in the history of the State put together.
There was a good crop of nearly all kinds of small fruits and a
magnificent crop of pears and cherries for the canneries to work on,
and prices of canned goods are very high, so every cannery was run
to capacity. Fair prices were paid to growers. New canneries have
been started at Brownsville, Newberg, Freewater, Myrtle Creek and
Grants Pass, and other new ones are assured at Portland, Eugene,
Monmouth and other places for the coming season. There is no
question but that the canning industry will assume large proportions
in the near future. There is room for one in every good-sized town
if only the growers round about that town will provide the fruit and
vegetables. Canneries can not be successfully run unless there is a
good supply of fruit assured. Canned apples should become one of
Oregon's specialties, and the market for Bartlett pears and Royal
Ann cherries can not be supplied. That we may derive full credit
cannervmen should be compelled bv law to lal^el all iheir pack as
Oregon fruit.
LOGANBERRIES.
The acreage of loganberries has increased so rapidly this year the
market was temporarily over-supplied. However, consumption will
increase rapidlv as this splendid berry becomes better known. The
Weber-Bussell Canning Company sav they will can all the loganberries
that are offered them next year! Also, I am convinced there will be
a splendid market for this berry in the evaporated state. The Dayton
Evaporating Company this year dried quite a quantity of them.
They dry in about the same time as Italian prunes and make about
one pound of dry fruit to six pounds of fresh. Samples of the dried
berries were sent to a number of Eastern dealers and brought very
favorable replies. The Eastern trade wants something of the kind
for pie timber; heretofore they have depended on New York evapo-
rated black cap raspberries, but of late blight has ruined many large
14 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
patches of these herries in New York and they are forced to look
elsewhere for a substitute. Loganberries yield so enormously that it
is believed they can be grown and dried profitably at a very reasonable
price.
GRAPES.
The production of grapes is increasing very rapidly also. Oregon
now grows her own supply of Concords and some for export, having
shut the Eastern Concords out of this market some years ago. The
time will soon come when European varieties of grapes grown at The
Dalles and Grants Pass will shut the California grapes out of this
market during the season for the home product.
We need a grape juice factory to care for the surplus of Concords.
They can be grown in unlimited supply if only the market is assured.
THE LABOR QUESTION.
The labor question seems to be a serious one to the fruit gi-ower,
as it is to everyone who employs labor. Many fruit growers advocate
free importation of Asiatic laborers, but it seems to me that this is
unwise. Experience has proven that it will surely cause trouble with
white laboring men, and it is to the latter that the fruit grower must
look for his market in a large degree. The Asiatic is not such a good
helper as we are wont to imagine — now that we can not get him.
Any bright American girl or woman will pack more apples in a day,
and do it better, than any Japanese man that ever came here. T have
had one white man pick up as manv prunes in a day as two Japanese
men working side by side — the white man at $2 per day and the
Japanese at $1.75 each.
The problem for us is how we mav better utilize the labor we have.
Let the Asiatic, be he Japanese, Chinese or Hindu, stay at home.
The donkey engine and dynamite must be used to clear the land,
and labor-saving machinery replace human hands «to the fullest
extent. Very large, individual plantings of fruit should be avoided
as unprofitable alike to the community and the holder. Plantings
should include a long succession of fruits, so that the work may be
as nearly steady as possible ; then if the community will not supply
all the help needed at harvest time, the fruit grower should do as the
hop grower does, arrange for families to come and camp. Provide a
pleasant camp ground, wood and water, and pay by the piece liberally
so that the industrious worker mav make a little more than the usual
daily wage. With all the cry for help we still have a wealth of labor
in our cities, towns and villages that is not utilized, and that would
be vastly benefited by a summer's outing in the berry patches and
orchard. With the extension of electric lines great numbers of people
can go into the country to work by the day, as well as from the suburbs
of the citdes.
W. K. Newell,
Com,missioner at Large.
16 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
APRIL MEETING, 1908
Gaston,, Oregon, March 31, 1908.
To the Honorable State Board of Horticulture:
At the present writing Nature seems to be doing her best to insure
the fruit grower a bountiful crop. Weather conditions are very
favorable, and unless some abnormal change occurs, all well-cared-
for trees and plants shonld set a full crop. The element of chance
will then be largely removed and the result will depend upon the
skill and care of the grower. I am glad to say that the growers are
as a rule very much better prepared to give this care than ever" before.
The profitable crops of the past few years have enabled growers to
equip themselves with proper apparatus, and the awakened interest
all along the line has resulted in increased knowledge, and determi-
nation to succeed.
Very large areas of all kinds of fruits have ]>een set out during
the season, and the increase of production will be immense in a very
few years. In the Eogue Eiver Valley around Medford apples and
pears comprise the principal plantings ; apples at Hood River and in
the Grande Eonde Valley. One of the very noticeable things is the
great number of Tokay and other European grapes being planted
aroimd Grants Pass, where the success of Commissioner Carson in
this line has been the stimulating cause. The Umpqua country is
increasing its acreage of all kinds of fruits, especially peaches.
In the Willamette Valley the striking increase is In cherry and
walnut planting, and of small fruits for canning purposes. The
erection of five canning plants in the State last year and the
assurance of several more the coming season have great I v stimulated
interest in that line, and there is no donbt that the near future will
see us rivaling California in that line.
In Eastern Oregon great quantities of peaches, apricots and
cherries have been planted around The Dalles, and a new fruit region
of great promise is being developed on the irrigated lands of Umatilla
County around Hermiston, Echo and Irrigon.
A larger number of fruit growers' meetings have been held in
various parts of the State this past winter than ever before, and
certainly considerable good has been accomplished thereby.
The 1907 edition of our Board Eeport was long since exhausted
and Secretary Williamson estimates that he has received nearly one
thousand requests for copies that he has been unable to fill. This
shows conclusively the need of sucli a volume and emphasizes the
necessity of our using great care in its preparation.
W. K. Kewell,
Commissioner at Large.
Report of W. K. Newell. 17
OCTOBER MEETING, 1908 •
To tlic Honorable State Board of II orticiilltirr:
As is customary at this time, my report will show tlu' (|iumtities
of fruit produced in the entire State during the ])ves('iit year and
the aggregate values, as nearly as they can be ascertained. Also, such
observations and suggestions as seem pertinent to our work at thi.s
time. The yield and the values are as follows :
Value.
Apples, 1,. ■500. 000 boxes $1,225,000
Pears, 272,000 boxes 135,000
Peaches. 600,000 boxes 300,000
Cherries, 4,950,000 pounds 165,000
Plums and fresh prunes, 5,120,000 pounds 95,000
Apricots, 12,000 boxes 9,000
Dried prunes, 15,700,000 pounds 785,000
Grapes, 2.500,000 pounds 76.600
Strawberries, 8,900,000 pounds 375,000
Blacltberries, 2,400,000 pounds 76,000
Raspberries, 1,750,000 pounds 75,000
Loganberries, 1,850,000 pounds 40,000
Currants, 425,000 pounds 22,000
Gooseberries, 400,000 pounds 15,000
Other fruits 30,000
Walnuts, almonds and filberts, 150,000 pounds 20,000
Total value $3,443,600
The peach crop of the Eogue River Valley, particularly around
Ashland, was very large, as in fact it was all over the State, but
the apple and pear crops were light in that district, partly owing to
the enormous crop of last year and partly to unfavorable weather
conditions in the spring. In this connection I wish to call your
attention to the success attained in the Gore orchard at Medford in
building fires to prevent frost damage. In this orchard a large
number of fires were built early each morning when frost threatened,
with the result that the orchard bore a very heavy crop of pears,
being the only one so lieavily loaded in the valley. Many other
orchardists will make arrangements for similar treatment next spring.
There is a controversy over the relative efficiency of the smoke
(smudge) system and that of heating the air with open fires. Both,
methods will he fully ti'ied out next season should there be oceasicu
for their use.
The dried prune crop of the state is but little over one-half of
the crop of last year, according to the best estimate which can be
made at this time. The bulk of this season's crop of dried prunes
has been sold at 5 cents per pound for the 40-50 size, a fair price
in view of present conditions.
There has been a very notable increa.se in the ])roduction of all
kinds of fruit in the ^lilton and Freewater district, and the newly
irrigated lands in western I^matilla County are beginning to make
a showing. Production here will cortainlv increase with leaps and
bounds.
Report of W. K. Newell. 19
As was to be expected, owing to financial conditions, prices have
not rnled as high as during last season, though at all times fairly
remunerative and at many times very good indeed. For a time it
seemed as though apple prices must be low, owing to an apparent
determination on the part of the Eastern buyer not to buy but to
attempt to force consignments. But one Xew York dealer, more
enterprising than the rest, broke in and bought heavily, since which
others have followed suit and many large sales have been made at
good prices. No difficulty is anticipated now in marketing the entire
crop to good advantage. Growers should take great care, however,
to pack nothing but good fruit; send the culls to the cider mill or
the pig trough. Too many second grade peaches were put on the
market this season.
Cherries were discouragingly low in price owing to the hesitancy
of the cannerymen to buy as freely as usual. The Lane County Fruit
Growers' Union, with commendable business sagacity, hired the local
canneryman to put up their crop for them. Later they were able to
sell at a price which leaves them a fair profit on what otherwise
would have been certain loss. Quite large quantities of cherries were
dried also. Whenever prices are unsatisfactory for the fresh fruit
they can be handled in this way and some profit made on the crop.
There is no reason for cherry growers to become discouraged.
An interesting feature of a trip to the Grande Honde Vallev was
to find at Cove, on August 31, cherries still l>eing picked for
shipment fresh and for drying, and the next day at La Grande,
twenty miles across the valley, picking second-crop Clarke strawberries
beautifully ripened and in sufficient quantity to warrant picking for
market.
Each year shows an improvement in spraying methods and better
results obtained. In the leading apple and pear growing districts
the codling moth is becoming so reduced in number that it seems
possible it may in time be exterminated. It is already safe to reduce
somewhat the number of sprayings in these localities.
Apple tree anthracnose still continues to be a serious disease and
must be fought diligently by spraving thoroughly each year as soon
as possible after the crop is gathered, with a strong bordeaux mixture.
In an orchard treated by Professor Cordley, where this disease was
ver}'' bad three years ago, careful search this fall fails to show any
new disease spots whatever.
The lime-sulphur spray was used quite extensively last spring for
treatment of scab. Owing to the very peculiar weather conditions
which rendered the foliage very tender at that time, and also to
the fact that it is difficult to test exactly the strength of the diluted
spray, some injury was done to the foliage by the earlv sprays. But
in very fewMnstances was there any real damage done, and certainly
much good was accomplished in controlling the scab. Our new spray
bulletin will contain directions for more carefully testing this spray,
and its use can he continued with good results.
20 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
The law contemplates that the commissioner at large shall visit
each fruit-growing section of the State each year. With the funds
at our disposal this is manifestly impossible, and the best 1 have been
able to do is to visit the main districts each year and one or two
new localities each season. In pursuance of this plan, accompanied
by Commissioner Carson of the Third District, I visited the Lower
Umpqua Valley and Coos Bay regions in June. Although knowing
something of the progress being made in that district from the
reports received and from the fruits exhihited from time to time, I
was greatly surprised at the actual results achieved and at the possi-
bilities for the future. The heavily timbered soils, like many other
portions of Oregon, are difficult and expensive to clear, but when
once subdued they are of unsurpassed fertility, and will produce
nearly all the fruits of the temperate zone to perfection. The small
fruits, particularly raspberries and blackberries, yield astonishing
quantities of fruit of the most superb quality. The Gravenstein
apples of this region have already become famous for their size, flavor
and shipping qualities. Many other varieties will do equally well.
Being near the sea coast, the bright red apples will perhaps not color
so highly as elsewhere, and fungous diseases will be diflRcult to
control, but these troubles are offset by the pleasant fact that the
codling moth is unknown, and the heavy expense of spraying for it
can be avoided.
The prune industry is today on a sound basis in Oregon, and is
capable of large expansion. Given proper soil and site, and intelligent
care, the prune is certain to pay a reasonable profit and the prune
orchard to be a profitable investment.
The man who would plant an orchard in Oregon today has many
advantages over the one who hegan twenty or more years ago, or even
ten years ago. The mistakes which have been made can be seen and
avoided; he knows now what varieties to plant; how far apart to set
the trees; how to select the soil ; how to prune and cultivate; in short,
the trail has been thoroughly blazed. The temptation to plant more
orchards is hard to resist.
In spite of all the preachments for years about cover crops for or-
chards, it is astonishing to find how few orchardists use them. It is
true that twice as many can be seen this fall as in any previous year,
still the numher is astonishingly small. Intense cultivation all sum-
mer for an orchard without a following winter crop of vetches is
even harder on the soil than the old bare summer fallow for wheat,
and it is time we realized the absolute necessity of the winter cover
crop for the orchard.
Few of us realize how much income may be obtained from a very
few acres, and for the encouragement of those who have small tracts
of land I wish to give the figures of actual production of fruit on the
small suburban tract of Mr. Albert Johnson at Ashland, Oregon.
These figures are taken from the books of the Ashland Fruit Growers'
PrCKTNU BARTL.KTT PEARS.
Orcli!ir<l of A. .lohiisoii, Ashland. ()fcnf),i.
22 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
Association, and do not include what was consumed at home, nor
that sold to neighbors. The amount of land was five acres less that
cut otr by two streets and that used for barn, house and a good-sized I
lawn, or about four acres net for growing crops of fruit and vegetables :
4000 Vjoxes of peaches, ■
40 boxes of apples,
86 boxes of pears,
26 20-lt. boxes of siiinmer apples,
19 20-lb. boxes of Seckel peais, ;
846 lbs. green peas, I
183 15-box crates of strawberries,
2 crates of gooseberries,
5 1/^ crates of pie cherries,
6 crates of May Duke cherries,
13 20-lb. boxes of Koyal Ann cherries,
12 20-lb. boxes of Lambert cherries, {
8 20-lb. boxes of Black Eepiiblieaii cherries,
20 20-lb. boxes of apricots,
20 20-lb. boxes of plums, I
132 20-lb. boxes of nectarines, i
275 crates of loganberries,
38 crates of currants, I
10 20-lb. boxes miscellaneous cherries, I
9 20-lb. boxes prunes, I
98 crates of blackberries. i
W. K. XeWELL, :
Commissioner at Large. :
Report of Hon. J. H. Reid. 23
REPORTS OF HON. J. H. REID,
Cotnmissioncr for First District
APRIL MEETING, 1907
MiLWAUKiE, Oregon, March 30, 1907.
To the Honorahle State Board of Horticulture:
All over the district there has been a great increase in the planting
of trees. Especially is this so in the case of apples. There has been
a remarkable planting of apple trees, in five to twenty-acre tracts.
More Spitzenburghs are being planted than any other variety,
although quite a number of Baldwins, Jonathans and Kings have
been set out. The outlook for the apple crop this year is better than
ever. Very few pears or peaches have been planted. There have
been a few large plantings of cherries. I would advise all those
who intend to set out cherry orchards to plant Eoyal Anns on hill
land; Lamberts in the valleys. The Lambert bears for us every
year; the Eoyal Ann bears a full crop only every second or third
year. Considerable interest is Ijeing displayed in the walnut industry
and several large plantings of forty or fifty-acre tracts have been
made.
"Everybody sprays" is the slogan of the fruit grower now. As
you know, we won the "Sellwood case" at Oregon City, so now
we can all go right ahead and, without any fear of damage suits,
enforce the spraying laws to the limit, knowing that we have ample
authority to do so, and knowing that we have the decision of the
court to back us up. More than one-half of the trees in this district
have been sprayed already, quite a number of the old scaly orchards
have been grubbed out; and if the rest of them are not sprayed and
attended to right away, something will happen to them, too.
There are some orchardists who do not as yet fully understand
the mixing and cooking of spray material. This often causes loss
of time and money, as sometimes the spray is made too weak — and
thus worthless, and sometimes it is made too strong and destroys
the fruit or foliage. To correct this T advise every orchard ist to
supply himself with a Baume acid spindle for heavy liquids. With
this he can test his spray material and be sure that it is of the
right strength before he puts it on the trees. The spray should
test 5| per cent on the scale w^hen ready for use. I recommend that
in our next spray bulletin we explain the use of this Baume test.
Last summer I sprayed a few pear trees with lime and sulphur
24 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
solution at aliout 1 per cent spindle test. I sprayed right after
the blossoms fell, and as a result my pears were free from fungus.
I will try my trees again this year with materials of different
strength and note the results of my experiments.
Whenever posible it is hest to make one's own spray material.
Our 50-50-150 lime and sulphur solution shows nearly 2 per cent
stronger spindle test than the ready-made article.
In regard to small fruit, there is quite a large acreage in this
district and there would be much more if the growers could contract
with the cannerymen at a reasonable price. The canneries here
do not begin to pay the price for small fruit or cherries that they
do in California. We want more canneries here, but we want
canneries that will not only use second-grade fruit but also give us
a good price for first-grade fruit and put it up in fancy packages.
There is a fine opening here for just that kind of a business.
The "Superlative," a new addition to our list of raspberry plants,
seems to be doing all that its originators claim for it. It is better
than any other raspberry now on the market, and unless some
other still newer and better berry is introduced it will eventually
drive other varieties from the market.
Many Magoon, Oregon and Clark Seedling strawberries have been
set out. There are not nearly enough goosellierries or currants raised
here to su]5])lv even the local markets.
Jas. H. Eeid,
f'niiniiis>;ioner First District.
APRIL MEETING, 1908
MiLWAUKiE, Oregon, March 31, 1908.
To the Honorable State Board of UorticuHure:
The increase in spraying for scale in my district has been fully
40 per cent over last year. Lime and sulphur is the principal
spray used, although a few have experimented with sheep-dip. The
method of applying in small orchards has been hand-power. In
the larger orchards, gasoline engines and a few compressed air
outfits are used. Gasoline engines give the best satisfaction because
vou have a continuous, steady ]jressure all the time It is my idea
the spraying machine of the future will be a compressed-air spra3'er
with a small gasoline engine that will weigh about a hundred and
fifty pounds and an air pump not to exceed fifty pounds. These
will be carried on the spray wagon and then you will have a con-
tinuous, steady pressure instead of a hundred and fifty pounds to
start with and fifty pounds when you empty your storage tank.
Three different Portland firms are now at work on this kind of
an outfit, which will be the power sprayer of the future.
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26 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
Apples. Trees should not be planted less than thirty-five feet
apart, and forty would be better. I would not advise planting
more than three varieties in an orchard. Yellow Newtown, Spitz-
enburgh, Jonathan, Eome Beauty, Grimes Golden, Northern Spy,
Eed Cheek Pippin and Ortley are all standard varieties. There
have been large plantings in my district the past fall and winter.
Pears. Bartlett pears should be the principal pear planted, with
a good cross fertilizer.
Prunes. When we get together and properly dry the fruit, and the
packers do not try to inject too much water, prunes will come into
their own.
Cherries.. Eoyal Ann, Lambert and Bing are the cherries to be
planted in the order named, if you have cherry land. Not enough
cherries are grown to supply the canneries, and if you have an old
orchard that is not producing, if you will cut it back and turn hogs
or sheep in, spray well, in a few years it can be made to produce
profitable crops. Personally, I have tried hogs, and the results
have been astonishing. Five years ago my orchard produced forty
dollars' worth of cherries. Last year my crop sold for three hundred
and fifty, and I will be much disappointed if it does not return
five hundred this year. Eing your hogs well.
Small Fruits. Not enough small fruits are being planted to
supply the demand for cannery purposes. More Cuthbert rasp-
berries, Clark Seedling strawberries. Mammoth and Himalaya Giant
blackberries should be" planted, also the Kansas black-cap raspberry.
Currants are also in good demand, but the best small fruit crop to
grow, the easiest to c'are for and the best payer, is the gooseberry.
Jamep H. Eetd,
Commissioner First District.
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28 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
REPORTS OF CHARLES A. PARK,
Commissioner for Second District
APRIL MEETING, 1908
Salem, Oregon, April 10, 1908.
To the Honorable State Board of Horticulture:
During the six months past there has been a very active interest
shown in fruit growing in all of the counties of this district. There
has been a campaign gradually developed against the old orchards
which is proving quite successful.
Last January at Corvallis a convent'ion was held which was
attended by a large number of the county fruit ins]3ectors of the
state, together with most of the members of the State Board of
Horticulture and certain members of the faculty of the Experiment
Station. At this meeting Mr. M. 0. Lownsdale presented a very
feasible plan of inducing the owners of old apple orchards, which
contain numerous varieties, to work over these old orchards into
Newtown Pippins, for the reason that the number of small orchards
in the Willamette Valley can thus l)e made to produce a uniform,
well-known, staple variety and in such quantities that buyers will
be attracted to this region to purchase the fruit.
In line with this work Mr. Lownsdale has very senerouslv con-
ducted numerous meetings in the nature of institutes, giving
instructions in grafting, budding and packing of apples. These
meetings have been held in all of the counties of the Second District
except Lincoln County. This treatment of the old orchard will not
only do away with the menace to the new orchards, but will turn
the old orchards into sources ot ]:)rofit.
No one can work up any enthusiasm over an old, disease-infected,
pest-ridden orchard of worthless apples.
Many new orchards are being set out in all of the Willamette
Valley. Apples and cherries ])redominate. A large acreage of
English walnuts has been planted, and on the whole there has not
been as much activity in the line of horticulture since the first
orchards were planted in the Willamette Valley.
The county fruit inspectors in each county in this district are
enthusiastic, energetic men. They are carrying on their work as
best they can considering the large amount they have to do. They
have done more to stimulate interest in fruit culture .than any
other one thing. They have held numerous meetings of fruit
growers in various parts of the respective coTinties. They have held
Report of Charles A. Park. 29
fruit fairs at the important points in their counties, and the promise
is that they will see greater results this coming season than has
ever before been manifested.
Salem has held two cherry fairs during the ])ast two years. The
manner of the display of the last cherry fair was far superior to
the one held the year before, while we might say that the fruit in
each was practically the same.
Linn County and Polk County have held apple fairs and Lincoln
County showed enough interest to l)ring out a display of a])ples
at the Albany fair.
These fairs are important measures in educating the fruit growers
in regard to preparing their fruit for the commercial market.
The climatic conditions during the past winter and present spring
have been very seasonable. While the winter has lieen mild, the
spring has not opened up warm enough to advance the fruit beyond
a safe limit. At the present day, after a week of warm, pleasant
weather, the cherry trees are just opening into bloom, the pear trees
have developed their buds into nearly the blooming point and the
apples are following their nature by lagging on liehind. There is
very little danger of frost after this date and every prospect is good
for an abundant crop of fruit in the Willamette Valley.
Chas. a. Park,
Commissinner for Second District.
OCTOBER MEETING, 1908
To the Honorable State Board of Horticulture:
I herewith submit for the Second District tbe report for the year
ending September 30, 1908. I am pleased to report tbe interest in
horticulture in all of the six counties (Marion, Linn. Lane, Polk,
Benton and Lincoln) has done a great deal in cleaning up tbe old
orchards and in the planting of new ones witli the determination
of caring for them.
County horticultural societies bavo been organized in each of
the counties, and each has luhl nunici'ous meetings throughout the
year. I migbt say in passing that more meetings of fruit growers
have been held than of those engaged in all other branches of agri-
culture combined. The Lane County society has extended its work
of co-operation to a greater extent than any of the other societies.
During the past season it canned its own cherries and pears.
The apple growers of the Willamette Valley organized themselves
under the name of the Willamette Valley A])])le Crowers' Associa-
tion for the purpose of stimnlal'iig the yTowing of better fruit, and
as conditions develop, to furnish a uniformly packed jjroduct for
the market. As the morals of the coiiimiinitv are on a higher plane
30 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
than that of the individual of that community, so is the box of
apples packed under the supervision of the association better than
the one packed by the individual gi'ower. The Willamette Valley
Apple Growers' Association is fortunate in having Mr. M. 0.
Lownsdale of Lafayette for its president, a man well qualified by
intelligence and judgment to do a great work for the association.
Numerous fruit fairs have been held at different places in this
district. Linn County concentrates its energies in making an exhibit
of apples, and Marion County has been holding an annual cherry
fair. On account of the most wonderful and beautiful exhibit of
cherries displayed at the Salem cherry fair, Salem is called the
"Cherry City of the World." We are glad to note that other sections
of the State are following the example of Marion County.
Many inquiries have been received during the past year concern-
ing this district as a fruit growing section. At this time it might
be well to give some general facts concerning this district pertinent
to fruit growing.
The counties of Marion, Linn, Polk, Benton and the greater
part of Lane Counties may be taken as one section of the country
in the Willamette Valley, and in fact includes all of the Willamette
except the few counties lying north of this district, which embrace
a continuation of the same beautiful and productive country. This
section is bounded on the east by the Cascade Mountains and on
the west hy the Coast Range. The remainder of this district con-
sists of Lincoln County and the western part of Lane County, and
lies west of the Coast Range on the Pacific Ocean. It has the same
general type in regard to climate, soil and products. I will speak
of this section after presenting some facts concerning the Willamette
Valley section in regard to its climate, soil and fruit products.
The climate of the Willamette Vallev is temperate in all respects.
The temperature does not go to extremes either in summer or
winter. The proximity to the Pacific Ocean keeps the pendulum
from swinging too far at either end of the arc. "UHiile the mercury
may fall below zero once or twice during a winter, it seldom does.
It is a rare occasion when the frosts prevent our roses in the open
garden from blossoming until Thanksgiving and Christmas. We
look upon freezing point as the low point on the thermometer as
the people of the Eastern States look upon zero as the low point
with them. It is not infrequent to have a winter pass without the
mercury falling below 25 degrees above zero. The summer
months are not hot. Mnety degrees above zero is seldom "^-egistered
on the thermometer by our summer heat. The northwest trac'e
winds bring us cool, refreshing breezes every afternoon during the
summer, and hot nights are unknown. Our summers are dry, rain
not interrupting the harvest of our products. Do we b.ave rain
during the winter months? Yes, a merciful Providence does briiig
to us on the mild southwest trade wind gentle showers, abundant
and sufficient, to bless us — and we enjoy it.
Report of Charles A. Park. 31
Like all sections of the country, the Willamette Valley has some
land not adapted to fruit culture, but there are thousands upon
thousands of acres which are par excellent for fruit growing-. We
have the rich, river-bottom land; the bench of clay loam and the
hills of clay soil, some of which are impregnated with oxide of
iron. Anyone with judgment enough to raise fruit has judgment
enough to select in this section the best of fruit-growing soil.
We now raise in a commercial way apples, pears, peaches, prunes,
grapes, cherries, walnuts, filberts, almonds, all kinds of berries and
small fruits.
The western part of Lane County find Lincoln County have some
enthusiastic fruit growers who are getting fine results. Little has
been done in a commercial way in this section, as all of the older
apple orchards have so many varieties it is difficult to collect car-
load shipments of any one variety. However, the good-keeping
quality of their apples and the total absence of worms creates a
good demand for what apples they grow. Hundreds of acres of
new orchards are being planted and old ones are better cared for.
Land is cheap. It will pay anyone interested to investigate this
section. The winters are mild and the summers are cool.
Chas. a. Park,
Commissioner for Second District.
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34 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
REPORTS OF A. H. CARSON,
Commissioner for Third District
APRIL MEETING, 1907 *
To the Honorable State Board of Horticulture:
In the year 1883-4 the Oregon and California Eailway completed
the hnilding of its lines sonth of Roseberg through the Eogiie River
Valley south to Redding, California. This gave the Rogue River
Valley railway facilities north to Portland, Oregon, and south to
San Francisco. Prior to the completion of this railroad, now
known as a part of the Southern Pacific, the horticultural develop-
ment of the Rogue River Valley was of a primitive character.
Apples, pears, grapes and other fruits were growTi by the pioneer
settlers only for home use. The only orchards of any size in the
Rogue River Valley were the apple and pear orchards of E. K.
Anderson of Talent, in Jackson County, of about ten acres, and the
apple orchard of James Vanoy, four miles and a half west of
Grants Pass, in Josephine County, containing about eight acres.
There was no market for the apoles and pears grown in these two
orchards, and the surplus not required by the owners was freely
given away to pioneer neighbors who were without fruit. When
the railroad was completed, apple and pear buyers came into the
Rogue River Valley from California and bought the surplus fruit
from these two orchards, packing the apples and pears with their
expert Chinese packers, and shipped the same south and east as
California grown fruit. Oregon, or the Rogue River Valley, at that
time received no credit for her apples or pears in the Eastern
markets. Every box was shipped branded as California grown. It
is a fact well known here that the Anderson and Vanoy orchards
which were in their prime in 1883-4 — the time of the building of
the railroad — made both of these pioneers rich, as the demand
created by transportation possibilities created high prices for the
products of these two orchards.
It is correct to say that the Anderson and Vanoy orchards were
the prime factors that started commercial apple and pear-growing
in the Rogue River Valley, which at the present time has reached
an acreage that E. K. Anderson and James Vanoy never dreamed
of when they planted their orchards in the early pioneer days of
the fifties.
In Jackson County there are now of young and old apple and
pear orchards about 22,000 acres. The increased acreage the past
winter has been greater than ever before. From reliable data I
36 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
have been able to gather I am conservative in saying that Jackson
County the past winter has planted out 7,000 acres in new apple
and pear orchards. As a basis for that data I can say that the
Settlemeier Nursery Company has delivered the past winter 200,000
trees to Rogue Eiver tree planters; the J. S. Barnett Nursery
Company, of Central Point, has delivered 100,000 trees; two car-
loads came from Salt Lake nurseries — about 50,000 trees ; approxi-
mately there have been delivered in the Rogue River Valley 50,000
trees from the Brownell Nurserv Company, of Albany, and the
E. H. Weber Nurseries, of The Dalles, Oregon, making a total of
about 400,000 trees that were planted in the Rogue River Valley
the past winter. Josephine County, in the Rogue River Valley,
planted about 25,000 of these trees, and, allowing 25,000 trees for
re-planting of orchards, would leave 350,000 trees that were
planted to new orchards in Jackson County. Allowing 50 trees
to the acre, this would add 7,000 acres of new orchards to Jackson's
old acreage. I estimate that 65 per cent of Jackson County's new
orchard acreage was planted in the vicinity of or adjacent to Med-
ford. It will be but a few years until Medford will be the largest
shipping point for apples and pears in the Pacific Northwest, if
not on the Pacific Coast. Ashland is, and will no doubt be, the
largest shipping point for peaches, as she already has a large
acreage in peaches, and is steadily increasing that acreage yearly.
SPEAYING AND PRUNING.
Spraying and pruning the past winter has ibeen done with more
system and energy than any former year. Many old, worn-out,
pest-infested, diseased orchards that could not be renovated, have
been taken out.
Public sentiment, or perhaps 1 should say self-interest, with
greater knowledge of how to fight pests, and make the orchard pay,
together with the decision in the Sellwood case at Oresfon Citv last
November, has stimulated through active county fruit inspectors
the negligent orchard owners to activity, with the result that
spraying and pruning has been greater and more thorough than
ever before.
A. H. Carson,
Commissioner for Third District.
Report of A. H. Carson. 37
APRIL MEETING, 1908
To the Honorable State Board of Horticulture:
Present conditions of the fruit industry for the Third District
are very favorable. Tlie winter months past have been very favor-
able to all kinds of fruits. Twenty-six degrees was the lowest
temperature had during the winter, with no excessive rains or
floods to injure orchards on any kind of soil. March, being a cool
month, has retarded blooming of all Idnds of fruits, which makes
it possible for us to escape late frosts should they occur. Apple,
pear and peach trees will bloom very heavily, and, barring a late
frost, the present prospects for a large crop of fruit is very prom-
ising. The only objection to such heavy bloom is if the grower
neglects to properly thin his overloaded trees the grade of fruit
will not be up to the standard that brings the grower the largest
returns for his products.
With the heavy blooming promised now, the grower should be
warned that his profits will be greatly augmented by careful
thinning, and it is a detail he should not neglect. I will urge this
subject, and request all county inspectors in my district to urge
the growers to devote the labor necessary to assure the best, as
only the best of all fruits can stand transportation charges to
Eastern markets where all Oregon fruits are so much in demand.
COUNTY INSPECTORS.
During the past winter the inspectors of the Third District have
been active and have accomplished much good. In Douglas County,
Inspector Riddle has been on the road every fair day during the
winter. He has caused many to spray that heretofore have been
negligent. He has condemned many old, worthless orchards and
caused them to be dug up and burned. Inspector Eisman of
Josephine County has accomplished much commendable work, and
all said of Inspector Eiddle's work in Douglas County can be said
of Inspector Eisman. In Jackson County Inspector Taylor has a
large field to cover, with 25,000 acres of apples and pears to inspect,
about 5,000 acres of peaches, besides imported tree inspection he
has had to look after during the winter, has made him a busy man.
It is believed that through Inspector Taylor's industry the pear
blight that threatened Jackson County pear orchards is under full
control. A tree-to-tree inspection by Mr. Taylor, and his teaching
the growers how to identify hold-over pear blight has done much
to lessen the possibilities of this disease working destruction to the
pear orchards of Jackson County. The source of infection from
pear l)light comes from these hold-over cases, and where the hold-
over blight is found and destroyed, this removes the source of next
year's spread of the germs of this dreaded disease of the pear.
38 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
With increased acreage of orchards in Jackson County the ability
of a single inspector to cover the ground will be a physical impos-
sibility. In Coos County, Inspector M. G. Pohl has been active,
and from reports I have had from that county he is accomplishing
good work in the interest of Coos County horticultural development.
XEAV ORCHARDS.
Inspector Taylor of Jackson County reports great activity in the
planting of new orchards. Inspector Taylor reports that in Feb-
ruary he had inspected 600,000 trees that were imported from out
of tiie State to be planted in new orchards in Jackson County. To
this number of trees must be added stock sold by local nurseries
which will approximately aggregate near 900,000 trees that will
be planted in new orchards in Jackson County this year. The
greater part of this new planting will be 'of the apple and pear.
Last year was the banner year of fruit-tree planting in Jackson
County, but this year will make any former 3'ear look small in
comparison.
GRAPE GROWING:
The adaptability of Josephine and Jackson Counties to the
growth of commercial grapes has attracted attention, and now the
foot-hill soils along the valleys are being improved and the grape
is being planted on a large scale, the Flame Tokay being the favor-
ite variety. In the vicinity of Grants Pass about 600 acres will be
planted this spring. About 150 acres will be planted in the vicinity
of Jacksonville, in Jackson Countv. Land is being cleared and
preparations under way to plant two to three thousand acres to
the grape in Josephine County next year. At present the grape
crop promises to be good, and with a normal yield this year will
stimulate this phase of horticulture to a wonderful degree.
Altogether the fruit industry is very promising indeed in the
Third District. Douglas County is taking on new life in her great
wealth of choice alluvial soils that are so well adapted to the
growth of the apple and pear, and the planting of these two great
staple fruits in that county will from now on lie large.
The apple and pear crop of last season has been marketed with
satisfactory results to the growers, and profits were such that the
reason for such large planting of new orchards is accounted for.
A. H. Carson,
Commissioner for Third District.
40 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
OCTOBER MEETING, 1808
To the Honorable State Board of Horticulture:
I herewith respectfully submit my report as commissioner of the
Third District for the biennial year ending September 30, 1908.
This district embraces the counties . of Coos, Curry, Douglas,
Josephine, Jackson, Klamath and Lake, all southern counties of
the State of Oregon. Three of the southwest counties of the district
— Coos, Curry and Douglas — are bounded on the west by the Pacific
Ocean. A portion of Douglas County and all of Josephine and
Jackson Counties lie between the Coast Eange on the west and
the Cascade Eange on the east. Klamath and Lake Counties are
east of the Cascade Eange, bounded on the south by California
and on the east by Harney County. The seven counties of the
Third District aggregate an area of 26,000 square miles, equalling
in area several of the states on the Atlantic Coast. This subdivision
of the State, with the addition of Harney and Malheur Counties,
is called Southern Oregon.
The topography of this subdivision of the state, with its moun-
tains, foothills and valleys, is such that there are varied climatic
conditions, as well as soils existing, and one section of Southern
Oregon may be adapted to the growth and maturity of a variety
of fruit that in some other section of the district would be a failure,
and yet all parts of the section known as Southern Oregon are
adapted, by reason of soil and prevailing climatic conditions, to
some special commercial fruit growing.
These varied conditions of climatic and soil conditions of the
Pacific Coast States are little understood by the average Eastern
man who comes here to make a home. The Eastern man compares
.the annual rainfall of the Atlantic States with the annual rainfall
of the Pacific States and finds the average nearly the same, for-
getting that the annual rainfall of the East occurs in the spring
and summer months, during the growth of crops, while on the
Pacific Coast the annual rainfall occurs during our winter and
early spring months, when our crops are being planted, and the
Eastern man also assumes our annual rainfall is the same all over
the State. The distribution of the annual rainfall in the seven
counties of the Third District varies greatly during the year. The
mountain ranges running north and south, the Coast and Cascade
Ranges, are the physical factors in the annual distribution of the
amount of precipitation each county of the district gets yearly.
All moisture that is precipitated over the Pacific Coast Stateg
comes from the Pacific Ocean. A south or southwest wind drives
the evaporation from the ocean over the land, and a continuation
of a southwest wind for two or three days during the winter and
spring months always brings rain. During the rainy period, the
Report of A. H. Carson. 41
greater precipitation always takes place west of the Coast Eange,
with a less precipitation between the Coast and Cascade Ranges.
East of the Cascade Range the annual precipitation is small, in
fact so small that all of that subdivision of the State east of the
Cascades is called the arid section of the State.
To better comprehend the part tliese mountain ranges play in
the annual distrilnition of moisture, I submit the following average
annual precipitation at the United States Weather Bureau stations
in the seven counties of the Third District, and the average pre-
cipitation for the months of June, July and August, to-wit:
WEST OF THE COAST RANGE.
Indies.
Coos County, annual precipitation 72.32
Total for June, July and August 2.56
Douglas County, at Gardiner, annual jsrecipitation 80.05
Total for June, July and August 4.05
EAST OF THE COAST RANGE.
Douglas County, at Eoseburg, annual precipitation 35.16
Total for June, July and August 1.98
Josephine County, at Grants Pass, annual precipitation 33.86
Total for .June, .July and August 1.34
Jackson County, at Jacksonville, annual precipitation 27.03
Total for June, July and August 1.65
EAST OF THE CASCADE RANGE.
Klamath County, at Klamath Falls, annual precipitation 14.35
Total for .June, .July and August 1.54
Lake County, at Lakeview, annual precipitation 16.73
Total for .June, .July and August 1.69
Lake County, at Silver Lake, annual precipitation 10.06
It will be noted that at Gardiner, in Douglas County, the annual
precipitation is 80.05 inches, and the average for June, July and
August, 4.05. At Roseburg, in the same county, the annual pre-
cipitation is only 35.16 inches, while the average for June, July
and August is 1.98 inches. Gardiner is but a few miles from the
ocean, on Winchester Bav. The Coast Range at Gardiner closes
in, high and abrupt, and those hish mountains rapidly condense
the moisture from the clouds. Roseburg, being east of the Coast
Range, only gets the moisture that failed to condense on the west
side of the range during the rain storms of a season.
As the moisture-laden atmosphere blows in from the ocean, the
Coast Range condenses much of it; that which escapes condensation
passes over the Coast Range and precipitates between the Coast and
Cascade Ranges. By the time the moisture-laden air passes over
the Cascade Range its moisture has lessened, hence the light annual
precipitation in Klamath and Lake Counties.
^\Tlen the annual precipitation is normal, crops of all kinds
mature on any of the deep soils l)etween the Coast and Cascade
42 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
Eanges with good cultivation. The ability of tlie fruit grower on
this coast to conserve moisture by intelligent cultivation during the
dry period of the year would be a revelation to an Eastern farmer.
On deep hill so'ls I have seen corn that produced thirty-five bushels
to the acre, without a drop of rain from planting to gathering.
Without cultivation the corn would have perished for the want of
moisture. Deep, alluvial, sandy-loam soils along the rivers and
creeks never fail to yield, although the cultivation may he poor, as
these soils are always sub-irrigated.
Many Eastern men who come here desire to engage in apple or
pear growing. Not being judges of our coast soils, they purchase
land from surface indications, and in time find they have made a
mistake. To succeed here in fruit growing, the grower must plant
the variety of fruit his soil and location is adapted to. Soil and
location that the peach and grape would succeed on with reason-
able attention to detail, misht he of such a character and depth
that the apple and pear planted on the same would be a failure.
It is my purpose in this report to call the attention of the prospective
purchaser to the various soi^s as they exist in this district, with
their character and adaptability to fruits they will grow with
success.
THE APPLE AND PEAR.
The apple and pear, to be a source of profit here, should be
planted on the best alluvial soils along the streams, or if the hill
lands are chosen, they must be deep, not less than five to six feet
in depth, and a greater depth would be better. There are no soils
too good and rich to grow the best apples or pears. The success
and profits of the Eogue Eiver Valley apple and pear grower are
in proportion to the good quality of the soil his orchards are planted
on and the attention he gives to details in its management. A
shallow soil will spell failure if planted to the apple and pear, unless
water is available for irrigation during the months of Au.srust and
September. However, it must be remembered that not all shallow
soils are adapted to irrigation. To irrigate with profit, the subsoil
must be right. If the subsoil is wrong, irrisfation would be detri-
mental. A shallow loam soil two and one-half feet deep, resting
on decomposed bedrock or broken bedrock or loose gravel would be
all right for irrigation. Irrigation, if intelligently done, would be
a great benefit to an apple or pear orchard on such land, for the
reason that the surplus water in irrifrating would readily drain
off through the gravel and bedrock without injury to tbe growing
tree, on the other hand, should a shallow soil rest on a clay sub-
soil or a cement hardpan, irrigation would be detrimental to the
growing of apple and pear trees. To successfully irrigate fruit
trees on any of our soils here underdrainage must be had to carry
off the surplus water during the irrigation period. These shallow
soils with a clay subsoil or cement hardpan can be made available
44 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
for apple and pear growing by tiling to a depth of not less than
five feet.
Where irrigation is resorted to the conditions of the subsoil in
relation to the growth of the tree must be intelligently understood.
The mechanical effect on shallow soils by underdrainage with tile
is to deepen the soil to the depth the tile is laid. During winter
rains the surplus water where land is tiled is drained through the
soil and passes off through the tile, iDreventing the fruit tree from
injury from excessive moisture during protracted rain storms of
winter, keeping it healthy and vigorous during the dormant period,
so that when it quickens into growth in the spring it is in the best
possible condition to grow and responds to the skill and cultivation
of its owner. Again, while the mechanical effect of undertrainage
is to deepen the soil and carry off the surplus moisture, paradoxical
as it may appear, underdrainage makes these shallow soils moist
during the growing period. During the growing period the moisture-
laden air passes through the tile and its moisture is condensed and
left in the soil for the growing tree. In fact, with thorough, intel-
ligent cultivation where these shallow soils are properly under-
drained, but little water is necessary for irrigation during the dryest
season.
On any of these shallow soils, where the exposure is right,
grapes can be profitably grown without underdrainage, and, with
a depth of three or more feet, the peach can be grown with good
cultivation.
There are many acres of deep, rolling lands, such as second
bench, red loam, on which in normal years, under good cultivation,
the apple and pear can be grown at a profit, and with water for
irrigation during the dry seasons these deep bench lands can be
made very valuable. In past years I have noted many acres of
these shallow, dry soils being planted to the apple and pear, without
any consideration of the character of the subsoil or what the effects
of underdrainage would be were it tiled. I know in all reason that
the results and profits in planting such soils will be a disappoint-
ment to the grower; hence I call the attention of the growers to
this subject of soils adapted to growing various varieties of fruits.
As to the variety of climate and soils in the various counties in
the Third District and annual precipitation had in each county,
I hope by a detailed description of each county to give the pros-
pective settler some data that will enable him to intelligently judge
soil conditions that will be congenial to the fruit he may desire to
grow.
coos COUNTY.
Coos County is a coast county. To an extent this rich county
is isolated from the balance of the State for the want of railroad
communication! with the interior. Coos County's only means at
present to reach markets for her lumber, coal, dairy and fruit
OI|Otf»r BY H-e «TOWM<0
•«i«liTiC»0)NT «R«
•2l-l\>vsi> L'KAiK or Cods (Jointy Sik.wvhkkkiks.
Grown by H. B. Steward, Myrtle Point, Oregon.
46 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
products is by steamer from Coos Bay. Twice a week steamers
arrive and depart for Portland, carrying freight and passengers
to and from Marshfield and North Bend, vigorous, up-to-date cities
on the bay. To get into Coos County by land, one has to go by
private conveyance or by stage from Roseburg or Drain, both
stations on the Southern Pacific in Douglas County.
At present the leading industries in Coos County are lumbering,
coal mining, dairying and, to a small extent, fruit growing. In
value, Coos County dairy products are the second in the State.
The past year the people of Coos have awakened to her great
horticultural possibilities, and from now on her horticultural devel-
opment will be rapid. Last year, 1907, Coos shipped to California
markets 35,000 hoxes of apples, the greater number of boKes bf-ing
the Gravenstein. The soil and climatic conditions are ideal for tue
growth of the Gravenstein apple. If Coos County apple grovvei'S
make a specialty of this superb fall apple and grow it on com-
mercial lines, with railroad facilities to interior markets, she can
work up a demand for this apple that will tax her energy to supply.
Any fruit district that can grow a commercial fruit of any type
better than other districts should make that particular specialty
their leading crop.
The alluvial, sandy-loam soils along the Coos and Coquille Rivers
are deep and very productive. Potatoes on these bottom soils yield
as high as 500 bushels to the acre. Oats often turn out as high as
125 bushels to the acre, and barlev 145 hushels.
The foothill soils of Coos, unlike the same soils in the interior
of the State, are sedimentary in character, deep and very rich in
plant food. These foothill lands will grow the apple and pear, and
are especially adapted to their growth. The acreage of these hill
lands in Coos is large, with a very small per cent used for cultivated
crops. As the timber is removed from these hill lands and the
underbrush burned, sow to timothy, or any of the tame grasses, and
without harrowing the seed germinates, and, owing to the moisture
that drifts in from fogs from the Pacific, perpetual pasture is had,
as at no part of the winter season does frost occur, for the warm
Japan current flowing up the coast from the tropics gives off
heat to prevent it.
Berries of all kinds thrive and bear large crops on any of tlu-
soils in the county. Cultivated blackberrieSv raspberries, logan-
berries and strawberries bear heavier crops than in any other secrion
I have ever seen. While in the county last June T found the wild
strawberry growing everywhere through the hills. I found but few
cultivated strawberries in the county, excepting at Myrtle Point, at
the head of tidewater on the Coquille River. At this point I found
Mr. H. B. Steward, postmaster, cultivating three and one-half acres
in strawherries. Mr. Steward is an expert strawlierry grower. His
strawberry acreage is located on a high hill, with red loam soil.
Coos OOTTNTY STRAWBEKRIES,
Pound box Kiown l)y H. B. Steward, Myrtle Point, Oregon.
48 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
overlooking Myrtle Point and the Coquille River ^^'^lIe3^ Mr.
Steward's success with the strawberry at this point has been ^-eat,
and the ])rofits he has been able to realize from an acre make an
object lesson for Coos County that will be a source of great wealth
to the people of that locality if they take advantage of the lesson
he has taught them. When railroad connections are had with
interior markets, the demand for such fine strawberries as are grown
by Mr. Steward will be for manv years greater than they can supply.
Mr. Steward assures me that off of his three and one-half acres of
the ]\Iagoon, Glen Mary and August Luther varieties he has been
able to realize, net, $1,600 per acre. To many strawberry growers
in less favored sections than Coos County I know $1,600 profit per
acre will be taken as a real estate story, told for booming purposes,
but it should be known that Mr. Steward's strawberries begin ripe''-
ing May 15 and continue to bloom and mature their fruit to Octv.'h'er
15, enabling the grower to gather ripe berries every day between
the dates mentioned, getting as much as four crops, as compared
with less favored sections during the year, and the Drofits he assures
me he gets are, I know, facts. Mr. Steward's soil being very rith
and congenial to the growth of the strawberry, and the moisture-
laden air, drifting over the land daily and condensing at night in
heavy dew, keeps the vines strong and vigorous during the bearing
season, which with his skill as a grower, are the secrets of his profits
and success. Last year Mr. Steward won the prize offered by the
Strawberry King of the United States, Mr. R. M. Kellogg of Three
Rivers, Michigan. The prize was for the best crate of strawberries
grown in the United States. Mr. Steward's prize-winning crate
contained twenty-four quart cups and averaged thirteen strawberries
to the cup, uniform in size and perfect in color.
CRANBERRIES.
Adjoining Coos Bay there are several thousand acres of marsh
lands that are adapted to cranberry growing. Mr. C. D. McFarlin
of ^N'orth Bend has five and one-half acres in cranberries on North
Slough Marsh. The results of his patient toil prove the adapta-
bility of the marsh lands of Coos County for cranberry growing.
Let him tell it, as he told it to me in his letter of June 14, 1908 :
"I began cranberry growing twenty years ago on North Slough, in
Coos County. At the beginning I was comparatively a novice, and
I made many costly mistakes. * * * j began without any cap-
ital. For the last sixteen years my five and a half acres have paid
me $1,000, net, annually. Last year T sold from my marsh $2,970
worth of cranberries, leaving me, net, $1,800 profit.
"My experience proves to me that with our climate and soil and
other conditions of this section, Cnos County cannot be surpassed
for cranberry culture in any part of the TTnited States.
Report of A. H. Carson. 49
"In regard to insect pests tliat threaten cranberry culture in
Wisconsin, New Jersey and Cape Cod, I feel sure we are free from
that danger. In importing vines from Cape Cod I also imported
the larvae of the vine worm and the fruit worm. They hatched and
were in evidence the first year and then disappeared. I am convinced
these pests cannot live and multiply in this climate. * * *
"The first cost of marsh land is from $50 to $150 per acre. *
* * To prepare, plant and brins vines to bearing age will cost
$500 per acre. The third year the vines will produce two-thirds
of a crop and a full crop the fourth year. Cranberry culture will
pay, on an established marsh, 10 per cent on a valuation of $3,000
per acre. This has been the profits I have had for the past sixteen
vears. * * * "
The foregoing experience of Mr. McFarlin in cranberry culture
in Coos County should not be overlooked by men of capital, as this
particular field for investment should appeal to them.
CURRY COUNTY.
Curry is a coast county, mountainous, with many small valleys
that are rich in good soils. To the extent of her available soils, what
has been said of Coos County would apply to Curry.
DOUGLAS COUNTY.
Comparatively speaking, this county embraces an empire. Begin-
ning at the top of the Cascade Range, thence running west through
the Coast Eange to the Pacific ; beginning on the south at the
northern boundary of Jackson and Josephine Counties, it runs
north to Lane County. Its greatest width north and south is about
eighty miles. This large county is known as the Umpqua Valley,
and is drained by the North and South Umpqua Elvers and their
many smaller streams. The Southern Pacific Railroad runs north
through the county for near one hundred miles, with stations at
Glendale, Xorth Fork, Riddle, Mvrtle Creek, Ruckels. Roseburg,
"Wilbur, Oakland, Yoncalla and Drain. Roseburg is the county
seat, with a population of 3,500.
Along the railroad there are many thousands of acres adapted to
the growth of the Yellow ISTewtown, Spitzenburgh and Jonathan
apples that commercially have made the Northwest Pacific famous
as an apple-growing district.
The best soils for apple and pear growing in this section are the
alluvial deposits along the streams, although many of the deep
foothill soils of the county mature the apple and pear and are
profitable to plant in commercial orchards.
Douglas has a large and profitable acreage in prunes, as well as
peaches. There is a larger available acreage adapted to apple and
pear growing, with transportation facilities, at present, in Douglas
County, than in any other county of the Third District. ISTot over
50 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
20 per cent of her available apple and pear lands are yet planted to
orchards.
in portions of Douglas Coimty there are more or less adobe lands,
locally called "black mud soils." These adobe soils are strong, rich
in plant food, and if underdrained by tiling would be equally as
good for apple and pear growing as the sandy loams along the
rivers and creeks.
There are many small valleys that drain into the Umpqua River
which contain thousands of acres that are available for commercial
apple, pear, peach and prune growing.
At present the opportunity in Douglas County for the small fruit
grower or one who desires to plant on a commercial scale, are the
best, as climatic conditions are congenial to the very best apples,
pears, peaches, prunes and all of the berry fruits, with good trans-
portation facilities to reach local as well as Eastern markets.
JOSEPHINE COUNTY.
Josephine County is a southern county, next to California. Its
topography embraces mountains, foothills and many small valleys
running in all directions through the county. The county is
drained by the Eogue, Applegate and Illinois Rivers, with many
smaller creeks that are tributary to the larger rivers. The best
alluvial soils are along the streams, which are devoted to the applt,
pear and peach. These fruits mature to perfection.
Potatoes and all kinds of garden truck are raised and find a
ready market among the miners in the mountains and the towns
of the county. Corn, clover, timothy and alfalfa grow luxuriantly
along the streams, without irrigation, and alfalfa yields three crops
during the year. On the foothill soils alfalfa yields three crops in
the year where water is available for irrigation. On deep hill lands
alfalfa matures one good cutting, and, if the season is favorable, two
cuttings without irrigation. The demand for hay in the local
market is always greater than production, owing to the large lumber
and mining industries of the county. Alfalfa in this county is a
great source of profit, paying as high as $40, net, per acre.
There are many acres of foothill lands in this county that years
ago were regarded by the pioneer as only fit for grazing. Experi-
ence has taught later generations that these red foothill lands grow
the best of table grapes. Such superb European varieties as the
Flame Tokay, Malaga, Muscat, Black Cornichon, together with all
the American types of grapes, grow and mature to perfection. Now
many acres of these red foothill lands are being cleared and planted
to commercial vineyards. The value of these red hills are advancing
rapidly. A well-kept vineyard of Flame Tokays on these red hills
is an annual source of profit to its owner. Spring or fall frosts
rarely injure a vineyard on the slopes of the foothills. In fact, the
writer had a commercial vineyard on the foothills of Josephine
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Coimty for twenty-eight years and never suffered an injury from
spring or fall frosts during that period until this "freak" year,
1908, when a frost occurred that killed the foliage on the vines on
September 25, with the result that many late varieties that had
not ripened were a loss. The earliest fall frost that ever before
occurred during the twenty-eight years was on October 25, 1905.
All varieties being then ripe, no loss was sustained.
JACKSON COUNTY.
Jackson County is the largest county in the Eogue Kiver Valley.
The Rogue River Valley in this county has a width of about sixteen
miles, an^l is twenty to twenty-five miles long. The lands in this
expanse of valley are a rich alluvial deposit that in early days was
devoted to farm products. T\Tieat, when the soil was new, yielded
from forty to fifty bushels to the acre ; corn, forty to sixty bushels.
The adaptability of this rich valley to the growth of all kinds of
horticultural products has made the land of this valley too valuable
for growing farm products, hence at present but little farming is
done. Year by year the planting of orchards is increasing, and a few-
years more will see this valley a vast orchard of apples, pears and
peaches. Today there are about twenty-five thousand acres planted
in apples, twelve thousand acres in pears, and six thousand acres
in peaches in Jackson County. Medford, a thriving city of 4^000
population, is the center of the apple and pear industry, on the
main line of the Southern Pacific Railroad for shipping facilities.
In all directions from Medford are apple and pear orchards, varying
in s'ze from ten to four hundred acres.
Ashland, twelve miles southeast of Medford. on the Southern
Pacific, with a population of 5,000, is located on the edge of the
valley at the beginning of the Siskiyou Range, on Ashland Creek.
While many apple and pear orchards are in the vicinity of the city,
as a peach-growing section it is the largest in the district. The
foothills around Ashland are all in peach orchards and the anmui!
shipments of peaches from this city run into the thousands.
Jacksonville, the county seat of Jackson County, is four miles
west of Medford at the beginning of the foothills. Fine apple, pear
and peach lands adjoin the town, and the foothills are the very best
for growing all kinds of European grapes.
Whatever may have been said of Josephine County as a grape-
growing district can in truth be said of Jackson County. Jackson
and Josephine Counties are both in the Rogue River Valley; climate
and soil conditions are identical. The winters are mild; snow rarely
falls in the valley. It is an "unusual winter" that the thermometer
goes as low as 18 degrees above zero. The orchardist and the
farmer does his plowing, planting and seeding: in tne Rogue River
A'^alley during the winter months ; rarely does freezing weather occur.
The Rogue River Valley is rightly called the "Italy of America."
Report of A. H. Carson. 53
KLAMATH AND LAKE COUNTIES.
These two counties are east of the Cascade Eange, on a high plateau,
varying in altitude from 2,500 to 3,500 feet. The Klamath River
has its source in Klamath County and drains the hasin.
The first settlers of Klamath and Lake followed stock raising.
Thousands of horses, cattle and sheep were raised and grew fat on
the nutritious bunch grass that grew on the hills. At the beginning
what little land was farmed to supplv the necessities of the stock
raiser was found verv' productive. With increased population, the
waters of the streams were conducted by ditches to the sage brush
lands and alfalfa grown, yielding three and four crops in a season.
A few "home orchards'' were planted, which in time bore the finest
of apples and pears, and with age produced the finest of fruit in
qualit}', size and color.
The building of the railroad from Laird, on the Southern Pacific,
to Klaniath Falls, the county seat of Klamath Coimty, is stimu-
lating the people of that county to plant commercial apple orchards.
This year there will be many acres planted, so I am assured by Mr.
0. A. Stearns, county fruit inspector of Klamath County. With
water available for irrigation, berries of all kinds yield large crops.
Owing to the light annnal precipitation in Klamath and Lake,
\\»ater is a necessity for irrigation to get the best results on much
of their lands. The government is now completing, under the
Reclamation Act, a system of irrigation that will irrigate 180,000
acres in this county. With this system completed and railroad con-
nections to Klamath Falls, Klamath County will, in a few years,
become one of the richest counties in the State in horticultural and
farm products.
Lake County is east of Klamath. Lakeview is the countv seat,
with a population of 2,500. It is a typical Western stock-raising
town, located at the northern end of Goose Lake. With rail con-
nections Lake County has everv advantage possessed by Klamatli
County. Lake County is well watered, bavins: a great number of
lakes within its borders. Silver, Summer, Albert, Warner, Guano
and the northern half of Goose Lake, with many small streams
flowing into the lakes is the source of water supply of Lake County.
RECREATION.
To the fruit grower, in connection with his work in the orchard,
when work becomes irksome and recreation is needed, the Third
District, with its mountains and streams, offers every opportunity.
The mountains and foothills contain an abundance of deer, bear
and other large game. Quail are verv plentiful in the valleys.
During the winter months water fowl are plentiful about the lakes
and streams. All streams are stocked with plenty of fish. The
mountain trout, steelheads, salmon trout and salmon are very plen-
tiful in the TJmpqua and Roirue Rivers and their tributaries, and
larije numbers are caught in season with hook and line.
54 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
NEW ORCHARDS.
Each year the planting out of new orchards is done. Last winter
and spring Jackson County planted about 8,000 acres to new
orchards. Douglas County will plant a large acreage the coming
winter to apples and pears. Large tracts of fine ap])le land have been
purchased by commercial apple growers. Coos, Josephine, Klamath
and Lake are preparing for activity the coming winter and spring,
planting new orchards.
MARKETS.
The old question, "over-production," is always coming up. "Where
can yoTi market all this fruit when in bearing?" To those who have
not studied transportation facilities and market demands of the
masses for good fruit, the question of over-production is pertinent.
From a hygienic point of view, the people are learning it is cheaper
to daily eat fruit and have health than gorge on meats and have to
pay the doctor. The demand for fruit is constantly on the increase
as the masses become educated on lines of health. The increase of
population is always increasing the demand for the best. The fruit
zones throughout the United States, for certain types of apples,
such as the Newtown and Spitzenburgh, is very limited. These
two varieties are the commercial apples of the jSTorthwest Pacific
States. There is no other fruit zone that can grow a Newtown or
Spitzenburgh with success on commercial lines. These superb apples
do not compete with Eastern-grown apples. If there was compe-
tition, why do our Eastern apple growers sell a barrel of their best
apples, containing two and a half bushels, in Eastern markets for
less than the grower gets for a box of our apples of one bushel?
Many thousands of boxes of Newtowns are exported to Europe, and
as the keeping and shipping qualities of these apples are better known,
this demand will increase yearly. The Orient is beginning to import
apples from the Northwest Pacific, and that demand from now on
will increase faster than our ability to produce. The Northwest
Pacific has the world for such apples as her climate and soil can
grow. The secret of her ability to supply and hold the market is
to grow only the best, packing it the best. Wliere soil conditions are
right here, and a failure occurs in apple and pear growing, the
cause will always be found in the neglect of the man : his neglect of
details, as spraying at the proper time, lack of intelligent culti-
vation, and thinning the fruit and careless packing.
Success in fruit growing, as in any line of business, is had only
where the grower is willing to pav the price: intelligent, hard work.
"Next-year men," i. e., men who are always going to do a thing
next year, should never go into fruit growinsr. They will fail.
The man who makes a success is the man who does in his orchard
the things that need to be done as they come up, noy.
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56 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
There is no line of general farming that will ])ay the per cent
acre per acre that can be obtained on suitable land by the skilled
fruit grower in apples, pears, peaches or grapes.
DISEASES AND PESTS.
The question of fungous diseases and insect pests in fruit grow-
ing no longer deters the intelligent groAver. Fungous diseases readily
yield to and are controlled by Bordeaux. All leaf-cutting and fruit-
eating insects are controlled and injury reduced to a small per cent
by spraying with arsenate of lead. For insects that suck the juices
or sap, such as San Jose scale, aphis, etc., the lime-sulphur spray is
effective. In Spray Bulletin ISTo. 4, issued by this Board, the lime-
sulphur spray is recommended for preventing apple anthracnose
and peach leaf curl. I have found so many failures to control these
fungous diseases with the lime-sulphur spray, that I suggest the
next bulletin issued by the Board omit this recommendation and
substitute the Bordeaux mixture as the remedy for these fungous
diseases. Under my observation the past year, where Bordeaux was
used these diseases did not appear. On the other hand, where the
lime-sulphur spray was used to prevent anthracnose and peach leaf
curl, the diseases appeared.
PEAR BLIGHT.
This disease alarmed the pear growers of the Eogue Eiver Valley
the past year. California pear gTOwers suffered so badly three years
ago from this disease, when it appeared, it brought the pear growers
about Medford together to wage united effort to control it. Pro-
fessors M. B. Waite and P. J. O'Gara of the Department of Agri-
culture, Washington, D. C, were sent to teach us how to fight the
disease. Through their instructions George W. Taylor^ county fruit
inspector, is meeting with success in controlling the disease. The
only known remedy for pear blight is to cut out all diseased parts
of the tree and hurn the same. The germs of this disease multiply
rapidly, and were it not for the fact that so many of them perish
during the season of infection, it would be diffieult to cope with and
successfully control the disease.
The tree 'is immune to infection excepting through the blossoms
and abrasions on the tree. The source of annual infection comes
from hold-over germs that are kept alive during the winter in the
larger limbs and trunk of the tree that have been infected by reason
of abrasions. Moisture is necessary to the life of the germ, and in
the smaller twigs, for the want of moisture, most of these germs
die. In the larger limbs the moisture keeps the germs alive. With
the warm days of spring these o-erm-affected large liinbs exude sap
that the bees and insects feed upon ; the germ is thus carried by
the bees to the pear hlossoms and the germs multiply rajiidly and
Report of A. H. Carson. 57
kill the twigs. In August I found pear blight in two pear orchards in
Douglas County. In a number of orchards I visited in this county
the two were the only ones where I found the disease. I taught the
owners how to identify the disease, and the remedy, and they at
once began active work to control it.
In cutting out limbs infected with pear bliglit, it is necessary to
cut well l:)elow the part that shows infection, and in all cases, after
cutting off a limb, the knife should be sterilized to kill any germs
that might adhere to it, as cuttins: into healthy wood would cause
infection. Professor O'Gara, an expert on pear blight, says: "You
cannot prick the point of a needle into germ-infested pear blight
and then prick the same into healthy wood without inoculating it
with the germs."
FIELD WORK.
The past two years I have visited the greater part of the district
and attended many fruit growers' meetings. I have found the
growers in most eases active and modem in their methods of care
of their orchards. In Jackson County the Rogue River Horticultural
Society is an active organization. Nearly every fruit grower in
Jackson County is a member of this society and shows interest in
all monthly meetings held by the society by always being present.
Douglas County's society is equally as active as is Jackson's.
During the two years I have received a great many letters from
Eastern people asking for specific information on every phase of
fruit growing in this district. I always answer these letters cheer-
fully. A great many letters come to me from the growers in the
district. All are answ^ered.
I have delivered in the district all the biennial reports of this
Board for 1907 that I was allotted, but had many applications for
them that could not be supplied. The State should furnish this
Board with not less than 10,000 copi(JS of the biennial reports, so
that each fruit grower of the State could have a copy.
INSPECTION WORK.
The county fruit inspectors in my district have been active and
have covered much of their respective counties. In Jackson County
Inspector Taylor has been active in teaching the fruit growers how
to treat the pear blight, and the sentiment he has worked up among
them in regard to the danger that this disease, if not controlled by
cutting out, will in a short time destroy their orchards, has in a
great measure abated the disease. In Douglas County, Inspector
Riddle has done much good work for that county. He has caused
many orchards to be sprayed for San Jose scale that were never
sprayed before, and in a great many cases where old orchards would
not pay to spray he has caused them to be cut down and burned.
58 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
Inspectors Eisman of Josephine, Stearns of Klamath, and Smith
of Lake Counties, have done much s;ood work toward cleaning the
orchards of their respective counties and enforcing the horticultural
laws.
With increased acreage planted in the larger counties of the
Third District, one inspector to police each county will he a physical
impossihility, and some provision in the law should he made
so additional inspectors could he appointed, on petition of the fruit
growers.
Public sentiment is the prime factor in the enforcement of all
our horticultural laws. The majority of our fruit growers are in
accord with the strict enforcement of the laws, but the thoughtless
and negligent will not bestow the necessary labor to destroy insect
pests and fungous diseases unless someone with authority of law
compels them to.
CODLING MOTH.
The results had the past two years in spraying with arsenate of
lead for the apple worm in my district have been very satisfactory
to all apple growers. In many apple orchards, where the spraying
was done carefully, the loss from wormy apples was less than 2
per cent.
CROP ESTIMATES.
Owing to unfavorable conditions in 1908, the fruit output for
the two years of 1907 and 1908 does not show the increase either in
quantity or total which would have been made under normal con-
ditions. The spring of 1908 was cold and backward and unfavor-
able to the distribution of pollen and many trees which bloomed
heavily did not set fruit. The light precipitation of last winter was
followed by a drought during the spring and summer unequalled in
the record of "the oldest settler." As a result of these untoward
conditions the fruit crop this year has been very short.
PRODUCTION AND VALUE — 1907 AND 1908.
The amounts of the commercial crops of the different fruits by coun-
ties for the Third District for the years 1907 and 1908 have been as
follows :
Douglas County.
1907. 1908.
Apples, boxes 40,000 20,000
Pears, boxes 10,000 6,000
Peaches, boxes 75,000 50,000
Prunes, cured, pounds 5,000,000 4,000,000
Peaches, dried, pounds 15,000 10,000
Strawberries, 24-box crates 15,000 10,000
Blackberries, crates 8,000 6,000
Report of A. H. Carson. 59
Josephine County.
1907. 1908.
Apples, boxes 20,000 10,000
Pears, boxes 2,500 1,500
Peaches, boxes 30,000 35,000
Strawberries, 15-box crates 4,000 3,000
Blackberries, crates 2,000 1,500
Grapes, crates 6,000 4,000
Jackson County.
1907. 1908.
Apples, boxes 250,000 150,000
Pears, boxes 120,000 75,000
Peaches, boxes 115,000 75,000
Prunes, cured, pounds 100,000 75,000
Strawberries, 15-box crates 50,000 30,000
Peaches, dried, pounds 10,000 5,000
Blackberries, crates 20,000 15,000
Grapes, crates 1,500 1,000
Coos County.
1907. 1908.
Apples, boxes 35,000 30,000
Strawberries, 24-box crates 3,600 4,000
Cranberries, bushels 600 650
A. H. Carson,
Commissioner for Third District.
60 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
REPORTS OF R. H. WEBER,
Commissioner for Fourth District
APRIL MEETING, 1907
To the Hon07-able State Board of Horticulture:
The Fourth Horticultural District has to record the most pros-
perous season during the year 1906 that it has ever experienced.
Crops were good and prices prevailing were high on all kinds of
horticultural products. This condition has brought in its wake the
greatest activity ever known in horticultural circles. Plantings of
trees this spring surpass all previous records, and thousands of acres
will be added to the already large acreage of orchards in the Fourth
District.
Wasco County, of course, furnishes most of the ground for these
increased plantings, which consist of apples, cherries, peaches, pears,
apricots, almonds, plums, prunes and grapes. Hood River, as usual,
takes the lead in expansion and will plant at least 100,000 trees,
most of which are apples of the leading commercial sorts, consist-
ing of Newtown, Spitzenburgh, Arkansas Black, Winesap, Ortley
and several other varieties of less prominence. It is noticeable that
Newtowns are gaining in favor to an appreciable extent, and Arkan-
sas Blacks are in a measure taking the place so conspicuously occupied
by the Spitzenburgs. Color, keeping and shipping qualities are respon-
sible for this change. Mosier is planting its usual quota of apples,
cherries and peaches, while The Dalles, at last waking up to its
wonderful possibilities, is trying to vie with itself in an effort to
cutdo any of its former efforts. Fully 25,000 cherries, 15,000
peaches, 5,000 apricots, with numerous trees of otTier kinds, will
add to its rapidly increasing orchard acreage.
Favorable weather of the past winter and early spring promise
abundant yield for the coming season, and point to another pros-
perous year for the fruit grower of Oregon.
E. H. Weber,
Commissioner for Fourth District.
APRIL MEETING, 1908
To the Honorable State Board of Horticulture:
Development in fruit growing in the Fourtli Horticultural Dis-
trict, comprising Wasco, Sherman, Gilliam, Morrow. Wheeler and
Crook Counties, is more extensive than in any previous year. Truly
marvelous is the increase in orchard acreage, with Wasco County
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far in the lead. In place of scattering orchards of a few acres each,
as was the case not long ago, the eye is gi-eeted now with large tracts
set solidly to trees of high-class, commercial varieties. Men who
but a few years ago were fearful of over-production have now
become enthusiasts in the business, and with their optimism inspire
the tardy ones and are foremost in their efforts to make Oregon the
greatest fruit-producing State in the Union, a position to which she
is naturally entitled. The recent financial flurry has apparently
failed to affect the fruit-growing interests, and instead of retarding
has added new stimulus to the industry. The year 1907 will go
down in the annals of history as a banner year for the fruit grower.
High prices prevailed, which, coupled with a very heavy crop, brought
much prosperity to the horticulturists of the State. Orchard pests,
which up to a few years ago were the dread of the fruit grower,
have lost much of terror and can readily be kept in check by the
application of remedies recommended by the Board and which are
printed in their semi-annual reports, as well as in the spray bulle-
tins issued by that body, which can be secured from any member of
the Board upon application. With careful spraying, thorough cul-
tivation and honest packing for a motto, fruit growing in Oregon
is an assured success.
With strict adherence to the above motto the next few years will
bring still greater prosperity and show more rapid development in
fruit growing than it has in the past. Climatic and soil conditions
are ours, and it is left for man to do the rest to make of Oregon
the fruit granary of the world.
E. H. Webek,
Commissioner for Fourth District.
Report of R. H. Weber. 63
OCTOBER MEETING, 1908
To the Honorable State Board of Horticulture:
Crop conditions in the Fourth Horticultural District for the 3'ear
1908 make a most favorable showing, as shown by the following
figures :
Hood River.
Apples, boxes 300,000
Pears, boxes 5,000
Cherries, boxes 5,000
Prunes, boxes 3,000
Strawberries, boxes 70,000
Raspberries, boxes 500
Blackberries, boxes 2,000
MOSIER.
Apples, boxes 23,000
Pears, boxes 700
Prunes, boxes 14,000
Peach plums, boxes 4,000
Cherries, boxes 7,500
Peaches, boxes 1,400
Apricots, boxes 200
Strawberries, boxes 1,200
The Dalles.
Apples, boxes 20,000
Pears, boxes 35,000
Prunes, boxes 95,000
Plums, boxes 12,000
Peaches, boxes 120,000
Apricots, boxes 8,000
Strawberries, boxes 5,000
Raspberries, boxes 600
Blackberries, boxes 1,200
Cherries, tons ,. . . . 300
Grapes, tons 200
With the voung orchards now set out in bearing, in about five years
the output of this district should be reach $10,000,000.
Very respectfully submitted, R. H. Weber,
Commissioner for Fourth District.
64 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
REPORTS OF JUDD GEER,
Commissioner for Fifth District
APRIL METEING, 1907
To the Honorable State Board of Horticulture:
In this report I will say that fruit prospects and conditions were
never better in the Fifth District. The planting of young orchards
has been very great this season. Approximately there have been
a quarter of a million trees planted within the year. The interest
being taken in planting, cultivating and spraying is increasing at a
rapid pace.
Cherries and apples predominate to a great extent.
The past winter has been the most favorable for a crop known in
years, and if cold weather doesn't prevail later, the fruit crop will
exceed any ever grown in the district, and will be far above the
half million dollar mark with fair prices.
JuDD Geee,
Commissioner for Fifth District.
OCTOBER MEETING, 1907
To the Honorable State Board of Horticulture:
So far as the fruit crop of the Fifth District is concerned, apples
are practically all sold, although packing is only fairly under way.
The apple crop is a large one over the entire district, and prices
are high, in fact higher than ever before, and growers are selling
at $1.25 to $1.50 per box for four and one-half tier and larger, for
the entire crop of all varieties. Both in quantity and quality the
fruit is excellent.
Umatilla County is harvesting one of the largest and cleanest
crops in its history, due in large measure to the vigilance of the
county fruit inspector and the greater interest taken by the growers
of that locality.
Prune driers are still running and will be for the remainder of
the month. Prunes are an average crop and of good quality.
Growers are receiving $12 to $15 per ton for fresh prunes at the
driers, while some growers sold to shippers for a much higher price.
Pears were a good crop and were sold to shippers at from $40
to $50 per ton in bulk.
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66 Report op State Board of Horticulture.
Cherries and peaches gave a light crop, but growers who were
lucky enough to have a crop obtained good prices for them.
The growers' great trouble this season has been inability to
secure help. At the present time apple growers are paying from
$2.50 to $3 per day for ordinary labor, and men are very scarce at
that high price.
JUDD GrEER,
Commissioner for Fifth District.
APRIL MEETING, 1908
To the Honorable State Board of Horticulture:
Although the growers in this district did not receive as much as
they expected for their apples the past season, on account of the
car shortage and the panic which came just at marketing time, yet
they received from 40 to 50 per cent more than ever before for their
crops, so there is no actual reason for complaint.
Growers are rapidly adopting modern methods in regard to
spra3dng and consequently are producing a better grade of fruit.
In years past it has seemed to be the rule to see common and wormy
apples in front of fruit stands and groceries, but this season it
has been exactly the reverse. Spraying, which is practicallv becom-
ing general, is doing away with worms, scale and otlier pests, but
the grower must not stop here. There are entirely too many of
the smaller, inferior grades of fruit on the market. The grower
must attend to the thinning of the fruit on the trees if he expects
to get the high grade that is possible and the quality that b^'ings
the grower profit. We must prune the trees so as to open them up
to the sunlight in order to give the fruit the color and quality
i-equired for first-grade fruit.
The time is coming when Oregon will be known by its fruit a?
a State instead of by only a few localities.
The number of trees which are being set is something wonderful,
not in just a few localities, but in every fruit-growing district in
Eastern Oregon. Of course we must remember that not all of
these trees are being planted by nersons who will make a success of
fruit growing, while on the other hand a great many planters are
scientific, up-to-date fruit growers, and all such are a benefit to the
fruit-growing industry of the State.
JuDn Geer,
Commissioner for Fifth District.
Report of Judd Geer. 67
OCTOBER MEETING, 1908
I'd the Honorable State Board of Horticulture:
The fruit crop of the Fifth District for the season of 1908 is
above the average in quantity and of excellent quality. There was
a better and more determined fight against the San Jose scale in
the localities where they have this pest than ever before, and there
has been a more thorough campaism against the codling moth than
in previous seasons, but there is yet room for a great deal of
improvement on that line.
There are a few growers who practice thinning their apples while
the fruit is small in such a manner as to reduce the number of
apples to the tree and correspondingly increase the size of those
remaining. This is the up-to-date method that makes for the
production of large-sized fruit and is in vogue in many of the large
fruit-producing districts of the world. In this district T regret to
say that many growers refuse to adopt the method. Quantity seems
to be their aim in fruit raising.
In Umatilla County prunes were a good crop and were sold at
fancy prices. They were practically all shipped to the Eastern
markets fresh. In TJnion County the crop was large and most of the
fruit will be dried.
The cherry crop of the district was large in all localities. Cove
alone shipped eighteen carloads.
There was about 50 per cent of a peach crop and prices were high
through the whole season.
Pear prices were good, but the yield was not quite so heavy as
last year.
Judd Geer,
Commissioner for Fifth District.
IN MEMORIAM.
At a regular semi-annual meeting of the Oregon State Board of
Horticulture, held at Portland, Oregon, April 8, 1907, the follow-
ing resolutions were unanimously adopted:
Whereas, George H. Lamberson, then secretary of the Oregon State'
Board of Horticulture, was removed by death on the 4th day of
December, 1906.
Be it resolved, That the State Board of Horticulture hereby
records its sense of great loss; its appreciation of the valuable ser-
vices rendered to this Board by Mr. 'Lamberson during the long
period in which he performed faithfully and well the duties of sec-
retary of this Board, and the personal sorrow of each member of
this Board in losing a friend and fellow-worker.
Resolved, further. That the State Board of Horticulture hereby
conveys to the family of the deceased the heartfelt sympathy of
every member of the Board.
The secretary of the Board is hereby instructed to spread upon
ihe records of this Board the foregoing resolutions, and to send a
copy of the resolutions to the familv of the deceased.
SPRAYS AND SPRAYING
Prepared for this Report by Prof. A. B. Cordley, Entomologist of the
Oregon Experiment Station, pursuant to a resolution adopted by the Oregon
State Board of Horticulture, April 13, 1908.
Knowledge of a multiplicity of sprays is not essential to success
in spraying. Equipped with an understanding of the range of
usefulness of three or four standard sprays, with a good spray
pump, and with a determination to do thorough work one is as well
fortified, as may be, against most orchard pests. Therefore this
article will be brief. In practically all of the orchard spraying
done in th's State but three kinds of spray are used, and probably
one of these may soon be largely dispensed with. To treat of more
is but to waste time and space and to lead to confusion.
Most growers now understand that spraying is primarily to pre-
vent loss from insects and from fungous diseases, and that a spray
which is effective against one pest may be totally ineffective against
another. Still, for the benefit of the novice, it may be necessary
to emphasize the fact that there is no cure-all. Poisons like
arsenate of lead or paris green are used to destroy codling moth and
other insects which actually swallow plant tissues — usually cater-
pillars and beetles which feed upon leaves. They have little or no
value as fungicides and are not effective against San Jose Scale, plant
lice and other sucking insects. Bordeaux mixture is used to prevent
attacks of fungous diseases and has but little value as an insecti-
cide, liime-sulphur is both an insecticide and a fungicide. Its
ranofc of usefulness is therefore greatly increased, but it is not a
cure-all.
As intimated above, the three principal sprays in use in this
State are arsenate of lead, Bordeaux mixture and lime-sulphur
so'iitions.
ARSEXATK OF LEAD.
Arsenate of lead is now the chief ])oison used in spraying for
the codling moth, although paris green is cheaper and gives approx-
imately as good results. Many brands of commercial arsenate of
lead are now to be had, and so far as our observations go all are
reasonably pure. The various brands mav, however, be arranged
into two definite groups which may be termed the acid arsenates
and the neutral or normal arsenates. While the evidence is not
conclusive, it appears to be true tliat (he acid arsenates have some
tendency to injure foliage and that they cannot so well be used
70 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
with the lime-sulphur solutions as can the neutral arsenates. While
the available evidence upon the above points is not sufficient to
justify one in condemning the acid arsenates, growers are advised
to use neutral arsenates wherever possible.
Most manufacturers advise the use of three pounds of arsenate
of lead to fifty gallons of water. The Washington Experiment
Station has demonstrated that in the dry climate of Eastern Wash-
ington one pound to fifty gallons gives equally good results in
controlling codling moth. We have found that two pounds are suf-
ficient in the Willamette Yalley. It is quite probable that one
pound may be sufficient here, but since this has not been demon-
strated we think it best to advise two pounds to fifty gallons for the
more humid portions of this State.
Some gi'owers prefer to prepare the arsenate of lead as it is
used. This is but little if any more troublesome than to mix the
prepared arsenates in water and should be somewhat cheaper. It
can be readily prepared after the following formula:
Arsenate of soda 4 ounces
Acetate of lead 11 ounces
Water 15 to 20 gallons
Dissolve the arsenate of soda in two quarts and the acetate of
lead in four quarts of warm water. ^^Hien dissolved add them to
the required amount of water.
This formula is especially valuable for spraying very delicate
foliage or for use against insects which are killed only by large
amounts of poison, since it can be used upon plants in much
stronger solutions than the other food poisons without injury to
the foliage.
If it is desired to use a combined insecticide and fungicide,
arsenate of lead may be added to Bordeaux or to lime-sulphur solu-
tion in the same proportion as when water is used.
bordeaux mixture.
Bordeaux mixture has been the principal preventive of fungous
diseases. It is of some value as an insecticide, has a beneficial
effect upon plants independent of its effect upon their insect and
fungous parasites and may be used for most purposes in place of
water in the preparation of the arsenical sprays.
Bordeaux for winter use may be made as follows :
Copper sulphate 6 pounds
Quick lime 6 pounds
Water 50 gallons
This is known as the 6-0-50 formula. It should be used only
upon dormant trees. When the trees are in leaf the following
4-6-50 formula is used:
Copper sulphate 4 pounds
Quick lime 6 pounds
Water 50 gallons
Sprays and Spraying. 71
For spraying- peach foliage it is best to use the still weaker
3-6-50 formula :
Copper sulphate 3 pounda
Quick lime 6 pounds
Water 50 gallons
To prepare Bordeaux mixture dissolve the copper sulphate in
hot or cold water in a wooden or earthen vessel. Slake the lime,
using only sutlicient water to insure slaking. The lime should not
be allowed to become dry while slaking nor should it be submerged
in water. After the lime is slaked add water and stir until the
'•'milk of lime" is of the consistency of cream. The best results are
obtained by diluting the milk of lime and the copper sulphate solu-
tion each to twenty-five gallons and then pouring these two dilute
solutions together. The lime solution should always be strained
through a seive to exclude particles that might clog the nozzles. A
brass wire seive^ twenty-mesh, lar^-e enough to fit the head of a
barrel or the opening in the spray tank, will prove a great con-
venience.
When large quantities of Bordeaux are required, it is most con-
venient to make stock solutions of lime and of copper sulphate of
known strength. A convenient stock solution of copper sulphate
is made by dissolving 100 pounds in fifty gallons of water; one of
lime, by slaking 100 pounds and diluting with water to fifty gallons.
Each gallon of the stock solutions will then contain two pounds of
lime or of copper sulphate and the amount to be used in preparing
any quantity of Bordeaux acording to the above formulas can be
readily computed.
If sufficient lime has not been used, or if that used was of
inferior quality the Bordeaux mav injure the foliage or may cause
a "russetting" of the fruit. It is, therefore, always best to deter-
mine whether enough lime has been used by testing the mixture.
TESTING BORDEAUX.
There are three simple tests which may be used. First, hold a
clean. l)right knife blade in the Bordeaux for at least one minute.
If it becomes copper-plated more lime should be used. Second, pour
some of the Bordeaux into a shallow dish and holding it up to the
light blow gently across its surface. If properly made a thin pel-
licle will form on the surface of the liquid. Third, dissolve one
ounce of ferrocyanidc of potassium in five or six otmces of water.
Pour some of the Bordeaux into a white dish and add to it a few
drops of the ferrocyanidc solution. 1 f sufficient lime has been used
no change will be noticed. If a brownish-red discoloration takes
place, more lime should be added.
Unfortunately, even the most carefully prepared Bordeaux will
sometimes cause serious "russetting" of the fruit. This russetting
seems to be most serious when rainy or at least humid weather
72 Report of State Board of Horticulture,
prevails at the time of the first sDrayino- after the blossoms fall, and
as such conditioBs do usually thus nrevail, at least in the Willamette
Valley, "spray injury" following the use of Bordeaux often becomes
almost as serious as the fungous injury it was expected to prevent.
LIME-SULPIIUR SOLUTION.
One application of lime-sulphur spray each winter will do more
for the neglected orchard than can be done in any other way by
the same expenditure of cash and energy. It not only destroys San
Jose scale, but it also destroys the branch form of woolly-aphis,
the eggs of the green-aphis, the pear-leaf blister mite, the hiber-
nating larvffi of the prune twig-minor, probably the hibernating
larvffi of the bud-moth, together with most other insects which may
chance to be wintering upon the trees. It is also a good fungicide.
If applied in fall it is nearly or quite equal to Bordeaux as a pre-
ventive of apple-tree anthracnose ; applied to peach trees just before
the buds open in spring it is a oreventive of peach-leaf curl. The
results of the past three seasons' work at the Oregon Experiment
Station also show that when diluted it can be used as a substitute
for Bordeaux mixture for spring and summer spraying with exceed-
ingly good results.
There are two methods of preparing the lime-sulphur spray. The
formula which has been most generally used in this Stai:e is as
follows:
Quick lime 50 pounds
Sulphur 50 pounds
Water 150 gallons
Slake the lime thoroughly, add the sulphur, and boil briskly for at
least an hour or until the mixture is of a deej), blood-red color with
but little free sulphur on the surface. Add water to make 150
gallons.
The "stock solution" method which is now most generally used
in this State has been developed during the past three years. During
that time there have appeared uoon the market a number of brands
of concentrated lime-sulphur solutions which have only to be
diluted with water to be ready for use. Careful experiments
extending over three seasons have demonstrated that these sprays
are fully equal to the old home-made lime-sulphur spray in destroy-
ing San Jose scale. Whether all of them can safely be used for
summer spraying is yet to be demonstrated.
The chief fault to be found Avith these commercial preparations
is that they cost too much. The retail price is $9 to $12 per barrel
of fifty gallons. The lime and suli)hur necessary to prepare fifty
gallons of stock solution which is equally as efficient costs at present
retail prices approximately $3. It may be prepared as follows:
Sulphur (best finely ground), one sack 110 pounds
Lime (best grade, unslacked) 60 pounds
Water, sufficient to make 60 gallons
Sprays and Spraying. 73
Slake the lime, mix the sulphur into a thin fiaste with a little
water, add it to the lime, add sulTieicnt water to make sixty gallons;
bring to a boil and boil vigoronsb- for an hour. The sediment is
then allowed to settle, after which the clear, dark, amber-colored
lifjuid is dra\\Ti off and may be stored in casks for future use.
Every grower who expects to prepare his own spray by the stock
solution method should provide himself with a Beaume's acid scale
hydrometer. Such an instrument, which sliould not cost over $1,
furnishes a very simple and convenient method of testing the
strength of the solution. A "stock"" solution prepared as al)Ove
described should test noteless than 2(5 and might test 30 upon such
a scale. Should it test 2(1 it may be diluted at the rate of one
gallon to ten gallons of water for winter spraying; should it test
30. twelve instead of ten gallons of water may be used. Further
experiments are necessary to determine at what strength such solu-
tions may be safely used upon various trees in foliage, but the
experience of the past two seasons indicates that one to twenty
may be safely used upon the apple and other hardy plants. Upon
the peach the dilution should probably be somewhat greater. These
dilutions for summer spraying apply only to stock solutions which
are prepared according to the above directions. The various com-
mercial lime-sulphur sprays I have not tested for summer use.
While the above three sprays are the only ones generally used in
orchard practice in this State, other sprays are occasionally needed,
principally for destroying such insects as the various plant-lice.
ap[jle-tingis, etc. For this purpose there is probably nothing better
than kerosene oil emulsion.
KEROSENE EMULSION.
Kerosene oil, or coal oil. is a powerful insecticide. The undi-
luted oil is, however, liable to seriously injure plants to which it is
applied. This difficulty is overcome hy using one of the special
spray pumps which have Ijeen devised for the purpose of mixing
the oil with water in any desired proportion ; or by forming an
emulsion with some substance that may be readily diluted with
water. Soap is most commonly used for this purpose, as follows:
Kerosene oil 2 gallons
Hard soap (preferably whale-oil) ',4 pound
Water 1 gallon
Dissolve the soap in the water bv boiling. Add the suds, boiling
hot, to the oil. Churn the mixture violently with a spray pump
until it becomes a thick, creamv mass. Tf perfectly emulsified,
the oil will not rise to the surface even after standing an indefmite
time. Such an ciiinlsinn mav be used immcdiatelv or may be kept as a
stock mixture. Before using dilute one part of the stock emulsion
with ten to fifteen parts of water.
This will be found to be an efficient remedy for green aphis,
woollv a])his, red spider, mealy bugs and certain scale insects.
74 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
WHALE-OIL soap AND QUASSIA.
Strong soap suds made from any good soap are useful for destroy-
ing soft-bodied insects like plant-lice. It is usual, however, to
employ for this purpose special soaps made with fish-oils and sold
as whale-oil soaps. These vary considerably in composition, some
being made with soda, others with potash lye. The latter are much
superior and buyers should insist on having potash soajDS.
For scale insects, whale-oil soap is sometimes used in as con-
centrated a solution as two pounds of soap to one gallon of water,
but only upon dormant plants. As a remedy for the various plant-
lice one pound of soap to eight or ten gallons of water is usually
sufficient. Hop growers are inclined to believe that better results
are obtained, when spraying for hop-lice, by a'dding some quassia
decoction to the soap solution, as follows:
Whale-oil soap 10 pounds
Quassia 5 pounds
Water 100 gallons
Place the quassia chips in a sack, cover with eight or ten gallons
of water and soak twelve to twenty-four hours. Then bring to a
boil, remove the chips, add the soap and boil until it is dissolved.
Add water to make 100 gallons. The whale-oil soap and quassia
spray is used principally by hop growers.
BLACK LEAF SHEEP DIP.
Black leaf sheep dip, a proprietary tobacco preparation, may
be used for the same purpose as kerosene emulsion or whale-oil
soap and quassia and has the advantage that it does not injure
foliage and is ready for use. One gallon diluted with 75 to 100
gallons of water makes a very efficient aphidicide.
W^IIEN TO SPRAY.
General directions as to how many times to spray and when the
applications should be made are at best unsatisfactory. The answer
to both questions depends not on^.v upon the variety of fruit to be
sprayed, but also upon the conditions prevailing in the orchard to
be sprayed, and the relative importance of the orchard crop to
other crops. The orchardist can afford to do more spraying than
can the farmer.
An almost universal practice in this State — and a good one — is
to spray the orchard, whatever the kind of fruit, with lime-sulphur
at some time while the trees are dormant. "WHiile this application
is made primarily for San Jose scale, I believe there is no other
which has such a generally benefic'al result. It is the annual
"house-cleaning" of the orchards.
The best time for this winter spraying is immediately after the'
leaves drop in fall — even before they are all off — or just before the
Sprays and Spraying. 75
buds open in spring. Personally. 1 jirefer the latter, l)ut attention
should be called to the danger of unfavorable weather conditions
at that time and to the consequent inadvisability of delaying the
work too long.
All other sprayings are for special purposes and can best be con-
sidered in connection wiili particular pests.
APPLE.
Apple Scab.
Spraj- with Bordeaux or with lime-sulphur (1-2U):, first, when the blos-
soms are beginning to unfold; second, immediately after the blossoms fall;
third, ten days or two weeks later. (If the trees were sprayed with winter
strengtii iime-sulphur solution before the buds started, the first of the above
applications may be omitted. If prolonged rainy weather follows the third
spraying, a fourth two weeks later may be profitable.)
Codling Moth.
Add arsenate of lead or paris green to the second scab spray. Endeavor
at this time, by the most thorough work, to fill the blossom end of every
apple with the spray. If this be well done, and if the fruit be again thor-
oughly sprayed late in June, fairly good results may be obtained without
further applications. It is our experience, however, that in the Willamette
Valley at least, it usually pays to spray once or twice for the second brood.
The first of these applications should be about August 1; the second some
three or four weeks later. While thorough work should be done at all times
particular emphasis should be placed upon the two first sprayings. If all
of the first brood larvae could be killed there would be none of the second.
San Jose Scale.
Spray in winter with lime-sulphur, either immediately after the leaves
fall or before the buds start in spring. Do thorough work. Soak every
part of the tree.
Aphids or Plant Lice.
(Woolly-aphis, Green-aphis, Brown-aphis, Black-aphis.)
The plant lice rarely if ever become troublesome in orchards which re-
ceive an annual winter spraying with lime-sulphur. Dilute kerosene emul-
sion or black-leaf sheep dip applied just after the leaf buds start or at any
time the aphids become troublesome, is also effective.
Apple Tingis.
Practice clean culture, clean up and burn all rubbish about the orchard.
Spray when eggs are hatching in late May or early June with kerosene
emulsion or black-leaf sheep dip.
Apple Tree Anthracnose.
Spray with Bordeaux or lime-sulphur soon after fall rains begin or at
least as soon as fruit is picked. Spray again with lime-sulphur as soon as
leaves have fallen.
CHEREY.
Shot-hole Fungus.
Spray with Bordeaux or lime-sulphur when blossoms are opening, and
again when petals have fallen.
Cherry Slugs.
Spray with arsenate of lead whenever they become troublesome.
76 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
Black Aphis.
See under "Apple."
San Jose Scale.
See under "Apple."
Cherry Gummosis.
No satisfactory remedy known. The best that can be done is to prune
and burn dead iDranches, cut out gum-pockets and wash or spray wounds
with Bordeaux.
Brown Rot.
See under "Peach."
PEACH.
Peach Leaf Curl.
Spray thoroughly before buds open with Bordeaux or lime-sulphur.
Peach Blight,
Spray with Bordeaux or lime-sulphur soon after fall rains begin or imme-
diately after late fruit is gathered.
Peach Fruit Spot.
. Spray same as for blight. Also spray once or twice in late May and
June with weak Bordeaux or lime-sulphur. Do not make these applications
during rainy weather.
Brown Rot.
Destroy all rotting fruit. Spray as for blight. If disease still persists
spray with dilute lime-sulphur when fruit is ripening.
San Jose Scale.
See under "Apple."
PEAK.
Pear Scab.
See under "Apple Scab."
Codling Moth.
See under "Apple."
San Jose Scale.
See under "Apple."
Pear Slug.
See under "Cherry Slug."
Pear Blight.
This is the most destructive disease of the pear; it also attacks the apple
and other related trees. Extreme care and thoroughness are necessary in
dealing with this disease. Examine trees carefully and repeatedly during
the winter and cut out and burn every particle of hold-over blight that can
be detected. Examine not only branches but trunk, and even roots. Steril-
ize tools frequently with solution of corrosive sublimate.
Pear-leaf Blister Mite.
Spray with lime-sulphur just as buds are starting.
PLUM AND PEUNE.
Brown Rot.
See under "Peach."
See under "Cherry."
See under "Apple."
Shot-hole Fungus.
San Jose Scale.
APPENDIX
APPLE-GROWING IN OREGON.
B;/ Hon. W. K. Newell, President of the Oregon State Board of Horticulture.
The purpose of this article is to present briefly some of the fundamental
principles of apple growing as they apply in a general way to the industry
in this State. To give detailed instruction for a given locality is not a
difficult matter if one is familiar with the conditions, but to go into details
for so large and so diversified a country as Oregon is impossible.
Apples of the finest quality can be grown in every county in Oregon, pro-
vided varieties suitable to the locality are selected and the requisite care is
given the orchard. It must be kept in mind that there is no other fruit
grown that requires so fuU and complete knowledge of detail to bring it to
the highest degree of perfection. General principles will apply everywhere,
but there are local conditions and methods of practice that must be mas-
tered, and can be acquired only by close observation and experience. To
forcibly illustrate this point it is necessary to refer only to one instance in
Oregon. The two districts of Milton in Umatilla County and Cove in
Union County are only about fifty miles apart, and yet so different are the
climatic conditions that there is a difference of thirty days in the time of
ripening of the same varieties of fruit.
LOCATION AND SOIL.
The apple adapts itself to a wide range of soil conditions. The safest
and best rule is to observe trees that are already planted in your chosen
neighborhood. The soil must be well drained, naturally or artificially, and
be of good depth and quality. Trees may grow nicely for a number of
years in light,' thin soil, but when the heavy strain of maturing crop after
crop of apples comes there must be depth and substance or the results will
be unsatisfactory. Do not be deceived in the choice of soil, but investigate
closelj'; dig or bore holes to determine depth, and observe the vegetation to
determine quality. The apple is already so widely planted that there is no
difiiculty in observing its habits in any locality.
PREPARATION OF SOIL.
Thoroughness in every detail must be the watchword of the apple grower,
and it can not be too strongly impressed on the mind. If the land is newly
cleared, cultivate it at least one season in potatoes or corn before planting
the trees. Plow deeply, and, if old wheat land, or similar soil, subsoil by
all means. Harrow until in fine condition. Never plant an orchard until
the land is in first-class condition. You can not properly fit it after planting.
TIME TO PLANT.
The apple tree can be safely planted at any time when the soil is dry
enough from November 1 to May 1 in the greater part of Oregon, but
November is unquestionably the best month. The young tree is sufficiently
ripened by that time to be removed, and if planted at that time it will be
well established in place and its roots will be calloused ready for growth
80 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
in the early spring. February is the next best month for planting. The
tree which is planted late in the spring is too often dry and damaged by
exposure, and it pushes forth its buds and new growth before the roots are
established; the result being total loss of the tree, or at best a feeble
growth and a weak tree.
DISTANCE BETWEEN TREES.
Apple trees are usually planted too close together. As a general rule they
should not be closer than from thirty to thirty-two feet. Whether to use
the square, diagonal or hexagonal system in planting is purely a matter of
individual preference. If one wis:hes to fertilize heavily and prune severely,
keeping his trees headed low and dwarfed as much as possible, the trees
may be planted as close as twenty feet, but as a rule this is not advisable.
Close planting may bring quicker returns liut it also brings quicker
exhaustion.
VARIETIES TO PLANT.
Here again it is impossible to give definite advice. Plant what experience
has proven best for the locality and what others are planting, that the
market question may be the easier solved. Give preference always to the
apple of quality rather than to the one solely of quantity. The time is
coming, if it is not already here, when the public taste will demand quality
as well as fine appearance. A big yield, even at a low price, may pay at
first, but if the fruit is of low quality it can not win in the long run.
We have planted on this coast almost exclusively varieties that originated
on the Atlantic Coast or in the Mississippi Valley. While these varieties
have generally done well here and have produced fruit superior to that
grown in their native home, still I firmly believe that we can produce
varieties of our own that will be better than those we now have. The field
is open to the experinventer and originator, and the reward should be great
for the man who can develop an apple of such merit that it will become the
apple of his district.
AGE OF TREE TO PLANT.
By all means plant only yearling trees. You can head them down where
you want to start the heads and by proper training secure a low-headed
tree that you can cultivate close up to, and that will be practically self-
supporting under a load of fruit. The nurseryman, catering to the demand
for big trees, heads his two-year-old trees so high that they are ruined for
the practical orchardist.
SETTING THE TREE.
Having dug a good hole thirty inches wide and twenty inches deep, and
put some of the surface soil in the bottom, you are ready to plant the tree.
Prune off all bruised,, broken and dry roots and cut back all others to four
or five inches in length, making a sloping cut on the bottom of the root with
a sharp knife. Tramp the dirt very firmly with the feet, especially in the
bottom of the hole next the roots. Set the tree two or three inches lower
than it stood in the nursery row. This is very important. In dry land
set it still deeper. If the tree roots are dry, or the day dry and windy,
prepare a mud bath in a bucket or tub and set the trees in it and haul
along on a sled as you plant. Great care should be taken to properly line
ouit the rows in order that they may be straight. If necessary get a sur-
veyor, but it can be done if land is not too rough and uneven by setting
plenty of stakes for sights and having a man stand at the end of rows and
sight while planting is being done. On hillsides use hand-level and plumb-
bob to make accurate measurements.
82 Appendix.
CULTIVATION.
Here is where failure visually comes. If the young tree is to grow, the
cultivation must be thorough. The weeds must be kept down and the ground
moist. The tools necessary are a plow, harrow, extension disc harrow, a
"Kimball" cultivator and a plank drag. The ground should be stirred
with one of these implements at least once in every ten days during the
growing season. For young trees cultivation should cease about August 1;
for bearing trees about August 20.
COVER CROPS.
Next in importance to cultivation, and a necessary adjunct to it, is the
winter cover crop. Constant cultivation in summer without a cover crop
for the rainy season is even more wasteful than the old summer fallow for
wheat. The common vetch is the best cover crop for Western Oregon con-
ditions and for those portions of Eastern Oregon which do not have severe
winters. The seed should be sown at the rate of about forty pounds per
acre in the latter part of August or early in September. It may be sown at
the time of the last cultivation. It must be sown early in order to acquire
sufficient growth to be turned under early in May. Where the winters are
cold and conditions are not favorable for the common vetch, the hairy vetch
may be substituted for it. The vetch being a leguminous plant will gather
sufficient nitrogen to supply the needs of the orchard, and will provide
humus so that moisture can be held throughout the dry season. Where this
system has been followed for three or four years I have seen in the middle
of August the soil so moist just below the surface that it could be squeezed
into a compact mass in the hand.
After a good growth of the trees has been obtained or when they are four
or five years old the cover crop may be allowed to grow one summer instead
of being plowed under. This will tend to check wood growth to some extent
and to induce the formation of fruit buds. The heavy mulch will retain as
much moisture as is necessary and the crop will re-seed itself.
SPRAYING.
This subject is covered in detail in another part of this report, but I will
give here a few special instructions regarding the apple. At the present time
one is reasonably sure of getting good, clean stock from the nurseryman;
but personal attention should always be given to this point, and if there is
any reason for suspicion the stock should be fumigated, dipped or sprayed
before planting. Then keep it clean by continued spraying; don't wait for
it to become infected with all kinds of trouble before beginning to spray.
Every young apple tree should have a good annual spraying with lime and
sulphur. The best time to apply this is early in November or at latest just
as early as the leaves fall. The scale can be killed easier at that time
than at any other and the spores of fungous diseases can be reached at the
same time. When the trees come into bearing they should have another
spraying with lime and sulphur just before the buds open in the spring.
This is to prevent apple scab, and is very essential for this purpose.
For the codling moth the first spraying with two or three pounds of
arsenate of lead to fifty gallons of water should be applied within five to
ten days after the blossoms fall. The apples at this time are pointing up
and the calyx end is still open so that the cavity can be filled with poison
awaiting the coming of the worm several weeks later. This spray should
be applied with a coarse nozzle like the Bordeaux, and be sprayed directly
against the end of the apple with great force. To do this have a bend in
the end of your spray rod, and if the trees are very high use a tower and
get up above your tree. Great thoroughness is absolutely essential in this
84 Appendix.
work, for one apple overlooked may mean several hundred worms in August
and September. The second spraying for codling moth should be given
about June 25 to July 1 and a third August 1 and a fourth about September
5 to 10.
PRUNING.
There are many different ways of pruning the apple tree: high head or
low head; open center or full center, etc. Unquestionably the low-headed
tree is the best. The high tree can neither be sprayed thorouglily nor can
the fruit be thinned or gathered economically. In setting out the tree head
it back to 18 inches from the ground, and a right start will have been made.
Further explicit directions can not be given, for no two trees will grow
exactly alike; each must be treated according to its individual needs. It
hag been said that a tree will never grow a limb just where or how you
want it.
Aim to grow a tree that will support itself just as nearly as possible;
avoid all Y or V-shaped crotches and do not cut all the center out under
the mistaken idea that it is necessary to do this to let in the sunlight. A
well loaded tree will bend under the weight of the fruit until it will open
up the center all that is necessary. A tree with the center all cut out is
already deprived of its natural support and artificial aid must be provided
from the start.
THINNING THE FRUIT.
Apples need more or less thinning every year if a large percentage of
first-class fruit is to be obtained. With the Spitzenburgh thinning is abso-
lutely essential to procure perfect development. The general rule is to leave
only one apple in a place, and far enough apart so they will not touch at
maturity. This will require from four to six inches of space, according to
the size of the apple. Hand-thinning should be done early, as soon as the
crop is well set and nature has completed her process of thinning. The
work may be done with the fingers without the aid of any instrument by
merely bending the small apples sharply back as in regular picking; but
the work is best accomplished by the use of small shears made especially
for the purpose. These shears were used by a number of orcliardists last
season and can be obtained at leading hardware dealers this season. It is
contended by some that this is too much bother and expense, but those who
are doubtful are urged to give it a trial on a few trees at least. Note care-
fully the cost and the benefit. These surplus apples must be picked some
time, and it can be done cheaper at thinning time in June than at; picking
time in September or October. The remainder given opportunity for full
development will equal in quantity and surpass in quality the unthinned
fruit.
PICKING.
It is difficult to tell just when to pick an apple. Experience can be the
only guide. Weather conditions enter largely into the question, as it is cer-
tainly better to pick a little early when a storm is threatening than to risk
the loss from wind and rain. Fruit for storage and long keeping must be
picked before full maturity is reached. Correct storage being merely a
process of keeping the apple from ripening, it is plain the apple must not
be fully ripe at the beginning. Fruit that is to be marketed locally or early
in the season can be left upon the trees much longer, thus securing higher
color and fuller flavor. A safe general rule is to pick as soon as sound
fruit begins to fall from the tree in normal weather, and when the seeds
are well browned; although these two conditions are not always simul-
taneous.
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There are many picking devices, patented and otherwise, but perhaps
the most generally satisfactory way is to use deep, galvanized iron pails
holding twelve or fourteen quarts and a stout hook to hang them to a limb.
The one point of prime importance is to get the apples gathered without
bruising, and to do this they must be handled like eggs and not poured like
potatoes. With the buckets the foreman can instantly tell by the sound if
a picker is dropping the fruit into them. In emptying, the bucket is set
down next the box and with both hands the picker or sorter quickly trans-
fers the fruit. If sufficient help is at hand the fruit can be sorted more
quickly and cheaply at this time than at any other. Apples should be
cool as possible when hauled to the packing shed or storage room. When
weather conditions will permit, it is a good plan to do the hauling in the
morning, leaving the afternoon picking stacked up under the trees to cool
over night.
The best laiders are the self-supporting styles of stepladders. Do not
use a ladder that must be leaned against the tree except for the apples high
in the top that can not be reached otherwise, and then only after the others
have all been gathered.
HAULING.
A low truck with a solid, wide platform sloping slightly to the center so
the boxes will not slide off, is the most convenient vehicle for hauling the
boxes from the orchard to the packing shed. If to be hauled any distance,
as to the shipping station, bolster springs should be provided.
PACKING.
The first step is sorting and wiping. Provide the sorters with cotton
gloves or mittens made of Turkish toweling, and they can< wipe all apples
that need it as they sort. It is not advisable to wipe the apple unless they
are dirty or marked with spray. Grade to three or four sizes for convenience
in packing. About equal quantities of the two sizes of boxes, the "stand-
ard" and the "special" will be needed. The paper required is the lining
paper, pink, red or white, as preferred, the blue cardboard for layers and
an assortment of wrapping paper; 10x10 sheets for the largest apples, 8x10
for medium and 8x8 for small. Only first-class apples should be wrapped,
and the cardboard need be used only for long distance shipment or storage.
The diagonal pack, the two two, and three two, should be used wherever
possible, as the fruit is bruised less by this method than by any other,
and also it is easier to secure a firm pack and a proper bulge to the box.
Good packing requires training and experience, and is nearlj^-one-half the
battle in marketing the fruit. A nailing press is essential in nailing on
the box covers.
• MARKETING.
Wherever possible this should be done through a fruit growers' union.
The individual, unless he has a very large orchard, is at a disadvantage;
the reasons are too obvious to need mentioning in an article of this kind.
The matter is no longer an experiment; the details have all been worked
out by the several strong organizations now in existence in the State, and
the beginner can get all the information necessary.
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Photoffraplit'il ;it Webb Karni, Troutdale, Oregon. Ritrlit to rcprcdiu-e
illustration retained liy Webb Fanii.
CHERRY CULTURE IN OREGON.
By Hox. R. H. Weber, Commissioner of the Oregon State Board of Horticulture
for the Fourth District.
The steady growth of commercial orcharding has broadened a field of
action in the Pacific Northwest in which many thousands of energetic men
are doing successful work, and the ranks of the fruit-growers arc being
constantly augmented by enterprising and progressive men who are attracted
to this coast by this rapidly developing and profitable industry from all
parts of the Eastern States. The quality of our Northwestern fruit has so
firmly established it in the homes of Eastern people that it may now be
considered one of the staple articles of diet and no longer a luxury, thus
creating an ever-increasing demand and assuring us a good market for our
orchard products, whether fresh, evaporated or preserved.
To the cherry, however, belongs the distinction of being more exclu-
sively a Pacific Coast production than any other of the many varieties of
deciduous fruits grown here, which makes cherry-growing a most striking
feature of the coast region horticulture. Owing to the limited areas siiitable
to cherry-growing, an over-production of this luxurious fruit can hardly be
considered even among the possibilities of a good many years to come. At
the present time, at least, the demand is greatly in excess of the supply
and is increasing much more rapidly than the production, which is the incen-
tive for the rapid extension of the industry.
The varieties of cherries in cultivation consist of two distinct classes or
sorts; the first, comprising the Hearts and Bigarreaus, commonly designated
as sweet cherries, is characterized by an unusually upright growth and
pyramidal form of tree, and by a decidedly sweet flavor of the fruit.
The second class includes the Dukes and Morellos, commonly called the
Kentish or pie cherries. They are of a decidedly acid flavor and have little
or nothing to recommend them to the commercial cherry-grower.
Great care should be exercised in the selection of soil, exposure and
drainage for a cherry orchard, as much of the future success of the business
depends on a proper location. Tn the coast region, west of the Cascade
Mountains, a deep, light loam, with a south or southeast exposure has been
found to be the most desirable, while in the Inland Empire region, east of
the Cascades, they thrive best on sandy or gravelly soil, and there they
attain their highest perfection; but they will do quite well in almost any
situation except a very wet one or in. very heavy clay. A south or southeast
expo.sure should be selected, as it will be found that on this slope the trees
mature more perfectly and are less subject to gummosis than on the heavier
soils of a north or northwest slope, where the growing season is certain to
continue longer on account of the greater retention of moisture, which is
quite sure to prove detrimental.
The cultivation and irrigation, if the latter must be resorted to, of a
cherry orchard should be so regulated and calculated that the wood growth
of the tree will almost cease with the harvesting of the crop, causing the
tree to stand practically dormant during the remainder of the season. This
system, which refers to mature trees in full bearing only, will be found
to be most valuable in preventing gummosis, for it is in the orchards where
strong wood growth is encouraged throughout the summer after picking
(No. 1.) KoYAL Anx Ohkbky Tkkk, 2() Years Oi.i>, in Bi.oom.
bi-chard of R. H. Weber, The Dalles, Oretron. (See No. 2.)
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92 Appendix.
time, either by cultivation or a naturally moist condition of the soil, that
this disease is most prevalent. Young trees, before they come into bearing,
may be cultivated much later, encouraging wood growth as much as possible,
as they are much less subject to gumni'osis on account of a more even dis-
tribution of the sap and not being subjected to the shock of being forced to
absorb the surplus nourishment which had been consumed by the fruit dur-
ing the process of its growth and development prior to ripening and gather-
ing. Cherry-growers everywhere should put this system into practice as
much as possible during the coming season and report the results of their
experiments.
Cherry culture in general should be given more attention at horticultural
meetings, as much good would result and the industry would be greatly
benefited by an exchange of opinions and a thorough discussion of the sub-
ject. It is quite unfortunate, and to the beginner and prospective cherry-
grower somewhat discouraging, to find so little literature available for his
instruction and guidance, and a suggestion from our State Horticultural
Society and the Northwest Fruit Growers' Association to the Depart-
ments'of Horticulture of both the United States and Canada to hav£ experts
m'ake scientific investigations pertaining to this rapidly developing industry
for the benefit of those already engaged in the business and those who
contemplate entering the ranks to become cherry-growers, should not be
amiss.
With the exception of gummosis, which can in a great measure be con-
trolled by judicious cultivation, the cherry is perhaps less subject to the
attacks of insect pests and fungous diseases than any other kind of fruit,
resulting in a cheaper and necessarily more profitable production.
While spraying with Bordeaux is recommended to prevent and control
gummosis, its application will be found to possess less merit than is generally
supposed, and much more good will be accomplished in this direction by the
selection of a proper location and subsequent cultivation. The impression
should not obtain from the foregoing that spraying of cherry trees is
entirely useless and to be discouraged, for a thorough application annually
of the sulphur and lime solution or Bordeaux mixture is very beneficial and
should be regularly practiced, inasmuch as it destroys the eggs of the brown
aphis, which sometimes attacks the tree, besides acting as a general cleanser,
giving tone and vigor to the bark of body and limbs.
One-year-old trees, well grown and thrifty, propagated on Mazzard or Ma-
haleb stock, are to be preferred by the planter. Heads should be formed
rather low, to prevent sunscald to its sensitive bark. The methods of grow-
ing and training a young cherry orchard are similar to those employed for
other varieties of fruit. Heading back the limbs to give proper shape an^!
balance to the trees should continue for three or four years, or until they
come into bearing, when it will be found, if the orchard is properly handled,
pruning is rarely needed, but may be resorted to, if deemed necessary,
without injury to the tree, for it does not induce gummosis, as is often
claimed, at least not in Eastern Oregon, where cherry orchards are grown
almost exclusively without irrigation.
In removing the small branches when forming the head, care should be
taken to always make the cut just above a bud at an angle of 45 degrees
with the branch; should the cut be made just back of a bud or midway
between buds, the wood is apt to die to the next bud below and thus have a
tendency to interfere with the proper shaping of the tree.
By the introduction within recent years of many new varieties of great
merit, the cherry industry has been practically revolutionized, and the
season of ripening extended by at least a full month.
The great call for Royal Ann bv canneries and Maraschino people has
stimulated the planting of this variety, until today it is far in the lead of
all other kinds, and with the building of new canning plants in all portions
Cherry Culture in Oregon. 93
of the Northwest a still greater demand for this sort may be expected and
should be anticipated by largely increased plantings. The Royal Ann is
also a good shipper, bringing good prices in Eastern markets. Next in order
as a canning cherry is the Centennial, a new cherry and a seedling of the
Eoyal Ann. It is larger and firmer than its parent, which makes it more
desirable for a long-distance shipper. It is the first cherry to ripen, suitable
for long-distance shipping, which adds greatly to its commercial value, and
should therefore receive much more recognition from planters than has been
the case in the past. For exclusively fresh consumption and long-distance
shipment Lambert, Bing and Black Eepublican are in the lead in the order
named, and can be shipped to our Atlantic Coast cities and under refrigera-
tion to Europe with perfect safety. Evaporated cherries are regularly
quote-d in the markets at high prices, indicating a strong demand for the
fruit in this condition.
It is a singular coincidence that all but one of our leading commercial
varieties are of local origin; the birthplace of Black Republican, Bing and
Lambert being Oregon, while -the Centennial comes to us from California.
There are other desirable sorts which have originated on this coast, such
as Deacon, Hoskins and Windsor, which, though valuable sorts, have so far
received less recognition from commercial orchardists. There is still room,
however, for more new varieties of nTcrit, and the early and late season
might and probably will be extended by the introduction of sorts that will
make it possible to ship cherries from the middle of June to the last of
September or the middle of October.
I would like to say about the gummosis, that in all irrigated districts it is
largely caused by too much irrigation. Where the land never gets too much
water the trees never have the gummosis at all and still bear a good crop.
R. H. WEBER,
Commissioner for Fourth District.
PEACH-GROWING IN OREGON.
By Hon. A. H. Carson, Commissioner of the Oregon State Board of Horticulture
for the Third District.
The peach can be grown in many locations on the Pacific Coast, at least
in nearly all cases the family can grow a few peaches for the home with
care if the location is properly chosen. Where commercial peach-growing is
desired the question of location near shipping points must be considered,
as the peach is a tender fruit, and will not stand a long haul over bad roads
and reach market in prime condition.
SOILS ADAPTED TO GROWIXG THE PEACH.
In Southern Oregon nearly all of our red-hill loam soils are adapted to
peach-growing, provided they have the necessary depth, not less than two
feet, free from float rock so that good cultivation can be done. It is im-
portant in choosing a location for a peach orchard to have the orchard on
ground two to three hundred feet above the valley ac'jacent thereto, as
such locations are usually naturally drained, and through air drainage are
not as liable to the injury of the bloom during spring frosts. These high
locations are always warmer during a frosty period than ground on lower
levels.
PREPAEATION OF SOIL FOR PLANTING.
Ground just cleared should be farmed in some crop a year or two before
planting the young trees. This is done to take the general rawness out of
the new soil and permit the soil to decay and make available the plant food
in the soil for the young peach tree.
PLOWING.
The best results with the young peach orchard will be had if the ground
is carefully and thoroughly plowed and the surface soil well fined with the
harrow: in fact, the grower will find he will be well repaid for his extra
labor if he subsoils his land before planting his young peach trees. With a
turning plow turn over the soil to a depth of eight inches, following up each
furrow with the sub-soil plow, breaking up the sub-soil eight inches deeper.
Soil thus plowed facilitates drainage in case of heavv rains, drawing the
water falling during a rain through the soil to drain off through the furrow
made by the sub-soil plow, in place of draining off over the soil surface,
carrying with the surplus water the plant food you need for the young
peach tree. The sub-soiling of the ground is not only a means of conserving
moisture during ci;ltivation, but it is a fertilization of the soil as well
during rainy periods.
AGE OF TREES TO PLANT.
I would always plant one-year-old trees, trees that had not been pruned in
the nursery.
DISTANCE TO PLANT.
The standard distance to plant has been, in Southern Oregon as well as
other points on the coast, IGVj by IGV2 feet. I regard this distance too close
Peach-Growing in Oregon. 95
for the peach. You will get more satisfactory results, with a higher grade of
peaches, to plant your young trees 20 by 20 feet apart, 108 trees to the
acre. This distance gives ample room for the tree to draw its nourishment
from and gives you ample room to bestow the necessary cultivation. Plant
the trees the same depth they stood in the nursery, pruning oflf all broken
and bruised roots with a sharp knife, packing the fine earth firmly around
the roots.
TIME TO PLANT.
In this climate I would prefer fall or early winter for planting. The
winter rains pack the earth around the rootlets, and the roots callous and
heal over before spring, the period when growth begins. I have noted that
trees planted in the fall or early winter always make a better growth than
if planted in the spring.
CULTIVATION.
It would be useless to attend to all other details in planting a peach
orchard and expect success without good cultivation. Good, careful culti-
vation during the season of growth is very important. The soil should be
stirred often with harrow or spring-tooth to prevent the growth of weeds
and conserve moisture.
PRUNING THE PEACH.
Aside from cutting back the young tree when first planted, the first year
there will be no necessity for pruning excepting the February following,
when, should the growth be too thick, it should be thinned out to admit
sunlight and air and to preserve symmetrical proportions and balance of the
young tree.
After the first year's growth, the second year's growth will be the time
when you should begin annual pruning for the purpose of growing fancy
peaches, and, too, to prolong the life and vigor of your peacn trees. To
become an expert pruner of the peach, the pruner must know and under-
stand the characteristics of the growth of the peach. First, it must be
remembered that the peach bears its fruit on the annual growth of
the preceding year; that the yearly growth must be had each year, or
there will be no fruit buds for the fruit the year following. You have, no
doubt, noted than an old, unpruned peach orchard bears what little fruit
it produces each year on the extreme ends of its limbs, and the space from
the ground to the terminal fruiting spurs are bare, with dead twigs and
worm-eaten limbs showing decay, and a gradual dying of the tree. Why do
peach orchards five to six years after planting present this apeparance?
Because of the want of intelligent annual pruning. If you please, let us
take the annual growth of a peach twig and examine it — its fruit-buds and
leaf-buds. You will note on close examination that the terminal bud is a
leaf-bud. strong, large and vigorous, that the buds down the twig are single
and compound, that some are fruit-buds, single and compound. In ease of
compound fruit-buds, you will always find a leaf or wood-bud between
them. Now, you will note these buds beginning at the terminal bud down
the twig are strong, vigorous buds down to near the lower part of the twig;
here you will find, near the base of the twig, a number of flat wood-buds.
These flat wood-buds are weak buds, and unless stimulated by intelligent
pruning perish with the annual growth of the peach. This perishing of these
weak wood-buds annually is the reason that from year to year the fruiting
of an unpruned peach tree is annually extended to the terminal branches
of the peach tree, and the intervening space becomes bare of growth and
unproductive, and the unjiruned tree begins to die. As a rule an unpruned
peach tree will not be productive and will not pay to gather the fruit after
six years old.
96 Appendix.
Under proper management and intelligent pruning a peach tree can be
made a long-lived tree, and should, if properly pruned, be as healthy and
vigorous at ten years old as when a three-year-old. This condition can only
be had by annual pruning. The rule to follow in pruning the peach is: Al-
ways keeping in view symmetrical proportion and balance of the tree, cut
out half of all the annual growth of new wood, and of the balance of new
growth shorten in half. By following this method of pruning the peach
you will have pruned out three-fourths of the annual growth, and will have
thinned the fruit so that over-bearing will not occur, and you will have
stimulated the weak buds at the end of the base of the twig into growth
of new wood for next year's fruitage. By this method of pruning you
will have stimulated a healthy growth through all parts of the tree, shading
from the sun the larger limbs with a vigorous foliage that protects them
from sun-scald, which, if it occurs, always impairs the vigor of the tree.
It frequently occurs that the cutting out of three-fourths of the annual
growth of the peach does not sufficiently thin the fruit to get the best results,
and hand-thinning must be resorted to. To grow large, fine peaches, too
many must not be allowed on the tree. If it takes five peaches to weigh
one pound, and by thinning you can make three of them weigh a pounu,
you have made money by investing in labor to do the thinning, for when you
come to gather and pack your peaches you will have saved two-fifths in
labor and have not lost anything in the number of pounds of peaches pro-
duced, and to the market value of your fruit three peaches that will weigh
a pound will sell for 50 per cent more than were they to run five to the
pound. It will not pay anyone to grow small, poor peaches. Choice peaches
always have a market demand at paying prices, and the rule that there is
never an over-production of the BEST of any commodity in the markets
holds good in peaches, as it does in all commercial commodities.
PACKING.
It would be childish to say that choice, fine peaches would sell for top
prices in our markets were they poorly packed. The peach-grower shouLl
see to it that hig pack is an honest pack. Peaches should be uniform in
size throughout the box, and anything over eighty to the box should never
be sent to market. Remember the size of your peaches at packing time isi
a question of detail with the grower. If intelligently pruned, thinned and
well cultivated on good soil, such peaches will run nearer forty-eight to the
box than a higher number. Peaches running forty-eight to the box talk for
themselves; the seller only has to pack them well and ship to market.
SMUDGES FOE FEOSTS
It is well known that the danger from frosts is greatest in mild climates,
in which "warm spells" are apt to occur, in late winter or early spring.
Many promising peach crops have been ruined through these frosts. Can a
peach crop be saved from spring frosts by smudges? Frosts occur on clear
nights. The earth's heat radiates rapidly on clear nights, With clouds or
fog present, this radiation is greatly checked. Smudge fires that will pro-
duce blankets of smoke over a peach orchard on frosty nights prevents
radiation, and unless an extreme freeze occurs a crop of peaches can be
saved by smudging. In 1887 the spring was frosty. By building smudge
fires on two frosty nights I saved the whole crop. That year I had the
only peaches in the county. For smudging that year I used pitch to start
the fires quickly, some dry oak to hold coals, and when well started, I
smothered the fire with coarse barnyard manure to cause a dense smoke. To
properly smudge against frost, the peach-grower should be prepared. His
materials should be ready and placed around and through the orchard, ready
for use during the danger period. On frosty nights the smudge fires should
Peach-Growing in Oregon. 97
not be started until about 3 o'clock A. M., as the tluMinoiuetiT will uot
indicate a dangerous temperature on a clear night until near morning; from
then until sunrise the radiation is fast, and a blanket of smoke will pre-
serve the crop. Frost occurs on still nights. Smudge fires cause air circula-
tion, the smoke absorbs the moisture in the air. All of tlicse physical con-
ilitions help to prevent frost injury.
] know some claim smudge fires heat the air, and by heat prevent injury
from frost. I think this is a mistake, as when I smudged in 1887 T had a
thermometer in the orchard where the smoke was dense, and one away
where there was no smoke, and the reading of temperature taken at the
same moment on both thermometers was the same.
The grower to smudge with success m'ust be prepared. i"\iel must be on
hand, and plenty of it. At 3 o'clock A. M. if he finds the thermometer
on a clear night near 32 degrees and going down, fires sliould be started at
once and vigorously kept going until after the thermometer rises above 32
degrees. Many of the crude oils, petroleum or coal tar make dense smoke,
and are good to use for smudging. Take sawdust and mix coal tar through
it so it will press into cakes; these cakes give off a dense, heavy smoke
when burning, and they burn slowly. Wet straw or refuse from the stable
thrown over these coal-tar cakes help in creating a dense smudge.
The commercial peach-grower, if he would make a success of the peach,
should include preparation for smudging as one of the details of his work,
and every year be prepared to smudge. On very frosty years, with a small
I each crop, prices always rule high. The energetic peach-grower who
smudges his orchard during the danger of frost during the spring and saves
his crop by smudging, is always well paid by increased demand and prices
for his peaches, for the labor and expense of smudging.
A. H. CAKSON,
Commissioner for Third District.
UPLAND ORCHARD PRACTICE IN EASTERN
OREGON
By Hon. Judd Geer, Commissioner of the Orego7i State Board of Horticulture
for the Fifth District.
In submitting this article for the Tenth Biennial Eeport of the State
Beard of Horticulture. 1 will begin on the subject
VARIETIES TO PLANT.
The planting of an orchard seems to me a serious matter. [ hesitate tc;
offer any advice; however, there are some suggestions I am glad to make.
Other crops on the farm come and go with the seasons. If we make a
mistake in one year we can try again next and perhaps correct our
error. Not so with an orchard. Mistakes made in the beginning are diffi
cult to overcome; in fact almost impossible to entirely correct. The rearing
of a good orchard becomes in reality an important part of our life work,
and one over which a world of sentiment hovers around, as we call to mind
many poems and bits of verse that refer to it.
The varieties to plant is rather a hard subject to handle, for, owing to
our great diversity of soil and climate in the Northwest, it is not safe to
give more than general advice on the subject. Among the hundreds of
well-known varieties of apples, there are few sections in which many good
kinds do not succeed. It is usually safe to examine the growing orchards
of the neighborhood, if there be any, to aid in determining those which
best succeed. One variety may succeed in widely separated regions, while
the sections between may be suited to an entirely different sort. This is
well known in the case of the Yellow Newtown, which grows to perfection
in some locations on this coast and in Virginia, while we are told that in no
other known places does it attain the same perfection.
In selecting varieties of fruits for commercial purposes I would choose
quality as the first and most important attribute.
Probably the highest authority obtainable is the revised catalogue of
fruits prepared under the auspices of the American Pomological Society
and the United States Department of Agriculture. In it you will find nearly
every known variety described and graded. As the apple is our leading
commercial fruit we will use that to illustrate.
The Spitzenburgh, for instance, is rated at 10, which is the limit as to ex-
cellence in quality; the Jonathan, 8-9; Yellow Newtown, 9-10; Yellow Bell-
flower, 8-9; Tomkins County King, 8-9; York and Eome Beauty, 7-8 each.
Never under any circumstances would I set out an apple that rates lower
than the last two named.
Second in importance, is to select a well-known variety, one for which
there is always a good demand in the best markets of the world. However
excellent a new variety may be. it is almost impossible to obtain as good a
price for it as might be gotten for standard varieties.
Third in importance is the number of varieties grown. Don't have too
many varieties. More than one is well, as seasons vary, and by having
three varieties one will usually have a good income every year; but, so far
as the market is concerned, one could probably command a better price if
every apple in his orchard was the same kind, providing it was some stand-
ard variety.
El.
O
'^a»mimi
100 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
Select the best possible location available for the purpose. A mistake in
this particular is not easily remedied. The drainage and soil should be
good if good results are to be expected. Fruits will often color more highly
if a sloping piece of land is chosen, especially if it slopes to the south or
east.
SELECTING THE TREES.
Good stock should, be chosen — the best that can be obtained. Not the
largest always; in fact the younger trees are usually best if healthy, clean
and vigorous. It is poor economy to secure low grade stock simply because
first cost is less.
Too much attention can not be given to the preparation of the land at
this time. Plow the land deep and see that it is thoroughly pulverized.
You can do good work now, which if omitted, you will not be able to do at
all after the trees are j^lanted. A little labor now will produce better results
than double the amount at a later period.
SETTING THE TREES.
Before setting the trees in the ground all mangled or bruised roots should
be removed. Sod should never be allowed to form in a growing orchard.
Keep running the cultivator at intervals of two weeks until the middle of
August, when the wood should be allowed to ripen in preparation for the
coming winter.
Pruning and training are important factors in the success of an orchard.
The objects to be attained are a well-balanced top and spaces for the ad-
mission of air and sunlight to all parts of the tree, while still leaving foliage
enough to protect the branches from the direct rays of the sun. This is an
important matter where spraying is necessary. Much of the pruning may
be done while the trees are young by rubbing off the buds and pinching off
the tender branches with the thumb and finger.
The proper height at which to form' the head is a matter of taste and
convenience. My own choice is about three feet. With the improved im
plements now in use, thorough tillage can be as readily accomplished with
a low top as a high one. No arbitrary rule, however, should be laid down
as to the height of a fruit tree. This' should depend upon the variety and
the choice of the planter.
JUDD GEER,
Commissioner for Fifth District.
GROWING THE EUROPEAN GRAPE IN OREGON
Bif Hon. a. H. Carson, Commissioner of the State Board of Horticulture for
the Fifth District.
Whatever knowledge I may have was gained through more than twenty
years of practical experience in grape-growing. I hope I may be able in
this paper to point out details in the starting, growing and management of
a vineyard that will aid the beginners so that they may avoid the errors
and mistakes of which I have mac^e so many.
The location of the vineyard is an important factor to assure success.
The soil must be warm, of good depth and well drained. Cold, wet land is
not congenial to the growth of the grape. Our foothill lands in the Eogue
Eiver Valley and along the Columbia Eiver from The Dalles eastward, if
the loam has depth not less than two feet, sloping to the southeast, south
and. southwest, with an elevation from twelve hundred to twenty-five hun-
dred feet in the Rogue River Valley and under one thousand feet on the
slopes of the Columbia and Snake Rivers, are ideal locations for vineyards,
providing there is not too much broken rock in the soil to prevent thorough
plowing and subsequent cultivation. To mature the grape it must be grown
rn an equable temperature with ample sunshine, and our southeast, south
and southwest hillsides are locations that nearer furnish these conditions
than would a northern slope or a level flat.
Do not plant the grape on a northern slope in this climate, as the varia-
tion in temperature during every twenty-four hours is much greater than on
a southern slope, and, too, a southern slope will give on an average one hour
more sunshine in twenty-four hours than on a northern slope. By planting
your- vineyard on a southern slope you avoid the blighting effect of the north
wind on the bloom.
The quantity and quality of crapes grown on a northern exposure never
equal those grown on a southern exposure. Assuming that the intended
vineyard is grubbed and all stumps removed, thorough plowing of the ground
to a depth of fourteen to sixteen inches should be had, with the surface
well harrowed and pulverized.
To get this depth we use the turning plow and turn over the surface to
a depth of eight inches and with a second team follow up each furrow as
turned with a subsoil plow, breaking up the subsoil seven to eight inches
deeper, letting it fall back into the furrow made by the turning plow.
Plowing and breaking up the subsoil to this depth insures good drainage
to carry off surplus water in case of heavy rainfall, warms up the soil, pul-
verizes it, and enables the soil to stand drouth. With proper cultivation,
that means much in growth of the new vineyard you seek to establish the
first year.
Many old vineyards are planted too closely, too many vines to the acre;
6x8 and 8x8 feet is not distant enough. Any and all of the European va-
rieties should not be planted nearer than 9x9 feet, 535 vines to the acre, and
10x10 feet would be better.
To get the best results the vine must have room to grow, with ample soil
from which to draw its food, and you must have room to till and cultivate
to make this plant food available to the young or old growing vine.
Preparatory to planting the young vines use a line about 300 feet long
and lay out the end and side lines of the vineyard, so ih;ir .>ne end and one
side form a true right angle. Without a compass you can use a carpenter's
Growing the European Grape in Oregon. . 103
square to lay otf a right angle. Peg these side and end lines the distance
apart you wish your vines to stand in the vineyard. Use pegs half an inch
in diameter, and in making your measurements from peg to peg use a pole
the desired length between vines, always pegging carefully the distance
your pole indicates. Hy using the line on each row and setting the pegs
carefully with a well stretched line you can lay off any number of acres on
level or rolling ground and the pegs will be in line in all directions. In
planting the young vines do not remove the peg, but plant them on the
south side of each peg, so that the top bud of the vine will be about one
inch from the peg.
I would alwaj's use one-year-old rooted vines; cuttings are too much risk,
as many of them fail to root in the vineyard, and if you use them you will
always have many vacant places in the vineyard which you will have to
replant the following year. Eoot your cuttings in warm, sandy loam in
nursery.
A strong-rooted vine of one year's growth will put out canes from one to
two feet in length. Cut back all of this growth to two or three buds.
Shear off all lateral rootlets on the rooted cuttings close to the cutting, and
of the rootlets at the lower part of the rooted vine, shorten them to two or
three inches. This prepares the young vine to be planted in its new home.
You can plant this young rooted vine any time in this climate from No-
vember 15 to May 1, providing you have the soil in condition and the
weather is not freezing. What I mean by soil in condition is when it will
work free and it is not too wet.
Last year I planted in vineyard 4,000 one-year rooted vines during April,
and my" loss was only one-half of 1 per cent. The most oi this small loss
was caused by rabbits and cutworms eating off the tender growth during
the summer as fast as it grew.
After planting out, all you have to do this year is to cultivate and keep
on cultivating whether there are weeds or not until August 15. Stir the
surface soil once a week with a harrow or spring-tooth to conserve moisture.
Your success in growing a vineyard will be in your willingness to pay the
price — work. If you do not possess that capital — a willingness to work and
bestow the necessary labor — don't plant a vineyard, as your success or your
non-success will reflect your personality.
The first year let every bud that quickens and grows alone. Do not
remove a leaf. It is one of the organs of the plant in conjunction with the
roots that is necessary to establish the vine in the new home you have
placed it in.
The first year the growth of the vine will be small and the beginner may
at the end of the growing period be discouraged and fear that his soil and
location are not adapted to the growth of the grape. Time will prove his
fears are without reason. In February or March of the second year go over
your young vineyard and cut back all growth of the first year, leaving only
two or three buds. If two or more canes have grown, take off the weaker
ones and leave the stronger one, but be sure to cut it back to two or three
buds. Cultivate the vineyard as I suggested for the first year. By the
middle of June you will find that many of your vines have grown canes
four feet long or more, with strong, vigorous canes.
Pluck or cut off the weaker canes; drive a sharpened stake on the north
side of the strong cane left and tie to it. After being driven the stake
should be two feet high. It should be driven firmly. Tying the cane to the
stake is particular work, as this cane forms the future stump to support
the grape you hope to grow.
Two strong strings are required to tie a growing cane to the stake. The
loop left around the growing cane must be left large enough so that the
growing cane will not fill it so as to cut off and strangle it. The top string
must be tied firmly near the top of the stake in a notch cut into the stake,
104 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
so that the swaying of the young cane by the wind will not work the top
string down the stake, thereby pulling down the tender growth, which
hardens in time and leaves you a crooked, deformed stump that pruning
cannot remedy. Your only remedy in such cases is to cut back all the
growth the spring following and start a new cane to form a new stump.
There will be weak vines the second year which will not make strong
enough growth to stake. Let them alone, and the third year cut them back
to two or three buds and they will soon show a vigorous growth that will
do to tie to a stake. Vineyards grown on the stump, as nearly all European
varieties are grown, require staking for seven or eight years, until the
stump is strong enough to bear its burden of luscious grapes. By using
cedar stakes at the beginning you will avoid the necessity of restaking
many vines.
Do not expect many grapes from your young vineyard until it is fiv(»
years old. Commercially speaking, your profit will pay you 6 per cent on
a valuation so large that I am too modest to tell you what the valuation is.
There are many choice varieties among the European grapes. The Mus-
cat, Malaga and Flame Tokay are in my opinion the best three. Only the
best should be grown for home use or the markets. AH three are firm, late
grapes, good keej^ers, great bearers, and quality superb, and if properly
ripened, picked and packed will stand shipping across the continent and
will sell in the Eastern markets at top prices.
There are many other table grapes, such as the Black Prince, Cornichon,
Black Hamburg, Black Ferrera, Gro^ Maroe and Purple Damascus, that
are fine.
I often hear the remark: "I believe I would like grape-growing, as
grapes, like Topsy, just grow — you don't have to spray them." This is a
mistake. I say to you that if you become a commercial grape-grower you
will have to work. If you are to have success you will have to bestow the
labor and care that men in apple, pear and peach-growing bestow to assure
success. The grape has its fungi and its insect pests, and you will have to
intelligently meet and overcome these diseases and pests or you will fail.
Of insect pests we have the grapevine aphis. This pest so far has not
proved serious.
Then we have the green grapevine sphinx. The larvae of this insect
some years are very plentiful, and if permitted would do serious damage to
the growing vine. In this climate the female moth deposits from cue to
three eggs on the under side of the leaf about June 1. The egg is about
one-twentieth of an inch in diameter, whitish in color and oval in form. In
five or six days the egg hatches and the young larva soon begins on the
young, tender foliage. His growth is rapid, and in a short time he becomes
a python among leaf-eating worms. I have seen the grown larva that
measured two and three-quarters inches in length and as large around as
the little finger. Two or three of these grown worms will, if not discovered,
soon strip every leaf from an old vine. Its natural enemies, the birds,
destroy many of them, and owing to its large size you can readily detect
him and when found knock him off the vine and with the hoe end him.
The climbing cutworm is a serious pest on one and two-year-old vines
They are nocturnal in their habits, feeding at night, and were it not for
our robins and bluebirds, who detect and destroy them in countless numbers,
they would destroy any and all growing vegetation in our fields in early
spring and summer months. Thanks to Governor Chamberlain's wisdom,
when he interposed his veto to the Perkins bill, as to what extent the
law can protect the fruit-growers' friends yet remains law.
The most dreaded insect pest is the grape phylloxera. It has not yet
ni'ade its appearance in any of the vineyards of Oregon, but is in portions
of the grape-growing district of California. When it does appear here, if it
does, our only remedy is to graft the finer Knropean grsipes on resistant
Growing the European Grape in Oregon. 105
roots. Of fungous diseases we have jfrape anthracnose, mildew, graj)e rot,
rust and grajje knot. All of these funfrl readily yield to spraying with
Bordeaux in the spring, just as the buds begin swelling, excepting the
grape knot. This disease affects the old wood of all European grapes, and
has existed in California since the first jilanting of the grape by the
mission fathers. It does not affect tlie fruit in quality or size.
My oldest vineyard of 7,000 vines, which has been in bearing for over
twenty years, has been affected witii the grape knot from the beginning,
and I have not lost ten grapevines from grape knot durin'j that period.
Mildew you will find the most annoying fungus the grape-grower has to
contend with. It affects the growing canes, leaves and fruit, and if it
develops in any portion of the vineyard during the season you will lose all
of the fruit on every vine it attacks. However, mildew is easily controlled.
If you lose a crop of grapes from the mildew the fa>dt is your own. as the
remedy costs you but little.
If mildew once becomes establislied in the vineyard during the season, all
vines so affected are past help for that season. Spraying the vines with
Bordeaux, or flowers of suipluir shaken in each vine, will prevent mildew
from develo])ing. If flowers of sulphur is shaken in each vine when in bloom
and again when the grapes are the size of BB shot it will prevent mildew,
or if you will spray the vines with standard Bordeaux just as the buds begin
swelling in the spring and again w^ith modified Bordeaux when the grapes
become the size of BB shot, you will prevent mildew. These remedies are
cheap and effective, and if you become a gra])e-grower you run much risk if
you fail to treat your vines annually.
The question of winter and summer pruning is hard to explain in a paper
of this character so as to make it of practical value to a beginner. The
beginner's best method to learn pruning is to go into a vineyard with a
pruner of knowledge and have an object lesson. No two vines of the same
variety are pruned exactly alike, as they all vary in vigor and must be
pruned accordingly to get the best results. If my Jackson and Josephine
County friends who are beginners in . grape-growing will come to my vine-
yard in February and March I will be glad to give them object lessons in
pruning the grape, so far as my knowledge goes on that subject.
Again, picking and packing the grape for market, as well as selling it,
are jdiases of the grape-grower's work that would make this paper too
lengthy to go into at this time. I hope to take this up at some future time.
The timid often say to me: "There are a good many people going to
engage in grape-growing. Won 't production soon be greater than de-
mand?" My answer has always been "No." It must be remembered that
the ])0ssil ility to grow and mature such grapes as the Tokay, Muscat and
graiies of their variety is limited to a very small portion of the United
States. In Oregon these varieties can only be grown in the Eogue Eiver
'v^alley and about The Dalles, in Wasco County. The Willamette Valley
cannot mature them. A limited portion of Idaho along the Snake Eiver
can grow them, ami the State of California, a portion of Arizona and New
Mexico can grow them by resorting to irrigation. Irrigated grapes do not
have the shipping qualities that non-irrigated grapes have.
For the ])ast seven years I have been shipping one to two thousand crates
of these grapes to the Portland market. With increased shipments prices
have advancefl annually. My first year's shipment of Tokays sold for $1.10
per crate; Odlifornia Tokays sold that year for .$1.15 per crate. Oregon
Tokays had to win their way against California Tokays. At that time —
seven years ago — Portland fruit dealers would not acknowledge that Ore-
gon Tokays had any merit in comparison with California Tokays. The
Oregon Tokay has won out and are now regularly quoted as Oregon Tokays
in the market rcpDrts of Portland. Last year every crate of Tokays I
106 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
shipped to Portland sold for $1.50 to $1.65 per crate, while California
Tokays on the same date sold for $1.35 to $1.50 per crate.
You will ask, ' ' Why do Oregon Tokays sell higher in Portland markets
than California Tokays?" The question is best answered by my obser-
vations and talk with a retail fruit dealer on Morrison street in Portland
last October. Passing down Morrison street, I noticed Tokays of my own
growing together with California Tokays, and I stopped to look at them.
The Oregon Tokays were labeled Oregon Tokays, 15 cents per pound, and
California Tokays, 10 cents per pound. I asked the dealer why there was
so much difference in the price of Oregon Tokays and California Tokays.
"Why," he said, "you see the Oregon Tokays are highly colored. They
look as fresh as if just picked from the vine. They will retain their fresh
look for the next ten days and not one of them will decay, while the Cali-
fornia Tokays are pale in color and are soft and beginning to decay. I
have got to get them off my hands at once or else lose the purchase price.
Yes, sir, we did not formerly think so, but now we know Oregon can raise
a better Tokay than California."
I asked Mr. Pearson, senior member of the Pearson-Page Company, of
Portland, last fall, how many crates of Tokays they could handle for me
during a season of two months in the Portland market and keep prices up.
His reply was: "We can handle two carloads a week, and will have no
trouble to get you top prices." These are the conditions and demands of
our local markets.
I have taken some pains in this paper to point out to you what the market
demands will be for our choice table grapes if we will grow them, and
to allay the fears of the timid who may desire to plant the grape yet hesi-
tate on account of the specter of over-production, which is ever coming up
in their minds to scare them and strangle any personal endeavor they may
think of engaging in. Jackson and Josephine Counties have thousands of
acres of choice hillside lands that today are as primitive as they were in
the days of the early settlement of Oregon by the white race, that are
adapted to growing the grape. As -they now are they are non-productive.
They are cheap and can be made into homes, by planting the grape, that
will care for many families and will be a source of wealth to the owners as
well as the State. If this paper induces anyone to take up grape-growing
and improve these lands with success, which I know will follow, and if the
hints and suggestions I have given are remembered, I shall feel amply
repaid for the time spent in its preparation.
CULTURE OF THE AMERICAN GRAPE IN
OREGON
By Hon. ^^'. K. Xewell. President of the Oregon State Board of Horticulture.
The first grapevine planted in Oregon, so far as known, was an Isabella
brought across the plains by Henderson Lewelling in 1847 and set out by
him at his place in Milwaukie in the spring of 1848. Hence the grape has
been grown here for sixty years, but only in the last twenty years on a
commercial scale. From a Inillotin, "The Grape in Oregon," written by
Professor E. R. Lake and published by the Oregon Experiment Station, I
quote:
"While the world at large is most familiar with the history of the
European grape (vitis vinifera), the history of the development of the
American grape (vitis labrusca, and other species), which is at present
receiving much attention by specialists, is even more interesting to the
American horticulturist than that of its old world congener, for the reason
that, except for parts of California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho, and as
a special type for indoor culture, the European variety is not suitable to
American climatic conditions.
"All the varieties of our American type of grapes have come originally
from the wild grapes that grow abundantly throughout the Middle,
Northern and Southern States, and they are generally divided into four
distinct classes.
"First. The Northern Fox Grape class, vitis labrusca. It is the vari-
eties of this class upon which the growers of this valley must chiefly rely.
To this class belong the Isabella, Catawba, Concord, Word en, Moore's
Early, Eaton, Niagara, Green Mountain, Brighton, Vergennes, Lady Wash-
ington, and a great many others.
"Second. The Sumner Grape class, vitis aestivalis. Only a few of this
class are good for the table, but they are valuable for wine. One variety
of this class, the Centennial, is a dull, yellowish-white grape; a good bearer;
bunches of good size; berries somewhat below medium, but sweet and de-
licious. Though it ripens with the Concord,, it can be kept until the new
year.
"Third. The Riverside Grape class, vitis riparia. A few varieties of
this class are good. The Empire State, a white grape that bears well;
bunches, long; berry, medium, very sweet. The Elvira, another white
grape; wonderfully productive; bunches, rather small; good for wine-mak-
ing. Then there are many hybrids among the various classes, some of
which are very fine, as the Salem, Agawam, Wilder and many others, but
these are not "go reliable and saleable as the Concord and the Niagara.
"Fourth. The Southern Fox Grape class, vitis vulpina. None of this
class can be successfully grown in our climate.
"Those varieties that have been successfully grown here (the Willamette
Valley) will be named here:
"The Concord. This is the grape for everybody; large, strong-shouldered
bunches of big, black, sweet berries of the fine native flavor that all
Americans like so well. It is very productive and always a sure bearer.
Sevenyear-old vines have borne more than thirty pounds each.
"The Worden. A black grape like the Concord: bunches larcre and
heavy; berries larger than the Concord and rather better in quality;
ripens about ten days before the Concord and is fully as productive.
108 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
"The Niagara. A white grape that bears well and regularly; bunches
very large and heavy; berries sweet and of good flavor. This variety is
gaining much in favor on the home market. It ripens about ten days before
the Concord. It is the best of the white grapes.
"Moore's Early. A black grape; bunch medium; berry very large;
quality as good as Concord, but vine not quite so productive. Very valu-
able here on account of its earliness. It ripens nearly three weeks before
the Concord.
"Eaton. A very strong grower; bunch very large and heavy; berries
very large, many an inch in diameter, black and of good quality. It sells
well, but will not bear long shipment very well.
"Moore's Diamond. A very good white grape; ripens about two weeks
before the Concord; bunch and berry large and of best quality; not so
productive as the Niagara.
"Green Mountain. A white grape; rank grower; bears well; bunch long;
berry medium, very sweet and delicious. It ripens here about the first of
September.
"Vergennes. A red grape of good quality; bears well and is a good
keeper; bunch and berry large.
"Brighton. A red grape of very best quality; bunch large; berry me-
dium, very sweet and fine; keeps well. Ripens the same time as Concord.
"Delaware. Js so well known and succeeds so thoroughly under our
conditions that I cannot pass it unnoticed. Bunch and berry small, light
red, very sweet and of most delicious flavor. It is an abundant bearer.
"The above varieties have been found to be the best and most profit-
able for our home market, and they are sufficiently hardy and prolific to be
all that the grower can desire of them."
The (Concord properly stands at the head of the foregoing list and is the
grape for the Western Oregon vineyardist to plant.
No longer ago than 1898 it was a customary practice for the fruit dealers
of Portland to import every fall a few cars of New York grapes. Hap-
pily this practice is no longer necessary. A few men have grown grapes
in Oregon for many years and with such success that the culture of this
fruit is now becoming general. Puget Sound and British Columbia still
import Eastern grapes, thus it is seen that there is a nearby market for us
to supply. It is quite probable also, that a considerable trade can be de-
veloped in Calif OTnia for our Concord grapes, as tliis variety is not grown
there, nor is there any other variety that will take its place.
In planting a vineyard give first attention to selecting a suitable loca-
tion. Most any of the hill lands of Western Oregon that have a southern
or southwestern exposure and that are sufficiently high to be free from
late spring or early autumn frosts, will do. Elevations between two hun-
dred and one thousand feet are best, though lower land near the Willamette
"River is just as good. A very necessary point to keep in mind when making
a selection is that the site shall be such that the cold air can settle to the
ravine or valley below; this is a great protection against frost, and, also,
such land is usually naturally well drained. If the drainage is not naturally
;good then tile it; for a good,- friable soil is a necessity in grape culture.
Should one have no other suitable place, then plant a few vines against
the south side of a building- dr tight board fence.
PREPARATION AND PLAXTIXG.
For the grape nothing is better than new land or clover sod; plow deeply;
harrow thoroughly; then dig- holes for each vine, twenty-four to thirty
inches in diameter and sixteen to twenty inches deep, nuttincr the surface
soil and sod back into the bottom of the hole. Vines should be planted in
rows eight feet apart,- and eight or ten feet apart in the row. This will
require six hundred to eight hundred vines per acre.
no Report of State Board of Horticulture.
The best time for planting is in April, and one-year-old vines are to be
preferred. When planting, trim off all ragged or broken roots and cut back
long ones one-half to two-thirds, and cut back the stem to two buds.
Plant deeply, working fine surface soil carefully about the roots, then
tread thoroughly with the fet until the hole is nearly full, and finish by
spreading the earth from the bottom of the hole loosely over the top.
When planted, set a strong four-foot stake an inch or so from the stem;
always on the same side of the row so that they will not bother when culti-
vating.
Cultivate thoroughly from early spring until August 1 to 10. Cultivation
after this latter date tends to prevent the proper ripening of the wood.
The tools needed are a one-horse plow, a disc harrow, a cultivator and a hoe.
PRUNING AND TRAINING.
The pruning the first year is plain sailing, but after that it becomes
m'ore difficult, and the beginner should, if possible, visit some experienced
grower and see how it is done, for it is very difficult to write directions
sufficiently clear for a new hand to follow. As soon as the two buds left
at the time of planting get long enough, tie the strongest one to the stake
and rub off the other. Keep the new shoot tied carefully to the stake as
it grows and rub off all laterals as fast as they appear. There are many
ways of training the vine, but the fan shape on a wire trellis is my pref-
erence. If this method is adopted then the second spring the first season's
growth must be cut back to twelve or fifteen inches from the ground, leav-
ing the two top buds to grow, and rubbing off all other shoots and suckers
as fast as they appear. Treat these two shoots just the same as the one
of the first season.
The third spring build trellis. Use heavy cedar posts well braced at the
ends and light posts every sixteen feet apart along the row. No. 12 gal-
vanized wires, one twenty-four inches from the ground, the other forty-eight
or fifty inches, should be stretched tight on the posts. Then cut back the
two canes of the second season's growth to three or four buds each and
tie to the lower wire, still keeping the main stem tied to the stake until strong
enough to stand alone. Let two shoots grow from each branch of the vine,
tying them to the wires as they grow out; when five or six feet long pinch
off the ends. These should bear a few grapes, and will furnish the bearing
wood for the next season. The fourth season four or five new shoots may
be started for the fifth season's fruit, when the fourth season's canes are
removed. This process is repeated each year, remembering, always, that
the fruit is produced only on the new wood of the previous season; that is,
on shoots which issue from canes of the previous year.
February is the best time for winter pruning; do not jirune old wood
after sap starts in spring. Summer pruning consists of rubbing off all
suckers and superfluous buds and pinching back the shoots at the proper
time. The shoots for next season's fruit should be pinched when they
have attained a growth of five or six feet, and the bearing shoots (when
the fruit has set) should have one leaf left beyond the farthest bunch of
fruit.
MARKETING.
Allow grapes to become well ripened and sweet before gathering; a
green grape is an abomination, and will discourage the buyer and lessen
consumption. They should always be gathered when dry and should be
allowed to stand twenty-four hours before packing to wilt and toughen
slightly, so they will stand the handling better. Handle the berries just
as little as possible in packing, but they must be packed firmly and closely
to give full weight and avoid settling and injury in shipping. The pack-
Culture of the American Grape in Oregon. HI
ages used are the four-box crates containing twenty to twenty-two pounds
and the four and eight-pound Climax baskets. The former are generally
used for the white and red grapes, but the Concord type are almost uni-
versally put in the baskets. Market prices range from 50 cents to $1 per
crate and 10 to 20 cents for the small baskets, and '2.0 to 45 cents for the
large ones. To be profitable, beyond the needs of the local market, grapes
must be grown in carload quantities. Express rates are too high to permit
profitable shipments of small quantities. Our markets are now large enough
to handle carloads at any time without difficulty, and it is the businesslike
way to handle them. Communities of small growers must organize and
ship together. Carloads of Concord grapes are shipped from New York
and Pennsylvania as far west as Spokane each year, and occasionally they
come into Portland and Seattle.
IRRIGATION OF ORCHARDS IN EASTERN
OREGON
By Hon. Judd GeeRj Comnv'issioner o/ the State Board of HorticnUure for the
Fifth District.
Nothing- accomplished by man in the line of agriculture seems more
wonderful and complete than an ideal orchard, growing and maturing fruit
of a high degree of excellence. No ambitious fruit-grower will be content
in the future to spend year after year of his life in an attempt to grow
perfect fruit without having the supply of moisture in a measure under
his control. Irrigation is a question of vital importance to tne Eastern
Oregon fruit-grower, however favored may be his location.
For convenience I will divide orchards of our section into three classes.
In the first class I will place all of those orchards grown on the reclaimed
arid lands. These orchards could not exist for a season without the con-
stant attention of man. Thev must have moisture applied in a scientific
manner and the best of cultivation and care during the growing season.
The results thus obtained are wonderful to behold.
In the second class I will place the many orchards here and there and
everywhere, which without the aid of applied moisture produce quantities
of fruit of little commercial value. In these orchards perhaps .50 per cent
of the crop can be sold as second or third-grade fruit. The growers know
they need an added supply of water and will make a reasonable effort to
obtain it, and after a little judiciously used at the proper season will raise
the quality of their fruit to first grade.
In the third class I would place all of those most favored ones that do
not have to depend on irrigation to raise fruit. These, too, if wise, will
keep in reserve a supply of water to apply in an off year when prices are
sure to be high and returns correspondingly great. Every prolonged
drought bears testini'ony of the great value of the reserved water to this
class. At one time the advocates of non-irrigation attracted a great deal
of attention. They proved that the tillage of surface soil prevented evap-
oration to such an extent that fruit trees and vines could make great
growths and bear heavily with such moisture as was held in the soil from
rainfall of the wet season. It was a great surprise that trees could do for
several months without rain. While the non-irrigation theory is not prac-
ticable it served to prove to all how important it is that the moisture
applied be combined with a high degree of cultivation to produce the best
results. One fact has been proved beyond a doubt — a growing tree must
have moisture to produce fruit of high market value. When other means
fail, wise is the fruit-grower who has provided the means whereby he can
supply it by means of irrigation.
Conditions of soil and climate vary to such an extent that no set rules
can be formed to guide the fruit-grower. The plan which has given the
best results in my orchard work I find ig shallow plowing in the spring,
followed by the use of some good cultivator which would thoroughly pul-
verize the soil. When the soil is in good condition it will seem pulverized
at the surface and porous. Do not irrigate until you perceive that cultiva-
tion has failed to furnish the needed moisture. This you should be able to
<lo before the tree suffers. Cultivation should be continued at intervals
of two weeks during the growing season.
When the best work for moisture recejition and retention has been done.
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Irrigation of Orchards in Eastern Oregon. 115
and still the tree shows distress diiriiio; a drought, or wlien the fruit is not
of satisfactory size or quality, and the trees have been {)roperly pruned
and thinned, it is best to secure irrigation to aid the natural supply of
moisture. Experienced growers soon learn to recognize the signs of dis
tress in a tree suffering for moisture: Small leaves, short and thin wood
growth. Sometimes trees which make a good wood growth will fail to bear
fruit from a failure of moisture when the fruit buds should develop. A
j)revention of this is of course irrigation applied in advance of the need.
A supi)ly of water is invaluable in many localities during the first season
after planting an orchard. Trees set in the early spring will start and
make a fine growth for a few months, but as the season advauces the leaves
will wither and fall off. The roots cunnot penetrate during the first season
to a depth that will insure the life of the tree. A little attention at this
time w^ill insure the welfare of the tree. The first summer of a young
orchard is a trying one. Too maich care and attention cannot be given it.
There is always a disposition at first to use too much water; and to the
unwise use of water are due the evils that have been charged against
irrigation. The claim that irrigated fruit is lacking in flavor was based
on the fact that some growers chose to produce monstrous, insipid fruit
by excessive irrigation. Many concluded that all irrigated fruit was
necessarily poor and failed to supply the needed water to trees, and gath-
ered only small, unmarketable fruit because the natural rainfall failed to
supply the needed moisture to develop first-grade fruit. It is now conceded
that the highest quality, including flavor as well as size, can be secured
only by adequate moisture; it matters not in what manner it reaches the
roots of the tree.
JUDD GEER,
Commissioner for Fifth District.
1
THE WALNUT IN OREGON
By H. M. Williamson, Secretary of the Oregon State Board of Horticulture.
The planting of walnut trees was commenced in a small way in Oregon
many years ago. Evidence of this wag found at the apple and walnut
show held at McMinnville in 1907, at which walnuts were exhibited which
came from^ trees of the fourth generation grown from seed in this State.
Many of the earlier plantings were of nuts bought at grocery stores. A
few immigrants from Germany sent to the Fatherland for walnuts for
planting. In those cases in which the nuts planted were grown in Germany
or France the trees have usually proved fruitful; when the nuts came from
Chile, or were grown in California from trees of what are commonly known
as the Santa Barbara type, the trees have borne only in rare instances. As
the greater part of the earlier plantings were of the Chilean and Santa
Barbara nuts, the belief long ago l:ecame prevalent in Oregon that the
walnut would not bear enough nuts in this State to make its culture here
profitable. Some twenty-five or thirty years ago the late Mr. Felix Gillet
of Nevada City, California, called attention to the fact that the varieties
of walnuts raised in France start into growth very much later in the
spring than the Chilean varieties, and thus escape the frosts which make
the Chilean varieties unfruitful in Northern California and Oregon. Colonel
Henry E. Dosch of this State became interested and was soon convinced
that the French varieties of walnuts would find most congenial conditions
in Oregon. By addresses at horticultural meetings and articles written for
the press he awakened interest here. About 1888 the planting of Fran-
quette, Mayette and other varieties of French walnuts was commenced in
an experimental way in Oregon. It is true that a few trees of the Proepar-
turiens and other French varieties had been planted jirior to that time, but
it was not until the Mayette and Franquette trees planted near Portland
in Oregon and Washington began to bear that much interest was shown.
The very satisfactory results obtained from young bearing trees in the
vicinity of Vancouver, Washington, prompted the planting of the first
large grove in Oregon, that of Thomas Prince at Dundee. Of one hundred
acres now in walnuts on the farm of Mr. Prince, fifty acres were planted
from ten to twelve years ago, or from 1896 to 1898. The walnuts grown
by Mr. Prince and others in Oregon have awakened great interest in walnut
culture in this State, and the danger of ove.r-produetion has been sug-
gested. Existing conditions, however, show little reason for this fear.
More than ten years ago it was predicted that within ten years California
would be producing more walnuts than would be consumed in the United
States. This prediction has not been verified. The walnut crop of Cali-
fornia for 1907 was but about twenty per cent larger than that of 1896,
and the industry does not appear to be growing perceptibly in that state
at the present time if we may .judge from the annual estimates of the
quantity of walnuts grown there. In that portion of the state in which
the greater portion of the walnut cron is produced the price of land is from
three to five times as much as land adapted to walnut curture can be bought
for in Oregon. This high price of land has naturally checked the planting
of new groves in that portion of the state. While there has been but
slight increase in the production of walnuts in California in the past six
or eight years the demand for walnuts in the Il^nited States has grown at
an unprecedented rate. Of the whole weight of walnuts imported for use
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in this couiitiv atout four-fifths are whole nuts and the remainder shelled
meats. Makinjj due allowance for the shells the importations have been as
follows for the years named helow:
Year. Pounds.
1902 14,149,316
1903 15,004,378
1904 26,61.5,898
1905 24,708,156
1906 28,423,306
1907 31,453,577
The production of walnuts in California amounts to about 15,000,000
pounds annually. The consumption of walnuts in the United States is in-
creasing at the rate of about 4,000,000 pounds per year As the average
crop from groves in full bearing does not exceed 1,000 pounds per year,
it will require the addition of 30,000 acres of full-bearing groves to supply
the amount we now import and the addition of at least 4,000 acres annually
to keep up with the growth of consumption.
OUR FAVORABLE CONDITIOXS.
We are informed by horticultural authorities that the walnut of com-
mierce, commonly called the English walnut, originated in Persia. Not-
withstanding this it does not do its best as a nut-producer in places where
the summer heat is great. It was long ago learned in California that the
walnut gave best returns near the ocean where summer temperature is
modified by cool ocean breezes. It is also well known that the walnut has
never been grown profitably in the Southern States. Our mild summers
and other climatic conditions in Western Oregon appear to be peculiarly
favorable to the growth of walnuts and the production of nuts of the
highest quality. Trees which are now more than forty years old are mak-
ing vigorous growth and promise to increase in size fur many years to
come.
WHAT SHOULD BE EXPECTED.
No person who has studied any agricultural or horticultural industry
can have failed to observe the mischief done by the general acceptance of
too sanguine anticipations of profit. Whenever persons are entering on
the production of an article with the belief that they will obtain there-
from profits larger than are reasonably to be expected from any safe busi-
ness, the kind of men who would be most likely to succeed in the profitable
production of that article turn their attention to the production of some
other article. This naturally results in many failures and few successes
on the part of those who do engage in the industry; an inferior average
product, and general disgust with the industry.
The walnut tree on the Pacific Coast often begins to bear when three or
four years old, but it can not reasonably be expected that a walnut grove
will pay before it is eight years old. The United States census of 1900
showed that (.'.slifornia had 701,426 walnut trees which yielded in the
previous year 10,619,97.5 pounds of nuts. The crop of the state for 1907
was about 14,000,000 pounds of nuts, or about twenty pounds for each tree
standing in the state in 1900, the greater part of which were already bear-
ing in 1900. As the majority of the walnut groves in (.'alifornia have about
twenty-five trees to the acre, the crop of the past year would average for
all groves, good, bad and indifferent, about .500 pounds per acre. Mr El-
wood Cooper, one of California's most exj)erienced walnut growers, as well
as most prominent horticulturists, has stated that an average yield of
1,000 pounds [)cr acre is as much as can be expected when walnuts are
grown on a commiM-cial scale. Much larger yields than this have been
reported from some, groves, and the yields of isolated trees are sometinies
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very large. Oregon has not yet had sufficient experience to determine
what may be reasonably expected in this state and it is the safe plan not
to count on more than the amount stated by Mr. Cooper. When a man has
a walnut grove which can be depended upon to annually produce a crop
worth a hundred dollars per acre it will be found no easy matter to per-
suade him to sell that grove for five hundred dollars per acre. The groves
which have come into bearing in Oregon have so far borne every year.
The cost of taking care of the grove is not great after the tree has estab-
lished its top. After that time there will be little pruning to do and there
will be little if any spraying. The work of gathering, cleaning, drj'ing and
packing the nuts for market is less expensive than that of harvesting,
curing and packing prunes, pound for pound of finished product.
SITE AND SOIL.
The most important thing to consider in the selection of a site for a
walnut grove is tlie nature and depth of the soil. To obtain a satisfactory
growth of trees and paying returns within a reasonably short period of
time the soil must be both deep and rich. The soil and subsoil should be
of such a nature that a hole or well can readily be dug to a depth of at
least ten feet with a common spade, and without running into actual sand
or gravel. Below that depth it is desirable to have either sand or gravel
to give the land good drainage. Thorough drainage is essential and water
should not stand for many days at one time within ten feet of the surface.
Frosty swales should not be chosen. While the walnuts of the French va-
rieties are rarely caught by frost in Oregon, yet a location which is not sub-
ject to late frosts should be selected.
VARIETIES ADAPTED TO OREGON.
The varieties of walnuts grown in France are those which are adapted
to Oregon. Many varieties have been introduced from France, but of
these only a few" have yet been suflieiently tested to justify their recom-
mendation for planting on a commercial scale in Oregon. The two great
standard market varieties are the Franquette and the Mayette. These do
not differ greatly in size and general appearance. Both are market nuts of
the highest quality. The Mayette is the older variety and the nuts of
this variety have long been known to the markets of the world as "Gre-
noble walnuts" and command the highest prices paid. The Franquette
nuts are also sold as Grenoble walnuts. They are equal in quality to the
Mayette; are a little larger; are better filled and the trees appear to yield
rather better. In proportion of meat to shell the Franquette leads all other
standard varieties. For home use the Proeparturiens is worthy of con-
sideration. It bears early and heavily and the quality of the nuts is
extraordinarily high. The only objection to the variety is that the nuts
are not large "enough to command the best prices in the market. In France
the Chaberte is grown quite extensively in mountainous districts where the
climate is too severe for other varieties. The nuts are smaller than those
of the Mayette and Franquette and do not command as good prices,
although much used by confectioners.
Of the newer varieties, one of the most promising is the Meylan. It is
up to the standard in quality and is unusually attractive in appearance.
The Lanfray is another nut of most attractive appearance and is very
heavy in proportion to its size, as it is so well filled with meat. The Paris-
ienne was formerly thought the most promising of the comparatively new
varieties, but it is now believed that it is a light bearer.
Those who enjov growing big things will be attracted to the Gant
or Bijou; the Mammoth Proeparturiens and Ford's Mammoth.' These are
varieties which bear nuts of extraordinary size and which for that reason
Walnut Growing in Oregon. 121
attract much attention, but it is thought that it will not be profitable to
raise them on an extensive scale. Tlie meats are not near as large in pro-
portion to the size of the nut as is the case with the standard varieties.
The Bijou is probably the best of these for Oregon conditions, although the
ntatter has not yet been sufficiently determined by experience to justify a
positive 0])inion. The Mammoth Ford is doing fairly well in one or two
places in Oregon, but it originated in f'aliforiiia and is believed by many to
be not a safe variety for Oregon.
Tn time new varieties will undoubtedly be originated in this 8tate which
will prove better than any we now have, especially for growing in Oregon.
The great number of seedling trees which have been and will be planted
in this State will give unusual oj)portunities for the origination of new
varieties of value. There are now in the grove of Mr. Prince at Dundee
several trees which appear to be superior in merit to the parent varieties.
Planters should be sure the trees they plant are of the French varieties.
They are adapted to this climate for the reason that thev start into growth
late in the spring and escape danger of injury from late frosts, whereas
the trees of the Chilean type grown in Southern California start into growth
very early in the spring, and for that reason are rarely fruitful in Oregon.
The trees of the Chilean type are in all resjjects more tender than those of
the Frencli varieties.
Owing to the fact that the process of grafting walnut trees of nursery
size is a difficult matter, with a great percentage of failures, the supply of
grafted trees is always very small and the prices are necessarily high.
It is necessary therefore to plant for the most part seedling trees. It is
well known to horticulturists that there are varieties of peaches which
can be propagated by raising seedlings and still produce fruit quite like
that of the parent tree, while other varieties, if propagated in this way,
would result in fruit of widely different quality, size and appearance from
that of the parent tree. The same appears to be true of walnuts. The
planting of large and excellent nuts has sometimes resulted in trees bearing
nuts of most inferior size and quality. The standard French varieties
appear to fairly well reproduce themselves through seedlings. There is
much variance, it is true, yet on an average the nuts on the seedling trees
will average as large and as good as those grown on the parent tree.
There is usually enough resemblance also in appearance to enable one to
tell which variety the seedling nuts belong to. Both in France and in this
country it is the practice of reputable nurserymen to plant only nuts
which have been grown on grafted trees. This rule has evidently been
based on long ex})erience in France, and ])lanters will do well to insist on
having trees of this kind. The idea naturally suggests itself, also, that
the chances for variation will be least if the nuts are not only grown on
grafted trees but also on trees so situated that there if? no opportunity for
cross-jiollination.
While the nuts grown in Oregon and Washington on seedling trees of
the character above described (called second-generation) and of the stand-
ard French varieties command the highest prices paid for walnuts in the
markets of this country, it will undoubtedly be found the most ))rofital)le
in the long run to top-graft the trees in the grove when they are three or
four years old. This will insure the bearing habit of the named variety,
and a uniformity in the appearance of the product which can not fail to add
to its market value.
X[':\ri5ER OV TREES PER ACRE.
The walnut tree becomes in time very large, and it has been found every-
where that it does best when^ the trees are not too close together. If one
is planting with the intention of top-grafting when the trees are three or
four years old, it may be well to set the trees four rods apart, which will
122 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
give ten trees to the acre. In tins case it will be necessary to raise some-
th'ng else on the land to utilize the space between the trees for a number
of years. Cultivated farm crops with occasional rotations in clover or
vetches can be grown, or small fruits or filberts, according to circumstances
and the taste of the planter. In some places prunes may be used as
"fillers," or other fruit trees which do not rapidly develop into large
It will probably be most satisfactory to set the trees about forty feet apart
trees.
If it is intended to rely upon seedling trees for the nuts to ^oe produced
and in thinning take out the trees which prove inferior either as trees or in
quality or yield of product.
The walnut enjoys rich soil and thorough cultivation. Unless the land
is new and rich in vegetable matter and available nitrogen it will pay to
grow the c;>mmon vetch (vicia sativa) as a winter cover-crop to be worked
into the soil in the spring.
In order to obtain a shapely tree with its head sufficiently high to keep
the lower branches off the ground it is necessary to use heavy stakes about
the length of a fence rail. If not staked while young the trees are almost
certain to lean badly and may even break off near the ground before the
trunk has become strong enough to support the top.
JIARVESTING AXD CURING THE CKOl".
The walnut ripens in Oregon in October. When the pods have com-
menced to break open and allow the nuts to drop it is time to start the
work of harvesting the crop. Some growers use long poles to whip the
branches and shake out the mature nuts. Mr. Thomas Prince of Dundee.
Oregon, prefers to use a padded mallet. A man climls a tree and strikes
the limbs with the mallet. The jar causes the nuts which are mature to
drop out of their pods. It is necessary to go through the grove several
times, as the nuts on a tree do not all mature at the same time. If the
weather is cool the nuts will lie on the ground several days without injury
in this State, and are not damaged by rains, which are much dreaded by
growers in California.
As soon as the nuts are gathered they should bo well washed in clean
water. This can readily be done in any properly equipped prune-drying
house by the use of the dipping apparatus. A cylinder made of strong and
coarse-meshed wire cloth arranged so that it can be rotated in a vat of
water will be found convenient for this work, and the same cylinder can
be used (without the water) for the final polishing of the nuts. When
washed the nuts are spread upon trays such as are used for drying fruit
and placed in the drying chamber. The experience of Mr. Prince shows
that a steady circulation of air at low heat is best. He prefers not to
have the air warmer than 85 degrees Fahrenheit. He would under no cir-
cumstances allow the heat to rise above 110 degrees in the drying chamber.
If a higher temperature is used it tends to make the nuts oily and to de-
prive them of the fine delicacy of flavor which is so greatly admired by
connoisseurs and is characteristic of Oregon-grown walnuts. A little ex-
perience will enable the operator to determine when the nuts are suf-
ficiently dried. After the nuts come out of the drying chamber they
should be placed in bins and kept there about two weeks. While in the bin
they should be examined frequently, and if they show moisture, or mould
appears, they should be dried again. When there is no doubt of the nuts
being sufficiently dry they can be sorted and packed for market. It is not
the practice in Oregon and Washington to bleach the nuts in any way, but
to place them on the market with their natural color. As bleaching with
sulphur is very objectionable and other methods «re rather expensive and
add nothing to the value of the fruit, it will probably be well to continue
Twelve- YEAR-or.D Walnut Tree in Grove of Thomas Prince,
Dundee, Oregon, 1908
124 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
marketing the Oregon prodnet without hleaching and to persistently call
attention to the fact that they are not bleached on every package in
which the nuts are placed for marketing. The process of polishing the
nuts is not expensive and may probably be adopted to good advantage.
The work is done by partially filling a cylinder with nuts and rotating the
cylinder. The nuts are polished by the rubbing of one nut against another
in the cylinder.
When ready to pack the nuts, the method followed by Mr. Prince is to
spread the nuts on sorting tables. All worthless nuts, if any, are thrown
into a waste box. The nuts which are discolored or ill-shapen go into
another box as seconds, and all perfect nuts are placed in the third box.
The seconds are put into bags and are for the most part sold to confec-
tioners, although their comparative cheapness creates a demand for them
from other users of walnuts. It has not hitherto been the practice of Mr.
Prince to grade the first-class nuts as to size, but this practice will un-
doubtedly come in. Mr. Prince markets his first-class nuts (and they con-
stitute the bulk of his crop) in one-pound cartons. In packing in cartons
every packer is provided with scales and an exact pound of nuts (not in-
cluding the weight of the carton) is placed in each package. He follows
the same rule in filling bags and the buyer does not pay for the weight of
the bag.
The nuts grown and sold by Mr. Prince command the highest prices
obtained for any walnuts offered for sale to consumers in the United States.
It is hoped that every grower of walnuts in this State will realize the
importance of using great care in curing and packing his product for
market so that the high reputation already obtained for our nuts in those
places in which they have been introduced may be maintained as the
growing volume of product enables us to send them to market in all parts
of the United States.
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HORTICULTURAL LAWS
Act passed by the Legislature, February, 1895.
An act to amend an act entitled "An act to create a State Board of Hor-
ticulture and apjjropriate money therefor, ' ' approved February 25,
1889, and an act amendatory thereof, entitled ' ' An act to amend an
act entitled 'An act to create a State Board of Horticulture and ap-
propriate money therefor,' approved February 25, 1889," approved
February 21, 1891, and to protect the horticultural industry in Oregon.
Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the State of Oregon :
Section 1. There is hereby created a Board of Horticulture to consist
of six members, who shall be appointed by a board, consisting of the Gov-
ernor, Secretary of State, and State Treasurer. One member of the said
Board of Horticulture shall represent the State at large, and one member
shall be appointed to represent each of the five districts as hereby creaied,
to-wit (provided that the commissioner-at-large shall not receive any pay
for his services): (1) The First District, which shall comprise the
counties of Multnomah, Clackamas, Yamhill, Washington, Columbia, Clat-
sop, and Tillamook; (2) the Second District, which shall comprise the
counties of Marion, Polk, Benton, Lincoln, Linn, and Lane; (3) the Third
District, which shall comprise the counties of Douglas, Jacks:on, Klamath,
Josephine, Coos, Curry, and Lake; (4) the Fourth District, which shall
comprise the counties of Wasco, Sherman, Morrow, Gilliam, and Crook; (5)
the Fifth District, which shall comprise the counties of Umatilla, Union,
Wallowa, Baker, Malheur, Harney, and Grant.
Section 2. The members shall reside in the districts for which they are
respectively appointed. They shall be selected with reference to their
knowledge of and practical experience in horticulture and the industries con-
nected therewith. They shall hold office for the term' of four years, and
until their successors are appointed and have qualified; but the members of
said Board now in office shall hold office till the expiration of the term for
which they were appointed.
Section 3. Said Board shall employ from without their number a sec-
retary, who shall exercise the powers and discharge the duties conferred
upon him by this act, and whose compensation shall not exceed $75 per
month, to be paid in the same manner as other State officers. Said Board
shall also elect from their own number a treasurer, who shall give a bond
to the Governor of the State of Oregon in the sum of $10,000, conditioned
upon the faithful discharge of his duties. Before entering upon the dis-
charge of his duties, each member of the Board shall make and subscribe
an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and of the State
of Oregon, and to diligently, faithfully, and impartially discharge the duties
of his office, which said oaths shall be filed with the secretary. The secre-
tary shall make and subscribe a like oath, which shall be filed with the
treasurer of the Board.
Section 4. The Board may receive, manage, use, and hold donations and
bequests of money and property for promoting the objects of its formation.
It shall meet on the second Mondays of April and October of each year,
and as much oftener as it may deem expedient for consultation and for the
adoption of those measures which will best promote the horticultural Iti-
Horticultural Laws. 127
dustries of the State. It may, but without expense to the State, select accl
appoint competent and qualified persons to lecture in each of the districts
named in section 1 of this act, for tlie jjurpose of encouragjing and impros-
ing practical horticulture, and of imparting instruction in the best methods
of treating the diseases of fruit and fruit trees, cleansing orchards, and ex-
terminating insect pests.
Section 5. The office of the Board shall be located in such place as a
majority thereof may determine. It shall be kept open to the public, sub-
ject to the rules of the Board, every day excepting Sundays and legal holi-
days, and shall be in charge of the secretary during the absence of the
Board.
Section G. For the purpose of preventing the introduction into the
State or spread of contagious diseases, insects, pests, or fungous grovrths
among fruit or fruit trees, and for the prevention, treatment, cure, and
extirpation of fruit pests, and diseases of fruit and fruit trees, and for
the disinfection of grafts, scions, orchard debris, fruit boxes and pack-
ages, and other material or transportable articles dangerous to orchards,
fruit or fruit trees, said Board may make regulations for the quarantining,
inspection, and disinfection thereof, which said regulations shall be cir-
culated by the Board in printed form among the fruit growers and fruit
dealers of the State; shall be published at least four successive times in
some daily or weekly paper in each county in the State before the same
shall be in force therein, and shall be posted in three conspicuous places
in each county in the Sd;ate, one of which shall be at the county court
house. Such regulations, when so promulgated, shall be held to import
notice of their contents to all persons within the State, and shall be bind-
ing upon all persons therein. A willful violation of any quarantine or
other regulation of said Board, necessary to prevent the introduction into
the State, or the shipment, sale or distribution of any article so infected
as to be dangerous to the fruit-growing interest of the State, or the spread
of dangerous diseases among fruit trees or orchards, shall be deemed a
misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not
less than $5 nor more than $100 for each offense, or by fine and imprison-
ment, not less than five nor more than thirty days.
Section 7. It shall be the duty of the several members of the Board,
and the secretary under their direction, to visit their respective districts
and to see that all regulations of the Board and all provisions of law to
prevent the introduction or spread of fruit pests and diseases of trees or
plants injurious to the horticultural interests of the State are enforced.
Any member of the Board, or secretary thereof, shall forthwith, upon the
complaint of interested parties, inspect orchards, nurseries and other
places suspected of being infested with fruit pests or infected with con-
tagious diseases injurious to the trees, plants or fruits. If, upon report
of any member or the secretary, the Board shall be of the opinion that any
locality, district, orchard or place is infested with fruit pests, or infected
with contagious diseases, or injurious to trees, plants, or fruits, and liable
to spread to other orchards or localities to their damage or injury so as to
be a public danger, said Board shall, by an order entered upon its minutes,
declare such a place to be under quarantine, and shall give notice thereof
by posting a notice in writing in a conspicuous place upon the premises,
specifying with convenient certainty what place or premises are under
quarantine regulations, and by delivering a copy of such notice to the
owner or person in charge of the premises, if he may be found thereon;
and such place shall thereafter be subject to quarantine regulations of
the Board, and violation thereof shall be punishable as hereinbefore pro-
vided. As soon as, in the opinion of any member of the Board or the
secretary thereof, the danger from such quarantine locality shall have
ceased, he may suspend the said quarantine and shall immediately report
128 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
the fact to the Board, who may confirm such action or may re-establish
the said quarantine, in which case it shall not be again suspended but by
action of the Board.
Section 8. The Board, and, in case of necessity during the recess of
the Board, tlie member residing in a quarantined district, or the secre-
tary, may appoint such quarantine guardian as may be needed to carry out
the provisions of this act, whose duty it shall be to see that the regulations
of the Board and the instructions of the secretary are enforced and carried
out. They shall also report to the Board all infractions or violations of
said regulations or the law in regard to quarantining, disinfection, and
destruction of pests. The salary of quarantine guardians shall be fixed by
the Board at not to exceed $2 per day, and shall be paid by the owners of
orchards or other places under quarantine, and they may maintain an action
therefor before any justice of the peace in any district in which any quar-
antined locality is wholly or in jiart located; but in no case shall they have
any claim upon the State for such services.
Section 9. The powers conferred in the two preceding sections of this
act shall be exercised only in great and imminent danger to the fruit
interests of the State, and with the utmost caution and regard for the
rights of individuals affected, consistent with the safety and welfare of
the fruit interests of the whole State.
Section 10. It shall be the duty of the several members of the Board,
and of the secretary, under their direction, whenever they shall deem it
necessary, to cause an inspection to be made of any orchard, nurseries,
trees, plants, vegetables, vines, or any fruit packing house, storeroom,
salesroom, or any other place within their districts, and if found infested
with any pests, diseases or fungous growths injurious to fruits, plants,
vegetables, trees or vines, or with their eggs or larvae, liable to spread
to other places or localities, or such nature as to be a public danger, they
shall notify the owner or owners, or person in charge of or in possession
of such articles, things or places, that the same are so infested, and shall
require said persons to eradicate or destroy said insects or pests, or their
eggs or larvae, or to treat such contagious diseases within a certain time,
to be specified in said notice. Said notices may be served upon the person
or persons, or any of them, owning, having charge, or having possession of
such infested place, article, or thing, by any member of the Board, or by
the secretary thereof, or by any person deputized by the said Board for
that purpose, or they may be served in the same manner as a summons in
an action at law. Such notice shall contain directions for the application
of some treatment approved by the commissioners for the eradication or
destruction of said pests, or the eggs or larvae thereof, or the treatment
of contagious diseases or fungous growths. Any and all such places,
orchards, nurseries, trees, plants, shrubs, vegetables, vines, fruits or articles
thug infested are hereby declared to be a public nuisance; and whenever
any such nuisance shall exist at any place in the State on the property of
any owner or owners upon whom or upon the person in charge or possession
of whose property notice has been served as aforesaid, and who shall
have failed or refused to abate the same within the time specified in such
notice, or on the property of any non-resident or any property not in the
possession of any person, and the owner or owners of which can not be
found by the resident member of the Board or the secretary, after diligent
search within the district, it shall be the duty of the Board, or the member
thereof in whose district said nuisance shall exist, or the secretary under
his or their direction, to cause such nuisance to be at once abated, by
eradicating or destroying said insects or pests, or their eggs or larvae, or by
treating or disinfecting the infested or diseased articles. The expense
thereof shall be a county charge, and the county court shall allow and pay
the same out of the general fund of the county. Any and all sums so paid
Horticultural Laws. 129
shall be and become a lien upon the property and premises from which said
nuisance shall have been removed or abated, in pursuance of this act, and
may be recovered by a suit in equity against such property or premises;
which suit to foreclose such liens shall be brought in the circuit court of
the county where the premises are situated, by the district attorney, in the
name and for the benefit of the county making such payments. The pro-
ceedings in such cases shall be governed by the same rules, as far as may
be applicable, as suits to foreclose mechanics' liens, and the property shall
be sold under the order of the court, and the proceeds applied in like
manner. The Board is hereby invested with the power to cause such
nuisances to be abated in a summary manner.
Section 11. It shall be the duty of the secretary to attend all meetings
of the Board, and to preserve records of the proceedings, correspondence
and actions of the Board, to collect books, pamphlets, periodicals, and
other documents, containing valuable information relating to horticulture,
and to preserve the same; to collect statistics and general information,
showing the actual condition and progress of horticulture in this State
and elsewhere to correspond with agricultural and horticultural societies,
colleges and schools of agriculture and horticulture, and such other persons
and bodies as may be directed by the Board, and prepare, as required by
the Board, reports for publication.
Section 12. The Board shall, biennially, in the month of January, report
to the Legislative Assembly a statement of its doings, with a copy of the
treasurer's report for the two years preceding the session thereof. The
members shall receive as compensation their actual expenses while engaged
upon the work of the Board or the enforcement of the provisions of this
act, and shall be allowed $3 a day for the time actually employed.
Section 13. The treasurer shall receive all moneys belonging to the
Board and pay out the same only for bills approved by it, and shall render
annually to the Board a statement in detail of all receipts and disburse-
ments.
Section 14. There is hereby appropriated for the uses of the State
Board of Horticulture, as set forth in this act, the sum' of $4,500 for the
year beginning January 1, 189.5, and the sum of $4,500 for the year be-
ginning January 1, 1896, out of any moneys in the state treasury not
otherwise appropriated, and the Secretary of State shall draw his warrant
in favor of the treasurer of the Board for said sum upon the State
Treasurer.
Section 15. That the fruit and horticultural interests of this State,
being in urgent need of the protection afforded by this act, an emergency
exists, and this act shall take effect from and after its approval by the
Governor.
Approved February 23, 1895.
An act to amend an act entitled "An act to create a State Board of Hor-
ticulture and appropriate money therefor, approved February 25, 1889,
and an act amendatory thereof, entitled, 'An act to amend an act
entitled an act to create a State Board of Horticulture and appropriate
money therefor,' approved February 25, 1889, approved February 21,
1891, and to protect the horticultural industry in Oregon, and an act
amendatory thereof, entitled an act to amend an act entitled 'An act
to create a State Board of Horticulture and appropriate money there-
for,' approved February 25, 1889, and an act amendatory thereof,
entitled an act to amend an act entitled 'An act to create a State
Board of Horticulture and appropriate money therefor,' approved
February 25, 18S9; approved February 21, 1891, and to protect the
horticultural industrv in Oregon," approved February 23, 1895.
5
130 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the State of Oregon:
Section 1. Section 1 of an act entitled "An act to amend an act en-
titled 'An act to create a State Board of Horticulture . and appropriate
money therefor, ' approved Febiniary 25, 1889, and an act amendatory
thereof, entitled an act to amend an act entitled 'An act to create a State
Board of Horticulture and appropriate money therefor, approved Pebruary
25, 1889,' approved February 21, 1891, and to protect the horticultural
industry in Oregon," be and the same is hereby amended so as to read
as follows:
Section 1. There is hereby created a Boai'd of Horticulture, to consist of
six members, who shall be appointed by a board, consisting of the Governor,
Secretary of State, and State Treasurer. One member of said Board of
Horticulture shall represent the State at large, and shall be the president
and executive officer of the Board, and one member shall be ajipointed to
represent each of the five districts, as hereby created, to- wit: (1) The
First District, which shall comprise the counties of Multnomah, Clacka-
mas, Yamhill, Washington, Columbia, Clatsop, and Tillamook; (2) the
Second District, which shall comprise the counties of Marion, Polk, Benton.
Lincoln, Linn, and Lane; (3) the Third District, which shall comprise the
counties of Douglas, Jackson, Klamath, Josephine, Coos. Curry and Lake;
(4) the Fourth District, which shall comprise the counties of Wasco,
Sherman, Morrow, Gilliam, and Crook; (5) the Fifth District, which shall
comprise the counties of Umatilla, Union, Wallowa, Baker, Malheur, Har-
ney, and Grant.
Section 2. Section 2 of an act entitled "An act to amend an act en-
titled 'An act to create a State Board of Horticulture and appropriate
money therefor, approved February 25, 1889,' and an act amendatory
thereof, entitled 'An act to amend an act entitled an act to create a State
Board of Horticulture and appropriate money therefor, approved February
25, 1889,' approved Pebruary 21, 1891, and to protect the horticultural
industry in Oregon," be and the same is hereby amended so as to read
as follows:
Section 2. The m'embers shall reside in the districts for which they are
respectively appointed. They shall be selected with reference to their
knowledge of and practical experience in horticulture and the industries
connected therewith, and shall be engaged in practical horticulture during
their incumbency of the office of commissioner. They shall hold office for
the term of four years, and until their successors are appointed and have
qualified, unless removed by the appointing board for failure to perform
their duties. It shall be the duty of the president to visit at least once
a year every district, and examine the orchards, nurseries, and work of
the district commissioners, and ascertain whether or not the law and regu-
lations of the Board are being properly executed. He must personally
inspect most of the orchards during the fruit-growing season, see that the
regulations of the Board regarding spraying are being faithfully executed
wherever insects, pests or diseases injurious to tree or fruit are to be found.
He must visit the principal fruit-shipping points during the shipping sea-
son, inspect the fruit shipped, and prevent the shipment of insect and
pest-infested fruit. He shall give notice through the public press one
week in advance of his visit to each county, giving the time and place of
his visit, where he shall receive complaints of fruit-growers, and distribute
to them printed and oral instructions regarding destruction of pests, and
other information, including proper methods of handling, packing and ship-
ping fruits. It shall also be his duty to visit, when possible, if requested
by an association or a number of fruit-growers, the meetings of such asso-
ciations of fruit-growers, and aid them in the organization of proper asso-
ciations beneficial to the growing and marketing of fruits. The president
shall preside at all the meetings of the Board, and may call special meet-
Horticultural Laws. 131
ings whenever an emergency may require it. He shall make an annual
report to the appointinji: board of the general condition of the fruit in-
terests in tlio State and siiecoss of tlie (Commissioners in the work of exter-
minating pests and executing the law.
Section 15. Inasmuch as the provisions of this act are of immediate
importance to the horticultural interests of this State, this law shall take
effect from and after its approval by the Governor.
Approved February 17. 1899.
An act to protect the fruit and hop industry of Oregon.
Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the State of Oregon:
Section 1. It shall hereafter be unlawful for any person, firm, or cor-
poration, owning or operating any nursery, fruit orchard of any kind, hop
yards, flower gardens, or ornamental trees, to throw any cuttings or prun-
ings from any fruit trees, nursery stock, ornamental trees, or hop vines
into any public road, highway, lane, field, or other inclosure, or into any
water course of any kind; but shall destroy such cuttings or prunings with
fire within thirty days from the time such cuttings or prunings are made.
Section 2. It shall hereafter be the duty of any person, firm, or cor-
])oration owning or operating any such nurserj', fruit orchard, hop yard,
flower garden, or ornamental trees, and knowing such to be infected with
any kind of insects, pests, or disease, to immediately spray or destroy the
same in such manner as the fruit commissioner for his district may direct.
Section 3. It shall be unlawful for any jierson, firm, or corporation
doing business in the State of Oregon to sell paris green, arsenic, london
purple, sulphur, or any spray material or compound for spraying purposes
in quantities exceeding one pound without providing with each package
sold a certificate, duly signed by the seller thereof, guaranteeing the
quality and per cent of purity of said materials.
Section 4. Any person, firm, or corporation selling any of the above
materials which do not conform with the certificate furnished therewith,
shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof
shall be subject to a fine of not less than twenty-five ($25) dollars nor
more than one hundred ($100) dollars.
Section 5. It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to
inijiort or sell any infected or diseased fruit of any kind in the State of
Oregon.
Section 6. Every person who packs or prepares for shipment to any
point without the State, or who delivers or causes to be delivered to any
express agent, or railroad agent, or other person, or to any transportation
company or corporation for shipment to any point without the State, any
fruit or fruits, either fresh, cured or dried, that is infected with insects,
pests or diseases injurious to trees, shrubs, plants, fruits or vegetables,
is guilty of a misdemeanor.
Section 7. Any person, firm or corporation violating any of the pro-
visions of this act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon
conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not less than twenty-five
($25) dollars nor more than one hundred ($100) dollars.
Section S. It shall be the duty of the commissioner of the State Board
of Horticulture of the district in which a violation of this act occurs to
present the evidence of the case to the district attorney, whose duty it
shall be to prosecute any person guilty of a violation of this act, which
prosecution may bo brought in any of the justice courts of this State.
Section 9. Inasmuch as the horticultural interests of this State demand
immediate attention, this act shall be in full force and effect from and
after its approval by the Governor.
Approved by the Governor.
132 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
An act to provide for the appointment of county fruit inspectors, and to
amend sections 4178 and 4185 of the Codes and Statutes of Oregon,
as compiled and annotated by Charles B. Bellinger and William W.
Cotton.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
Section 1. That upon a petition of not less than twenty-five residents
and fruit growers of any county in this State, the county court of said
county shall appoint a county inspector, whose duty it shall be to inspect
the apple and other fruit orchards of said county, and to enforce the laws
now in force and that may be hereafter in force in this State, applicable
to the fruit industry and to the growing, handling, and selling of fruit,
fruit trees, and other nursery stock; provided, that the inspector so to be
appointed shall be recommended and certified to be competent for such
position by the State District Commissioner of the State Board of Horti-
culture for the said county, and said county inspector shall hold his office
during- the pleasure of said county court.
Section 2. It shall be the duty of the State District Commissioner to
instruct and educate the county inspectors as to the laws and quarantine
regulations of this State, and the rules and regulations of the State Board
of Horticulture. The county inspector shall perform his duties under the
general supervision of the State District Commissioner for said county, to
whom he shall make reports in the manner prescribed by the State Board
of Horticulture.
Section 3. Such county inspector shall be paid for iiis services, by the
said county, a sum not exceeding three dollars per day and pay his own
personal expenses, for each and every day actually employed in the per-
formance of his duties as herein provided, and the said county inspector
shall report monthly to the said State District Commissioner the time for
which he is entitled to pay during the month next preceding, and the said
State District Commissioner shall certify the same to the county court
before such compensation shall be paid to said county inspector.
Section 4. If any county for any reason fails to appoint a county
inspector as herein provided, then the inspector of any adjacent county
may perform such services, and his compensation and the necessary ex-
penses incurred in the performance of his duty shall be charged against
the county where the service is performed, as if he had been appointed
by the county court of said county.
Section 5. ' The State District Commissioner of Horticulture shall hear
and promptly decide all appeals from the county inspector in his district,
and his decision shall have full force and effect until set aside by the
courts of the State. All appeals from county inspectors to the district
commissioners shall be under the form and regulations as prescribed by
the State Board of Horticulture.
Section 6. That section 4178 of the Codes and Statutes of Oregon, as
compiled and annotated by C. B. Bellinger and William W. Cotton, be and
the same is hereby amended to read as follows:
Sec. 4178. Said Board shall employ without their number a secretary,
who shall exercise the powers and discharge the duties conferred upon him
by this act, and whose compensation shall not exceed $100 per month, to
be paid in the same manner as other State officers. Said Board shall also
elect from their own number a treasurer. Before entering upon the dis-
charge of his duties, each member of the Board shall make and subscribe
an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and of the Stat-e
of Oregon, and to diligently, faithfully, and impartially discharge the
duties of his office, which said oaths shall be filed with the secretary.
The secretary shall make and subscribe a like oath, which shall be filed
with the treasurer of the Board.
Horticultural Laws. 133
Section 7. That section 4185 of tlie Codes and Statutes of Oregon, as
compiled and annotated by C. B. Bellinger and William W. Cotton, be and
the same is hereby amended to read as follows:
See. 4185. It shall bo the duty of the several members of the Board
and of the secretary or the county inspectors under their direction, when-
ever thoy shall deem it necessary, to cause an inspection to be made of any
orchards, nurseries, trees, plants, vegetables, vines, or any fruit packing
house, storeroom, salesroom, or any other place within their districts, and
if found infested with any pests, diseases, or fungous growth injurious to
fruits, plants, vegetables, trees, or vines, or with their eggs or larvae
liable to spread to other places or localities, or of such nature as to be a
public danger, they shall notify the owner or owners or persons in charge
of or in possession of such articles, things or places that the same are so
infested, and shall require said persons to eradicate or destroy said insects
or pests, or their eggs or larvae, or to treat such contagious diseases with;n
a certain time to be specified in said notice. Said notice may be served
upon the person or persons, or any of them, owning, having charge, or
having possession of such infested place, article, or thing, by any member
of the Board or by the secretary thereof, or by any person deputed by said
Board for that purpose, or they may be served in the same manner as a
summons in an action at law. Such notice shall contain directions for the
application of some treatment approved by the commissioners for the
eradication or destruction of said pests, or the eggs or larvae thereof, or
the treatment of contagious diseases or fungous growths. Any and alj
such places, orchards, nurseries, trees, plants, shrubs, vegetables, vines,
fruit, or articles thus infested are hereby declared to be a public nuisance;
and whenever any such nuisance shall exist at any place in the State on
the property of any owner or owners upon whom or upon the person in
charge or possession of whose property notice has been served as aforesaid,
and who shall have failed or refused to abate the same within the time
specified in such notice, or in the property of any non-resident or any
property not in the possession of any person and the owner or owners of
which can not be found by the resident member of the Board or the sec-
retary or county inspector after diligent search within the district, it shall
be the duty of the Board or the member thereof in whose district the
nuisance shall exist, or the secretary or county inspector under his or their
directions, to cause such nuisance to be at once abated by eradicating or
destroying said insects or pests or their eggs or larvae, or by treating or
disinfecting or destroying the infested or diseased articles. The expenso
thereof shall be a county charge and the county court shall allow and pay
the same out of the general fund of the county. Any and all sums so paid
shall be and become a lien on the property and premises from which said
nuisance shall have been removed or abated, in pursuance of this act, and
may be recovered by a suit in equity against such property or premises,
which suit to foreclose such liens shall be brought in the circuit court of
the county where the premises are situate, by the district attorney in the
name and for the benefit of the county making such payment or payments.
The proceedings in such cases shall be governed by the same rules, as f:ir
as may be applicable, as suits to foreclose mechanics' liens, and the
property shall be sold under the order of the court and the proceeds ap-
plied in like manner. The Board is hereby invested with the power to
cause such nuisance to be abated in a summary manner.
Filed in the office of the Secretary of State "February 22, 1905.
134 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
An act to prevent the false branding or marking of, or false representation
with reference to fruits grown in the State of Oregon, or elsewhere,
and to provide penalties for the violation thereof.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
Section 1. Any person, firm, association or corporation engaged in grow-
ing, selling or packing green fruits of any kind within the State of Oregon,
shall be required, upon packing any such fruit for market, whether intended
for sale within or without the State of Oregon, to stamp, mark or label
plainly on the outside of every box or package of green fruit so packed, the
name and postoffice address of the person, firm, association, or corporation
packing the same; provided further, that when the grower of such fruit be
other than the packer of the same, the name and postoffice address of such-
grower shall also prominently appear upon such box or package as the
grower of such fruit.
Section 2. It shall be unlawful for any dealer, commission merchant,
shipper or vender, by means of any false representations whatever, either
verbal, printed or written, to represent or pretend that any fruits men-
tioned in Section 1 of this act, were raised, produced or packed by any per-
son or corporation, or in any localitv. other than by the person or corpora-
tion, or in the locality where the same were in fact raised, produced or
packed, as the case may be.
Section 3. If any dealer, commission merchant, shipper, vender or other
person, shall have in his possession any of such fruits so falsely marked or
labeled contrary to the provisions of Section 1 of this act, the possession
by such dealer, commission merchant, shipper, vender, or other person, of
any such fruits so falsely marked or labeled shall be prima facie evidence
that such dealer, commission merchant, shipper, vender or other person, has
so falsely marked or labeled such fruits.
Section 4. Any person violating any of the provisions of this act shall
be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be
punished by a fine of not less than $5, nor more than $500, or by imprison-
ment in the county jail not less than ten nor more than one hundred days,
or by both such fine and imprisonment, at the discretion of the court.
Approved by the Grovernor, February 7, 1907.
Filed in the office of the Secretary of State, February 7, 1907.
An act declaring it unlawful for nurserymen, or anyone dealing in, or
selling fruit trees, or their agents, to sell and deliver to the purchaser
thereof, trees and nursery stock, that is not of the same variety as
represented by the nursery, or nurseryman, salesman of nursery stock,
or agents therefor.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
Any person selling nursery stock, or young trees, and representing the
same to be of a variety different from what said nursery stock of trees
actually are, shall be required to replace all such trees with stock of the
same grade and variety as the original order and shall be required to make
reasonable compensation to the purchaser for expenses and loss of time due
to such error having been made.
Filed in the office of the Secretary of State, February 10, 1907.
Horticultural Laws. 135
An act to amend sections 3 and 7 of an act entitled "An act to provide
for the appointment of county fruit inspectors, and to amend sections
4178 and 4185 of the Codes and Statutes of Oregon, as compiled and
annotated by Charles B. Bellinger and William W. Cotton,'' referring
to the appointment of count}' fruit inspectors, filed in the office of the
Secretary of State, February 22, 1905.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
Section 1. That section 3 of an act entitled "An act to provide for the
appointment o£ county fruit inspectors, and to amend sections 4178 and
4185 of the Codes and Statutes of Oregon, as compiled and annotated by
Charles B. Bellinger and William W. Cotton," passed at the twenty-third
regular session of the Legislative Assembly of the State of Oregon, and
filed in the office of the Secretary of State, February 22, 1905, be and the
same is hereby amended to read as follows:
Sec. 3. Such county inspector shall be paid for his services, by the
said county, a sum not exceeding three dollars per day, and shall be
reimbursed for his actual cash outlay for team hire and railway fares for
each and every day actually employed in the performance of his duties as
herein provided, and the said county inspector shall report monthly to
the said State District Commissioner the time for which he is entitled to
pay during the month next preceding, and also a statement of his own
personal expenses while engaged in the performance of his duty as such
county inspector during said month, and shall also file vouchers showing
expenditures for such personal expenses, and the said State District Com-
missioner shall certify the same to the county court before such compen-
sation and personal expenses shall be paid to said county inspector.
Section 2. That section 4185 of the Codes and Statutes of Oregon, as
compiled and annotated by Charles B. Bellinger and William W. Cotton,
and amended by section 7 of an act entitled "An act to provide for the
appointment of county fruit inspectors, and to amend sections 4178 and
4185 of the Codes and Statutes of Oregon, as compiled and annotated by
Charles B. Bellinger and William W. Cotton," passed at the twenty-third
regular session of the Legislative Assembly of the State of Oregon, and
filed in the office of the Secretary of State, February 22, 1905, be and
the same is hereby amended to read as follows:
Sec. 4185. It shall be the duty of the several members of the Board
and of the secretary or the county inspectors under their direction, when-
ever they shall deem it necessary to cause an inspection to be made of
any orchards, nurseries, trees, plants, vegetables, vines, or any fruit pack-
ing house, storeroom, salesroom or any other place within their district,
and also of any fruit trees or nursery stock shipped from beyond the
limits of this State, and if found io'fected with any pests, diseases or
fungous growth injurious to fruits, plants, trees, vegetables, or vines, or
with their eggs or larvae liable to spread to other places or localities, or
of such nature as to be a public danger, they shall notify the owner or
owners or persons in charge of or in possession of such articles, things or
places, that the same are so infested, or in ease such fruit trees or nursery
stock, although apparently sound and not infested by any pest, shall have
been from an infested district beyond the limits of this State, they shall
also notify the owner or owners or persons in charge of or in possession of
the same, and shall require said persons to eradicate or destroy said in-
sects or pests or their eggs or larvae, or such imported fruit trees or
nursery stock of infested districts without the limits of the State, or to
treat such contagious diseases within a certain time to be specified in said
notice. Said notice may be served upon the person or persons, or any of
them, owning, having charge, or having possession of such infested place,
article, or tiling, by any member of the Board or by the secretary thereof.
136 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
or by any person deputed by said Board for that purpose, or they may be
served in the same manner as a summons in an action at law. Such notice
shall contain directions for the application of some treatment approved by
the commissioners for the eradication or destruction of said pests, or the
eggs or larvae thereof, or the treatment of contagious diseases or fungous
growths. Any and all such places, orchards, nurseries, trees, plants, shrubs,
vegetables, vines, fruit, or articles thus infested are hereby declared to be
a public nuisance; and whenever any such nuisance shall exist at any place
in the State on the property of any owner or owners upon whom or upon
the person in charge or possession of whose property notice has been
served as aforesaid, and who shall have failed or refused to abate the
same within the time specified in such notice, or in the property of any
non-resident or any property not in the possession of any person and the
owner or owners of which can not be found by the resident members of
the Board or the secretary or county inspector after diligent search within
the district, it shall be the duty of the Board or the member thereof in
whose district the nuisance shall exist, or the secretary or county in-
spector under his or their directions, to cause such nuisance to be at once
abated by eradicating or destroying said insects or pests or their eggs or
larvae, or by treating or disinfecting or destroying the infested or dis-
eased articles, or imported fruit trees or nursery stock imported from an
infested district without the limits of this State. The expense thereof
shall be a county charge and the county court shall allow and pay the
same out of the general fund of the county. Any and all sums so paid
shall be and become a lien on the property and premises from which said
nuisance shall have been removed or abated, in pursuance of this act, and
may be recovered by a suit in equity against such property or premises,
which suit to foreclose such liens shall be brought in the circuit court of
the county where the premises are situate, by the district attorney in the
name and for the benefit of the county making such payment or payments.
The proceedings in such cases shall be governed by the same rules, as
far as may be applicable, as suits to foreclose mechanics' liens, and the
property shall be sold under the order of the court and the proceeds ap-
plied in like manner. The Board is hereby invested with the power to
cause such niusanceg to be abated in a summary manner.
Filed in the office of the Secretary of State, February 19, 1907.
QUARANTINE REGULATIONS
At a special meeting of the Oregon State Board of Horticulture, held
in Portland, April 2, 1895, all members present, the following regulations
were adopted, in accordance with the laws regulating such matters, and
are, therefore, binding upon all persons:
Eule 1. — All consignees, agents, or other persons, shall, within twenty-
four hours, notify the quarantine officer of the State Board of Horticulture,
or a duly commissioned quarantine guardian, of the arrival of any trees,
plants, buds, or scions, at the quarantine station in the district of final
destination.
Eule 2. — All trees, plants, cuttings, grafts, buds, or, scions imported or
brought into the State from any foreign country or from any of the states
or territories, are hereby required to be inspected upon arrival at the
quarantine station in the district of final destination,- and if such nursery
stock, trees, plants, cuttings, grafts, buds, or scions are found to be free
of insect pests and fungous diseases, the said quarantine officer or duly
commissioned quarantine guardian shall issue a certificate to that effect;
and, furthermore, if any of said trees, plants, cuttings, grafts, buds, or
scions are found infected with insect pests, fungi, blight, or other diseases
injurious to fruit or to fruit trees, or other trees or plants, they shall be
disinfected and remain in quarantine until the quarantine officer of the
State Board of Horticulture or the duly commissioned quarantine guardian
can determine whether the said trees, plants, cuttings, grafts, buds, or
scions are free from live, injurious insect pests or their eggs, larvae or
pupae or fungous diseases before they can be offered for sale, gift, distri-
bution, or transportation. All persons or companies are hereby prohibited
from carrying any trees, plants, cuttings, grafts, buds, or scions from with-
out the State to any point within the State beyond the nearest point on its
line or course to the quarantine station in the district of ultimate destina-
tion; or from any point within the State to any point therein, until such
trees, plants, cuttings, grafts, buds, or scions have been duly inspected, and,
if required, disinfected as hereinbefore provided; and all such shipments
must be accompanied by the proper certificate of the inspecting officer; pro-
vided, however, that after such persons or company have given the proper
officer four days' notice, he or they shall not be required to hold such ship-
ments further, without the direction from such officer.
Eule 3. — All peach, nectarine, apricot, plum, or almond trees, and all
other trees budded or grafted upon peach stocks or roots, all peach or
other pits, and all peach, nectarine, apricot, plum, or almond cuttings, buds,
or scions, raised or grown in a district where the "peach yellows" or the
"peach rosette" are known to exist, are hereby prohibited from being
imported into or planted or offered for sale, gift, or distribution within
the State of Oregon.
Eule 4 — All trees, plants, cuttings, grafts, buds, scions, seeds, or pits
arriving from any foreign country found infected with insect pests or
their eggs, larvae, or pupae, or with fungi, or other disease or diseases
hitherto unknown in this State, are hereby prohibited from landing.
Eule 5. — Fruit of any kind grown in any foreign country, or in any of
the states or territories, found infected with any insect or insects, or
with any fungi, blight or other disease or diseases injurious to fruit or
fruit trees, or to other trees or plants, is hereby prohibited from being of-
fered for sale, gift of distribution within the State.
138 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
Eiile 6 — Any boxes, packages, packing material, and the like, infected
with insect or insects, or their eggs, larvae or pupae, or by any fungi,
blight, or other disease or diseases known to be injurious to fruit or to
fruit trees, or to other trees or plants, and liable to spread contagion, are
hereby prohibited from being offered for sale, gift, distriliution, or trans-
portation until said material has been disinfected by dipping it in boiling
water and allowing it to remain in said boiling water not less than two
minutes; such boiling water used as such disinfectant to contain, in solu-
tion, one pound of concentrated potash to each and every ten gallons of
water.
Rule 7. — All trees, plants, grafts, cuttings, buds, or scions may be dis-
infected by dipping in a solution of three-fourths of a pound of whale-oil
soap (80 per cent) to each and every gallon of water: said whale-oil soap
solution shall be kept at a temperature of 100 to 150 degrees. Said trees,
plants, cuttings, grafts, buds, or scions shall remain in said solution not
less than two minutes. After said trees, plants, cuttings, grafts, buds, or
scions have been disinfected, they shall remain in quarantine fourteen
days unless otherwise directed by the inspecting officer, for subsequent
inspection, and if deemed necessary bA' the quarantine officer of the State
Board of Horticulture, or a duly commissioned quarantine guardian, for
further disinfection.
Rule 8. — All trees, plants, cuttings, grafts, buds, or scions may be dis-
infected by fumigation with hydrocyanic acid gas, as follows: Said trees,
plants, cuttings, grafts, buds, or scions shall be covered with an air-tight
tent or box, and for each and every 100 cubic feet of space therein one
ounce of (C. P.) cyanide of potassium (98 per cent), one fluid ounce of
sulphuric acid, and two fluid ounces of water shall be used. The cyanide
of potassium shall be placed in an earthenware vessel, the water poured
over the said cyanide of potassium, afterward adding the sulphuric acid,
and the tent or box to be immediately closed tightly, and allowed to re-
mained closed for not less than forty minutes. After said trees, plants,
cuttings, grafts, or scions have been treated with hydrocyanic acid gas as
above directed, they shall remain in quarantine for fourteen days, unless
otherwise directed by the inspecting officer, for subsequent inspection, and
if deemed necessary by a member of the State Board of Horticulture, or
the quarantine officer of said Board, or a duly commissioned quarantine
giiardian. for subsequent disinfeetinu.
Rule 9. — All trees, plants, cuttings, grafts, buds or scions imported or
brought into the State shall be inspected upon arrival at the quarantine
station in the district of final destination, and if found infected with any
injurious insects or diseases which can not be destroyed by the remedies
required in rules 7 and 8 of these regulations, are hereby prohibited from
being planted or offered for sale, gift, or distribution, and shall be pro-
ceeded against as a nuisance.
Rule 10. — If any person or persons having in their possession trees,
plants, cuttings, grafts, buds, scions, seeds, or pits infected with an insect
or insects, or with any fungi, blight or other disease or diseases injurious
to fruit trees, or to any other trees or plants, shall refuse or neglect to
disinfect the said trees, plants, cuttings, grafts, buds, scions, seeds, or
pits as is required by Rules 7 and 8 of these regulations, after having been
notified to do so by a member of the State Board of Horticulture, the
quarantine officer of said Board, or a duly commissioned quarantine guard-
ian, the said trees, plants, cuttings, grafts, buds, scions, seeds, or pits
shall be declared a public nuisance, and shall be proceeded against as pro-
vided by law.
Rule 11 Animals known as flying fox, Australian or English wild rab-
bits, or other animals or birds detrimental to fruit or fruit trees, plants.
Quarantine Regulations, 139
etc.. are prohibited from being brought or landed la this State, and, if
landed, shall be destroyed.
Eule 12. — Quarantine stations: For the First District, comprising the
counties of ^^ultnomah, Clackamas. Yamhill, Washington, Columbia, Clat-
sop and Tillamook, shall be Portlaml. W. K. Newell, quarantine officer,
or any member of the Board or the secretary thereof. For the Second
District, comprising the counties of Marion, Polk, Benton. Linn, Lincoln
and Lane, shall be Salem. L. T. Eeyuolds, quarantine officer, or any mem-
ber of the Board or the secretary thereof. For the Third District, com-
prising the counties of Josehine, Coos, Curry, Douglas, Jackson, Lake and
Klamath, shall be Ashland. A. H. Carson, quarantine officer, or any mem-
ber of the Board or the secretary thereof. For the Fourth District, com-
prising the counties of Morrow, Wasco, Gilliam, Crook and Sherman, shall
be The Dalles. Emile Schanno, quarantine officer, or any member of the
Board or the secretary thereof. For the Fifth District, comprising the
counties of Umatilla, Union, Baker, Wallowa, Malheur, Grant and Harney,
shall be Milton and Pendleton. Judd Geer, quarantine officer, or any mem-
ber of the' Board or the secretary thereof. At all stations such other
quarantine officers as may be from time to time appointed by the Board,
notice whereof will be given, and complete lists of whom may be obtained
from the secretary or any member of the Board.
Eule 13. — Importers or owners of nursery stock, trees or cuttings, grafts,
buds, or scions, desiring to have such nursery stock, trees, plants, cuttings,
grafts, buds or scions inspected at points other than regular quarantine
stations, may have such inspection done where required; provided, how-
ever, that such importers shall pay all charges of inspection; such charges
and expenses to be paid before a certificate is granted. Transportation
.'ompanies or persons and consignees or agents shall deliver and cause to
be detained all nursery stock, trees, plants, and fruit at one or the other
of the quarantine stations, for inspection, as provided by the rules and
regulations of the Board.
Eule 14. — The fee for the inspection of apple, pear, plum, peach, nec-
tarine, prune, cherry, apricot, nut-bearing trees and all other trees, shrubs,
or plants, shall be as follows: Thirty cents per hour, including the time
from leaving home, inspection and return home of the inspector, and actual
traveling and other expenses. On all fruits the fee for inspection shall be
$1 on any sum up to .$35, and $2 on any sum over that amount, and $5
tor carload lots.
Eule 15. — All persons growing nursery stock, trees, and plants for sale,
or to be offered for sale, are hereby required to report to the commissioner
of the district in which said nursery stock, trees, or plants are grown, for
inspection during the months of September, October, or November of each
and every year, and the commissioner of such district, or his duly appointed .
d(>i>uty sliall iiisjieft sueli nursery stock, trees, or iilnnts prior to slii])-
luent and delivery. When said nursery stock, trees or plants are found by
said inspecting officer to be worthy of a certificate setting forth the free-
dom of such nursery stock, trees, or plants, from live, injurious insect pests,
their eggs, larvae, pupae, or fungous disease the said inspecting officer
shall then issue to the owner or owners of said nursery stock, trees, or
plants, a certificate of inspection. The condition under which this cer-
tificate is granted is, that the party or parties receiving such certificate
shall be compelled to disinfect by fumigation with hydrocyanic acid gas,
as described in Eule 8, all pear and apple trees, or other stock grown on
ai)ple roots, after lifting the same and before delivery to purchaser or
carriers; and, in ease such fumigation is neglected, said certificate of in-
spection shall be void and of no effect.
Passed at a meeting of the State Board of Horticulture at Portland,
Oregon, April 3, 1895, and amended at a regular meeting of tlie State
140 Report of State Board of Horticulture.
Board of Horticulture at Salem, Oregon, October 15, A. D. 1895.
At a regular meeting of the Oregon State Board of Horticulture, held
October 14, 1907, Eule 8 of the Quarantine Regulations of the State Board
of Horticulture was amended so as to read as follows:
All trees, plants, grafts, buds or scions grown in the State of Ore-
gon and offered for sale within the State, and all such trees, plants, grafts,
buds and scions grown out of the State of Oregon, and sold within the
State for planting and propagation, shall be disinfected either with hy-
drocyanic acid as follows: Said trees, plants, cuttings, grafts, buds or
scions shall be covered with an air-tig<ht box or house, and for each and
every 100 cubic feet of space therein one ounce of chemically pure cyanide
of potassium (93 per cent), one fluid ounce of sulphuric acid and two
ounces of water shall be used. The cyanide of potassium shall be placed
in an earthenware vessel, the water poured over the said cyanide of po-
tassium, afterward adding the sulphuric acid, when the box or house m^lst
be immediately closed tightly and allowed to remain closed for not less
than forty minutes, or instead of such fumigation such trees, buds or scions
may be dipped in a standard solution of lime and sulphur -of the strength
required for winter use in spraying San Jose scale.
INDEX.
A
P.MiV.
"A pplc-MrowiiiK in ( )n'iioii.'" IT. A'. Xi'icrll ~\t
ArsciiMto t)f load 70
B
Hoi'di'iUix mixture-- 70
c
('ai-NOii, A. H., "Growing- tlu' European Gnipe" 102
Peach-Krowinff in Oregon 94
Reports as Oomnissioner--- 34-59
"Clii'i-ry Ciiltuie ill Oregon" R. 11. Weber 89
Cliniatie conditions in Tliird district 41
Coos County tiorticultural eonditions. 44
(!ordli'y. Prof. A. B., article on "Sprays antl Spraying" 69
Ocunty fruit inspectors, law creating 132
Cranbei-ry culture in Coos County 48
("uttings. tin-owing in liigliways. etc., unlawful 131
D
Uougia^ County horticultui'a 1 coiKlitions 49
F
False l>randing of fruit packages unlawful. 184
Kriiit crop estimates —
Kourtli District 63
State as a whole, 1907 10
State as a whole, 1908 17
Third District ,58
(■icer, .ludd. " IrMigatioii of <)rcliards" 112
Reports as Commissioner. -_ _ 64-67
Upland orchard practice in Kastern Oi-egon.,. 98
Grape, culture of American varieties- ...\V, K. Neivell 107
<4rapf. growing Kuroinan varieties A. H. Carson 102
H
Horticultural laws — ^
Act of 1H95 - 126
Amendments of 1899 -- 129
Protecting fruit and hop industry 131
Pro vif ling for county inspectors ..- -- 182
Prohibiting false branding of pacltiiges of fruit 184
Trees must be true to name 134
Amendments of I'.Ki7 - 13.5
142 Index.
Illustrations— page
Apple orchard near Medford 89
Apple packing- house of A. I. Mason 61
Bartlett pears, picking in Johnson orchard 21
Bartlett pear tree, model 43
"Beautiful Gove" 15
Cherry trees, two-year-old 55
Coos County strawberries 47
Crabapple trees at Cove 65
Crate of Steward's strawberries -15
Forbiss orchard at Dilley 33
Gen. Goodbrod's orchard home 18
Lambert cherries from Webb farm 88
Malheur County apple tree 113
Marshall's Yellow Newtown apple orchard, Medford 6
Old apple orcliard, scene in 81
One of Prince's walnut trees 123
"Orchard by the Lake" 125
Peach orchard, Reid's 25
Pear orchard at Medford 51
Pear orcliard, Ne well's 27
Pear orchard at Ashland 35
Prune orchard at The Cove 99
Rome Beauty apple orchard at La Grande 87
Rome Beauty apple trees 101
Royal Ann cherry tree, two views 90, 91
Scene in Medford packing house ^ 5'
Second-crop strawberries, picking 114
Side-issue crop on fruit farm 12
Spitzenburg apple tree. Hood River 85
Sugar beet field, Arcadia 109
Walnut grove of Thomas Prince 117
Walnut trees on Dekum's farm 119
Willamette Valley pear orchard 32
Yellow Newtown orchard. Hood River 83
Infected fruit, sale of unlawful 131
Packing or delivery for shipment unlawful 131
"Irrigation of Orchards," Judd Geer 112
J
Jackson County horticultural conditions 52
Johnson, Albert, fruit crop of 22
Josephine County liorticultural conditions 50
K
Kerosene emulsion 73
Klamath and Lake counties --- 53
L
Lamberson, Geo. H., In Memoriam 68
Letter of transmittal 3
IJme-sulphur spray 72
N
Newell, W. K., "Apple-growing" "9
"Culture of the American Grape" 107
Letter of transmittal 3
Reports as Commissioner 7-22
Index. 143
O
FAfiE
Officers of lioard -- --- 5
Over-prodiiL'tlon question .- - -- 51
P
Park, Chas. A., reports as comuilssloner SS-Sl
"Peach-prowlnK in Oregon" 4. //. Carxnn 94
Pear blight... — -- 5(5
Purity of spray materials, certificate of required 131
Q
Quarantine regulations of board. 137
R
Reid, James H., reports as commissioner 23-36
Reports of Oonimissioners —
W. K. Newell. State at large. 7-22
Jus. H. Reid, First District 23-28
Ohas. A. Park, Second District 28-31
A. H.Oarson. Third District 34-59
R. H.Weber, Fourth District 60-«3
JuddGeer. Fifth District 64-67
S
"Sprays and .Spraying" Prof. A. Ji. Cordley 69
T
Trees must be of variety represented 134
U
"Upland Orchard Practice'".. Judd Geer 98
W
"Walnut, (The) in Oregon" H. M. Williamson 116
Weber, R. H., "Cherry Culture" 89
Reports as Commissioner 6(1-63
Whale-oil soap 74
When to spray-
Apple pests and diseases 75
Cherry pests and diseases 75
Peach pests and diseases.. 76
Pear pests and diseases -- 76
Plum and prune pests and diseases 76
Willamette Valley as a fruit-growing section 30
Williamson, H. M.. "The Walnut in Oregon" 116
New York Botanical Garden Librar
3 5185 00259 9783
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