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About The gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 27, 1914)
HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION Orchard and Garden Famous Orchards THE "Country Gentleman" of July ISth, in descrming the famous Congdon Orchards of Washington, ias the following interesting data con cerning them: "Two hundre." and six miles of tree rows, with 35.T00 apple and pear trees, 20 feet apart, make up the Congdon Orchards, said to be the largest in Washington and the largest under irri gation in the Tutted States. They eon tain 3SG acres and are the property of Chester A. Congdon, a Minnesota at torney. The Congdon Orchards are a million-dollar proposition. It is esti mated that in a few years they will produce 400 carloads of selected fruit. Figure C30 boxes to a car, get the net profit for any year on each box, take the total as 8 per cent of the value and the result is the commercial value of the orchards. The real value is more than that, however. This is an experimental farm, a nursery and a country estate. One tract contains two trees each of 150 kinds of fruits and nuts. There are 2,400 shade and ornsmentul trees each, lining five miles and a half of drive ways. Aside from the two old family orchards that were on the tract when Mr. Congdon bought it the oldest trees are seven years, most of them three years old. Fifteen carloads of fruit were harvested iu 1912. In 1918, COO.OUO apples and pears will be han dled daily during the picking season. The Congdon land is located in the cen ter of Wide Hollow Valley, near Xorth Yakima,' in the Yakima Valley." 'i'ho businesslike arrangement re quired to handle and successfully dis tiibute such quantities of Iruit must be up to the highest point of efficien cy. As an example of the nuiLager's methods in Mr. Farmer's letter noti fying tho Northwestern Fruit Kx change of his readiness to begin ship ping pears, he advises: "This year our Bartlett pears arc '.p.ken from the orchard and placed in cold storage. They are removed from the cold storage just long enough to pack and are immediately replaced in the cold room at a temperature that b- the time we load our first car should be down to 34 to 36 degrees F. Fears will be loaded direct from the cold storage room into the i'ed cr.rs. By handling our pears in this manner it seems to us that they should reach their destination in almost perfect con dition, unless tho buyer desired that the pears ripen somewhat in transit." It is this attention to details that the North 'cstern grower can well emu late to his ultimate success. GEESE IN THE ORCHARDS. IT HAS been discovered that geese in an orchard are useful because . they devour the waste fruits, gen erally full of worms and hatcheries for another generation of pests. This seems to have been first discovered in Canada where the wild geese from the lakes and rivers entering the orch ards cleaned np the waste fruits and it was found that in these orchards there were fewer pests than in the orchards of adjacent communities where these geese did not enter. Later the experiment of growing tame geese in the orchards of Ohio and certain other sections was successful, not only on account of the work they did in the orchards bnt on account of the profit yielded in the sale of feathers and meat. Geese are easily grown, and the young are not nearly so ten der and likely to die as chickens. Be sides, they yield good profits and do leu damage to trees than twine, which re often used in the orchards for the lame purpose. However, in the irri tated sections they would during the season in which irrigation it practiced greatly interfere with the ditches and would from this view point be objectionable. COURSE FOB FRUIT INSPECTORS. AC. BOBERT3, president of the Oregon Sta'e B ard of Horti culture, has addressed a com tanieation to the district commission ers, asking them to take the matter up Vilb tit imti county courts relativo to Bending their fruit in spectors to a special week of Inspec tors' Short Course at the Oregon Agri cultural College, which Professor Lewis has promised to inaugurate if suffi cient counties respond tojustify the time and expense. "The tendency would be to cause in creased efficiency on the part of the inspectors and unite the horticultural interests more closely," said Mr. Rob erts. "The course would touch upon all subjects pertinent to the fruit growing industry, with reference' to our own locality, also touching upon all phases of the cultures of the fruit from the time of bloom until full develop ment, together with data on picking, grading, packing, etc." "The fruit interests, including grow ers, shippers and dealers, will welcome such steps," said A. P. Bateham, vice president of the Northwestern Fruit Kxcliange, when asked his opinion. "The interests as a whole should be unanimous in their iiprovul because in creased efficiency in inspectors will cause increased efficiency of all con cerned. The county courts will see the wisdom of complying with this request, it is hoped. " FRUITGROWING IN AUSTRALIA. HERE is probably nothing more re markable in these 'lays of rapid progress than the amazing develop ment of the Island Continent of Aus tralia. The development of an active irriga tion policy has brought about a new era of closer settlement. The advancement of the country along these two lines, fruitgrowing and irrigation, is capably dealt with in a bright, well-illustrated magazine, "The Fruit World" (Aus tralia.' Australia is termed "The Prido of the Southern Hemisphere. " The fruits produced include apples, pears, peaches, apricots, plums, cherries, loquatB, straw berries, and, in tho warmer zones, oranges, grapes, bananas, pineapples, mangoes, figs, etc. The area of the fruit and market gardens amounts to 324,931 acres, to the value of $21,557, 940. The biggest developments in irri gation have so far taken place in Vic toria, with New South Wales and South Australia following. The state of Victora has spent $125, 000,000 on irrigation works. In the stato ot New South Wales the Burrin juck dam, one of the n astcrpieces of the world's engineering, provides stor age for 33,000,000,000 cubic feet, or a volume of water about equal to that con'ained in Sydney harbor. The state of South Australia contemplates locking the River Murray (the Nile of Aus tralia) and irrigating and reclaiming 400,000 acre-. BALLAD OF VEGETABLES. A potato went out on a mash And sought an onion bed; "That'B pie for me," observed the squash, And all the beets tnrned red. "Go 'way!" tho onion, weeping, cried: "Your love I cannot be; The pumpkin bo your wife You cantaloupo with me." But onward still the tuber came, And lay down at ber feet; "You cauliflower by any name And it will smell as wheat; And I, too, am in an early rose, And you I've come to see; So don't turnip your lovely nose, But spinachat with me." "I do not carrot at all to wed, So go, sir, if you please!" The modest onion meekly said, "And lettuce, pray, have peas! Go, think you have never seen Myself, or smelled my sigh; Too long a maiden I have been For favors in your rye!" "Ah, 'spare a cuss!" the tuber prayed; "My cherry shed bride you'll be; Tou are the only weeping maid That's currant now with me." And as the wily tuber spoke He caught her by surprise, And, giving her an artichoke, Devoured her with his eyes. Turnips keep best in a dry outdoor pit. Garden Notes BY MAKING a succession of seeding of the peas, lettuce, radishes and beans these vegetables will be pro vided throughout the summer and fall season. Give the garden thorough cultivation. It should receive ad much attention as any cultivated crop on the farm. Above all things do not put off the care of the garden for rainy days. Why not give the children a small garden patch that they can care for their very own; let them cultivate and care for the vegetables and flowers, and finally let them sell the produce. The children's garden will teach obser vation, industry and responsibility. Better results will come from trans planting vegetables into the garden if it is done on a cloudy day. Keep the tools bright and in good working order. When through with them place under cover. Build a cup board in the woodshed, on the back porch or in the carriage house for the garden tool:'. Too much care cannot be exercised in covering seed properly. The tend ency is to cover too deeply. Such crops as onions, squash, parsnips and lima beans push up the shells of the seed itself and find it difficult to force their way through a very great depth of earth after it is packed down by rains. Give plants in the garden a chance to grow. Plenty of room and fertility is what is needed. After rains, when the crust begins to form, stir the soil. Mildew may be reached by spraying with Bordeaux mixture. Never plant bush Lima beans closer than two feet apart in the rows. Green beans and peas may be had all through the summer and fall if seed is sown at different intervals. After the asparagus season is passed, remove the weeds, stir tho soil and give the bed a coating of well-rotted manure. Pole beans and peas should be staked and the ground ground them loosened with a hoe. Drain the loosened earth toward the rows, hilling them up. Cover spinach with a light litter or mulch of straw, heavy enough to re tain the snow and prevent freezing. 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