Report of Chas. A. Park. 21 



REPORTS OF CHAS. A. PARK 



Commissioner for Second District. 



OCTOBER MEETING, 1909. 



Salem, Oregon, October 11, 1909. 



To the Honorable State Board of Horticulture: 



I beg leave to submit this my report UDon the horticultural 

 conditions in the second district, dealing in particular with 

 that portion of Oregon known as the upper part of the Wil- 

 lamette Valley — that part south of Clackamas and Yamhill 

 counties. 



When we are in doubt as to just what topic upon which 

 to lead out, we always feel it is safe to talk about the 

 weather, so I wish to teil you that the climatic conditions dur- 

 ing the past winter and spring have not been at all favorable 

 to fruit trees and their croris. The unr)recedented cold snap 

 we exDerienced last January killed many small trees that had 

 been planted the season before, and in some few cases old 

 bearing trees were killed. I might state in passing that the 

 old trees that were killed were growing in a soil where the 

 moisture was more than normal, which kept the trees füll 

 of sap until late in the fall and the wood had not seasoned up. 



The spring opened late and dragged on slowly — cold and 

 cheerless. The pears bloomed abundantly and the fruit set 

 füll. After the pears had reached the size of half an inch 

 in diameter many feil off leaving hardly 25 per cent of a crop. 

 The apples didn't bloom with any uromise of a crop, What 

 fruit set on the apple trees stayed with us and promise to 

 give up 20 per cent of a croio. The peaches in our district 

 did well. I can report that the condition of the peach trees 

 and the crop was normal and that the peach growers have 

 enjoyed a füll crop. 



The cherries bloomed füll, but the cold, backward spring 

 thinned the crop to 50 per cent. The prunes came through 

 the season in good condition. We have a füll crop of prunes. 

 If any complaint is to be made, it is that there are too many 

 prunes on the trees, which has reduced the size. 



The interest in horticultural matters in the second dis- 

 trict has been going forward and upward. Old orchards 

 are becoming fewer and some are being made to produce 

 good crops of good fruit. The owners seem to have dis- 



