AY, JANUARY 1, 10O8.
9
Industry is Long
Established
and Profits Are
Made. Certain
by Fine
Soil and Climate
Mild as
v That of Sunny
France
W.B8. i
w - iW; -tiPw J':h
By I'- B. Cameron.
IT WOULD appear that the Great Giver
gave his angols special charge con
cerning the Rogue River Valley, for
here in a dozen distinct lines of horticul
ture as great success attends the efforts
of the grower as distinguishes other dis
tricts in one or two lines. Further, this
district is so regular in its crop produc
tion that in three separate years within
the last decade nature lias showed up
smiling with, a bumper crop of apples and
pears here when all the rest of the world
was short. This accounts for the won
tlreful yields from all the bearing orch
ards of the southern tier of Oregon coun
ties In 1907. Not only this, but it is the
good fortune of this section to mature
Its fruit crop Just a trifle in advance of
the rest of the state, and this "gives the
growers of the Rogue River Valley the
first call on cars. Its fruit crop was all
marketed and shipped and most of it was
transformed Into cash before the wail
went up from the other fruit sections
when the money stringency caused the
. slump In prices last November.
The crop Is always garnered in ideal
harvest weather, with never a gale to
cause loss by windfalls, and at. a time,
too, when men glory in orchard work,
which Is one reason why the growers of
this valley have never had labor troubles.
Many a young apple orchard of this val
ley Dore its first crop last season, and
there was a distinct Increase in the ton
nage of fruit shipped from all the sta
tions. Within five years from date there
will be at least 3000 cars of apples and
pears shipped from Rogue River Valley
each year.
Time was. and not so long ago. when a
yield of J1000 an acre was considered the
limit for apple production. Yet in 1907
there were many orchards in the Rogue
River Valley which produced in excess
of that figure, a few ranging even as
high as JloOO an acre. In one case, one
and one-half acres yielded fully J-500
worth of Spitz and Yellow Newtowns.
i'he wonderful crop is shown by one
orchard of low-grade Ben Davis apples,
which always sell for about half the
price of Spitzenbergs, yet in this orchard
of 23 acres the owner gathered more than
$10,000 worth of fruit.
Few realize the amount of capital in
vested In the apple industry in the south
ern part of this state. Portland capital
Is grouped in a large number of orchards
planted just south of the city of Med
ford. The largest one has 500 acres al
ready set in trees, the next 2-5 acres, of
which 70 acres Is in bearing, the bearing
portion producing fruit which nets the
owner, after all the expenses of carrying
the entire ranch are paid, a profit of
approximately $40,000 a year. In the same
neighborhood a small orchard of 12
acres, which In lSOtt produced pears and
apples to a value of $9ftJ0 last year yielded
from the same trees no less than J1000
an acre.
The growers of the Rogue River Valley
are not addicted to 'hollering their heads
tiff" whenever a record is broken or an
unparalleled shipment is made. There
are tiiose among them who gravely as
sert that Mount Hood would have jumped
from its base, and Portland would
in future have ranked merely as a
suburb if such record as have dis
tinguished the Rogue River Valley ttie
present season had been made in well,
anywhere else. Yet. It was the Rogvie
River Valley which put the Pajaro
Valley out. of business In the London,
England, Newtown apple, markets, and
1he number of cars of Rogue River
Valley Newtowns annually shipped to
London greatly exceeds all the cars
of Newtowns shipped from all the oth
er districts of the Northwest Coast. A
sinsle firm bougiit in this valley last
season over 40 cars of Newtowns from
a pool of growers at a price of $2.60
per box. based on a three-fourths four
tier grading. Wouldn't this have jus
tilled a pardonable amount of shout
ins;? The sum and substance of the mat
ter is that the jrrowers of this valley
are doing" in a strictly commercial way.
K.ND MOUNT HOOD
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THE (tJZEATAm QBB
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LEY TO 2EE YELLOW JVEVf-
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on a large scale, and with most satis
factory results, what other districts
are undertaking in a limited way. with
but a few varieties. The experimen
tal stake has Ions: since been passed
In fruit culture here, and it now only
remains to extend the field to. cover,
what nature Intended and made pos
sible when this valley was given the
Incomparable climate which is the
envy of every other section of the Pa
cific Northwest.
The time is coming, and wo think it is
near at hand, when the Rogue River Val
ley will be as famous for its cherries,
peaches, table grapes and apricots as it
now is for its apples and pears. It is use
less descanting upon the pear proposition,
for all of America takes off its hat to the
Rogue River Valley pears, all the records
of the continent now being held by the
growers of this district. There is not at
this time a single commercial cherry or
chard in the Valley, and yet old trees
scattered through the , county annually
produce J40 to J50 worth of that luscious
fruit, and the great advantage we enjoy
over other sections to the north Is that
Rogue River Valley cherries" will hold up
and carry clear across the continent,
where in moister districts the fruit is
subject to rain cracks and has to rely
upon 'the near-by cannery.
Apricots and peaches produced here,
aside from their superb quality and color
ing, have the additional advantage of
reaching the makets of the Northwest
cities just enough in advance of other
supply districts to get the advantage of
the highest first-season price each year,
and this condition is attracting much at
tention to the value of these, fruits, es
pecially when considered as "fillers" be
tween the rows of apple trees in or
chards now being set. They not only
give quick returns from the land, but
help to supply a demand which is yearly
growing more Insistent in the Northwest
coast, cities for the highest type of Sum
mer fruit.
The apparent isolation of the Rogue
River Valley Is the cause of frequent in
quiry as to the cost of getting the fruit
products of this section to the markets of
the East and Europe. It Is not generally
known, but it is a fact, nevertheless, that
APPLES IN THE
By A. TV. Nelson.
M
ODERX methods, careful attention
to filling orders, climatic conditions
and a splendid soil all join in making
Grand Ronde Valley apples a source of
enormous profit to the orchardists. While
IN THE DISTANCE. THIS PHOTOGRAPH WAS TAKEN AT ONE EXPOSURE WITH REVOLVING LENS
73 I
Si
3
S.1
3
.
TSS yoUJL -JSAR- OZV 5J!ZZZ AND JVEWTOIW J73ZZES JVAZUS A ZfEW GROWTIf
AXSEAGZMZ ZW EXCESS OP SIXFSET T-HK.077GJI0Zr,
SMALL CJLOJ CJ JANCY:JHPPCES IW2fOS.
this fruit district gets the same transcon
tinental freight rate on deciduous fruits
in carlots that all other fruit districts of
the Northwest and the inter-mountain
section get on the same commodities. A
car of apples or pears from Medfprd can
be landed in New York. Boeton. or even
Montreal, for the same money that is re
quired for the same car from any point
in Washington. Idaho or even Colorado,
barring the expense of icing refrigerator
cars on the longer trip.
GRAND RONDE
old and neglected orchards dot the valley
today, there are scores' of large orchards
which today stand like hazel bushes that
but. a few years hence will bring thou
sands of dollars to their qwners. If a
grower has less land than he can readily
V- II 1 1 SrC: v" . T ? 3.-X.; c-vWt.V... W . . J..K-u ff.,.--. .b-jjlt.-'i . - M
control and cultivate, he invests some of
his profits to increase the size of his or
chard. The past season has been remarkably
successful. E. Z. "Carbine, aside from the
crop grown by himself, has purchased
and practically completed shipment of
60.000 boxes of luscious apples that com
pete with the .best Hood Rivers In the
Eastern markets, and at a cost of 1.40 a
box. These 60.000 boxes represent 110 car
loads valued ft J90.000.
Knowing for a certainty that Grand
Ronde apples are as much in demand
wherever they are known as any grown
in Oregon, the apple-growers of this sec
tion are exerting every effort to bring
the fame of the Union County appje up
to that of the best in the country. They
advertise freely and they sell what they
advertise. Each apple, regardless of how
large the shipment may be, is separately
examined and packed. This, more than
any other one thing, aside from the nat
urally high quality of the fruit, is respon
AZfO - WILZ AK -A
sible for the rapidly Increasing renown
of the fruit gTown In the Grand Ronde
Valley.
Another thing which tends to make ap
ple culture popular in the fertile valley
is the amount of annual rainfall. In a
few instances sub-irrigation Is resorted
to, but generally, practically always, the
10, 20, 30 or even 60-acre apple orchards
see no other Irrigation than that Nature
provides.
Ben Davis, Spitzenberg and especially
the Gano varieties thrive greatly in the
Grand Ronde. While there are a few Fall
varieties, the "principal shipping fruit is
the Winter apples, and orders leave this
valley from early in the Fall until late in
the Winter. The money stringency has
had fcut little effect on apple shipments,
and but for a continued car shortage th.e
principal buyer of the valley, Mr. Car
bine, would have had his entire stock
started eastward before this date.
Apple cider is becoming a valuable
product in Union County. The principal
TWV -ACRES OfGZOZZRD
2W1907 YIELDED ZW EXCESS OE ZZTnr WORTH OF
TVEJNT INTO THE ItOlFDOJT JXrASJCETS
THE JVEWTOfVflT EZPJZW:
EEARER ZN OTHER. DISTRICTS, IW THE JlOffOE
JUVER. TVLLLEIT ZS AS EROUFIC AS TEE EEAT DAWS
apple-growers of the valley own their
own presses and such fruit as, is not fit
for shipment is run through the cider
presses. Then there is also an apple
dryer, erected, equipped and operated
last season, that consumed much of the
apples of low grade. Considerable vine
ear 9 manufactured in connection with
thocB twn fnrliictricd .
There are few localities in Eastern Ore
gon that are not suitable for apples, but
the Grand Ronde Valley is now the only
WHERE T&IS SPKAY ZAIV
. T r55Uit3
esaj
PDFD ax A JiTJV-
one where apples are grown on a larg
scale. Umatilla County has its wheal
farmland Baker County Its mining, stock
ranches and farms, but to Union County
Eastern Oregon must look for its apples.
Every year the industry enlarges itself
until now the county depends on apples
largely to enrich the small rancher.
Every year' new orchards are coming Into
ir.
bearing, and this growth will continue
until the entire valley will become vlr
tually one gigantic apple grove.
-Gilford. Photographer. The Dalles. Or.