The Oregon daily journal., February 09, 1908, Page 29, Image 29

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THE OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAL),. PORTLAND, SUNDAY MORNING,' FEBRUARY j 9, 1808. . V
; Enormous Profits Made ty Fru it
' Growers in tne Southern Part cf
tne Stater-Sold Apples in England Many Years Ago Big Demand in tLe East 'for', tne Product-nQuality and Quantity cf, ( Fruit Improved by Reducing Acreage and Close Cultivation
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DO YOU want to mska a Ro(u
River valle man angry? If you
do Just suggest to him tliat ths
apple Industry is comoaratively
young in his part of the state.
Sixteen years ago H. T. Pankey, now
prosperous applo grower of Central
Point, went to the Rogue River valley
to work on a fruit ranch. At that time
He helped pack apples for London ship
ment For years before the enterprising
nrchardists of the fertile valley had
been shipping rruit to tne eastern mar
kets. .
Sine then a wonderful change has
come over the valley. There are ten
fruit growers where there was one be
fore. The land has been divided into
Mmaller tracts and thousands of fruit
trees have been planted. Annual ship
ments to the markets in the east and
abroad are made, and - fabulous prices
lare paid for Oregon fruit Each year
sees an enormous increase In the total
umhpr fif cars shinned ana in tne nrlces
paid. The fruit growers of the Rogue
River vallev have rood cause to feel
proud of what tbey have achieved.
Smaller Farms.
One vital cause for the rapid advance
ment of the fruit industry in soutnern
Oregon lies In the fact that there are
romparatlvely few large ranches now.
iFrult growers who formerly held thou
sands of acres of land are now con
pent with hundreds. -The reason for this
s tnat they were not long in aiscovermg
hat better results were achieved when
pur', 414 not attempt to handle more
acreage than they could give proper at
tention to. As a result more people
have made homes in southern Oregon,
because there Was more room for them
on land already cultivated and planted
in trees, and, better still, the quality of
the fruit has improved in proportion.
It must not be believed that there
was any necessity for the fruitgrowers
to reduce their acreage because of ac
tual lack of room; there are thousands
of acres of the finest fruit land in the
world there still, none of which has
been planted, waiting to make the for
tune of the man with the energy to
break into the industry which has given
Oregon world wide fame.
The thing which guarantees rapid ad
vancement in population and develop
ment in the Rogue River valley is the
fact . that orchard lands, which here
bring returns in excess of any other
fruit district in the west, have not
been unduly advanced in price, and any
one who goes there now may be sure of
his future.
Many Other Fruits.
Not apples alone have made Rogue
River valley famous, for it has a score
of fruits almost equally productive and
profitable, ranging from the Yellow
Newtown and Spltienberg apple through
half a dosen varieties of pears which
have proven phenomenal winners, the .
delicious peaches and apricots which
distinguished this valley, table grapes
which rival California's best, cherries,
which, while not so large nor so juicy -as
those of the Willamette section,
keep so Well that they will stand trans
portation to the most distant markets,
and which nave such fine skins and firm .
flesh that they are not subject to rain
checks; to melons which drive those
from other places out of the northwest
markets when the Rogue river season
is on.
What the Rogue River valley needs is
more people. Although there are 25,000
acres of fruit trees in that section now
and the number is rapidly increasing
there is room for more than twice that
many fruitgrowers. There are fortunes
to be made, for the growers receive
from $1.25 to 13 a box on board cars
and from S to nearly $6 in the for
eign markets. Across the water Eng
land and France each year eagerly seek
the cream of Oregon's orchards and the
products from the southern portion of
this state, once placed before the epi
cure are always afterward In demand.
In Its Infancy.
In reality the apple Industry in
southern Oregon, as in all parts of the
state, is In its Infancy. There are thou
sands of acres of land capable of pro
ducing the Quantity' and quality pro
duced in the cultivated sections and
which are reaching to thousands of local
and foreign markets.
Apple trees begin' producing their
revenue to their owners at the age of
years. A 10-year-old tree often
bears 10 bushels of the best marketable
fruit and the splendid profits derived
are constantly serving as a stimulant to
the further development of the mag
nificent industry.
Among the varieties' of apples raised
with .greatest success in the Rogue riv
er valley are the SjpUsenberg, North
ern Spy, Jonathan, Red Cheeks, New
town, BeUflower, Ben Davla, Swaar,
Greening, Winesap. . Winter Banana,
Wolf River and Florn. The state's
fruit crop value in 1906 was approx
imately $3,000,000, in 1907 is was great
ly in advance of this and this year
will be much more. Of this the Rogue
River valley can claim a large share.
.. The rapidity with which the apple
growing industry is gaining ground can
be seen from the fact that in 1906 there
were 3,500 acres of trees planted in
the Rogue River valley, 3.000 acres in
1907 and it is expected that the num
ber Will reach 6,000 acres in 1908. There
is a characteristic stamina to .Oregon
soil that makes for the production of
apples that are unexcelled in size, so
lidity, flavor, color and keeping qualities.
Ten months is not the extreme limit
to which can be kept a well-packed box
of southern Oregon apples.
grow to such perfection as in Oregon.
The Oregon Newtown for the past
three years has sold for from 60 cents
to $1 a box more In England than the
far-famed Newtown of Pajaro valley,
California, or tho Newtown of Albe
marle county. Virginia.
The sale of nursery stock of Ore
gon In the past year amounted to ap
proximately 3,000,000 trees and 1.000,
000 vines and bushes. There are about
1.100 acres of nursery stock in the
state. The estimated value of orchard
products In 1906 was $1,008,000. There
are about 900 acres in blackberries and
s
dewberries, 210 acres in currants, 265
acres in gooseberries, 2,117 acres In
raspberries and loganberries, and of
other small fruits 360 acres. The es
timated number of apple, apricot, plum
and peach trees in the state is 6,510,
000. Industry Growing Rapidly.
While official figures have not been
prepared as yet it is believed that the
Rogue River valley apple growers
snipped fully one-third more cars In
1907 than they did in 1906. Mr. Pankey
recently stated that from Central Point
alone there were approximately 45 Cara .
of apples and 2a cars of ; pear
shipped last year against It cars of
apples and 15 cars of pears shipped the
year before. ... . .
Although it took the residents of
the Rogue River valley a number of
vears to realize what possibilities they
really had In their wonderful orchards
they are making up for lost time now.
Newcomers have infused fresh life in
to the, community and it la now forg
ing ahead with a whoop and a ban
which promises still wider fame than
that gained in the past few years.
Fortune Awaits tne Inventor of an Ant Exterminator
Large Profits.
There are apple orchards in the
Rogue River valley which have paid
a net income cf $600 per acre for years
past and while these figures are high
they arebeing counterparted in other
sections of the state, especially in east
em Oregon where fruit culture Is fast
taking time heretofore devoted to live
stock and other kindred pursuits. Fruit
raising, it has been found, in nearly
every section of the ftate, is an Indus
try which pays enormous dividends and
net profits are counted annually.
An idea of the profit of fruit raising
may be gleaned from the fact that
Elsman brothers of Josephine county
sold $14,000 worth of apples in 1906
from their orchard of 3S acres.
Nowhere In - the country Uo apples
A FORTUNE awaits the man who
will come to the aid. of the peo
ple o Australia with an effect
ive plan to rid the eople of
that country of white ants.
Not on'y are they an annoying pest,
but their destructiveness is costly.
They have an especial taste for the
woodwork of houses, and the damage
they do reaches into astonishing fig
ures. Before the white man's advent houses
were unknown. The aborigines ot the
vast territory knew nothing of , such
structures, a few sheets' of; bark com
posing the shelter they temporarily re
quired. But even then' the white ants
abounded. They ate the standing trees
In the forest; tbey devoured fallen
branches; they made nests in logs and
roots.
With civilization and house-building
came new spheres for their activity.
Wherever woodwork was used, in city
center or bush hut, the creature had to
be guarded against, and the utmost care
and precaution were often futile in the
contest Buildings have had to be re
modeled and sometimes taken down be
cause of the extent of the ravages. A
building in the country, known to be af
fected with white ants, becomes prac
tically unsalable. Occasionally the af
fected board or joist or several affected
ones are removed and ' sound timber
Introduced, In the hope of making good
the Injury; but rarely does such patch
ing avail. - ,
The white ant Is an unseen worker
It may have secured a lodgment In a
house manjf years bwk: generations of
the creatures may have lived and worked
and died without creating by soun t
or otherwise the slightest suspicion of
their presence; and it Is only when the
have consumed the entire substance)
underneath that the shell cf the woo J
falls In and disaster Is revealed. , t
Pick-s-Back in Slexlco. .
From the Travel Magazine.
Tha Queerest mods of travel X save:
in all Mexico was that adopted by a)
woman who was on her way to the doe
tor, seated complacently in rWe
borne upon the back of a man. .
Mexican women are afraid even of t t
mule cars, while they look opoa t.
mploiy -., spinning trolley with .,.:,
trembling of knees they cannot he j t.
suaded .to put foot upon it. I'im.i,!., i,
pay coach hire, they employ .the ).u,,. ,
carrier at a few cents Xvr eaiU t j
I- I. -