BOARD OF HORTICULTURE 147 



in tlie opinion of many growers stimiilates the fruit buds into greater activity. 

 Mos.s and licliens cause what is known as "tight hark" which restricts free 

 sap circulation. which in turn cau.ses weakened fruit spurs. Weak spurs shed 

 their bloom under tlie slighest provocation — light frosts. rains. etc., whereas 

 strong huds will often resisl tliem. Tlie average grower helieves that such 

 orchards are hadly infested with scale. Such, as a matter of fact, is seldom the 

 case. The scale can not thri^■e on hard, tight bark and readily succumbs to the 

 advance of tlie moss and licliens. I have oliserved that growers who spray regu- 

 larly every other year usually take good care of their orchard in other ways. 

 For tliis reasou I attach more importance to this Position than others raight. 

 First place is given to the Myrtle Creek-Riddle district in the Umpqua known 

 as the "Missouri bottoms." 



Cultivation 



Cultivation is too often discussed to require much explanation. The best 

 practice of late years seems to lie to plow in a cover crop of vetch early in the 

 spring, followed by careful cultivation and constant working until the sizes 

 are all that could be asked — that is, 30-40's. Cultivation should become shallower 

 as the season progresses and it is not considered good practice to use the disk 

 any later than necessary because it dries out the soll. Level cultivation has 

 completely replaced the old ridge System which stifled the life out of so many 

 cid orchards. Cultivation is perhaps the best understood practice. More growers 

 cultivate well than follow any other practice. For this reason Sheridan, the 

 Winstoii district near Roseburg, Scotts Mills, Eugene, or Dallas rate up equally 

 well, with the speaker's preference going to Dallas. 



Pruning 



Pruning the older orchards resolves Itself into a thinning Operation. Open 

 well lighted trees, with little of the harren drooping wood or lifeless fruit spurs 

 is what the better growers strive for. It is easy to say. but too seldom done. 

 I have in mind the Petite orchard of Joe Schneider in the Day's Creek couutry 

 in Douglas County as pei'haps one of the best pruned old orchards In the State. 

 As a district. however, the Salem region rates up and takes the position. It is 

 Strange but true that the men who spray usually prune well, but that the men 

 who fertilize and cultivate often neglect pruning entirely. There are many men 

 who do one of the three things well, prune, spray or cultivate, and some who do 

 two of them, but very. very few who do all three well. 



Fertilizers 



Theoretically an orchard with proper soll and care does not require additional 

 fertilization. In practice. however. we find that a reasonable amount of nitrate 

 and humus added at the proper time serves to force the trees to their maximum 

 of effort. Stahle manure when it can be pbtained cheaply is perhaps the best 

 fertilizer we have for prunes. Of late years it has been too scarce and expensive 

 for use except in extreme cases where the orchard was rapidly slumping. 

 Nitrate of soda, 3 to 5 pounds to the tree, applied 4 or 5 weeks before blossoming, 

 is the Standard practice. Where the orchard is otherwise in good condition with 

 regard to other practices a lesser amount seems to be justified. Reuter, one of 

 the best growers in Washington County. uses about one-half pound. Cover crops of 

 vetch find a place in all tip-top orchards where excess quantities of manure can 

 not be had. 



Location 



Location bears an immediate relation to the economics of prune growing. 

 Proximity to labor, fuel, trucks, etc., is a big item, although nearly all of the 

 districts are adjacent to good live towns. Social and educatioual advantages 



