24 Report of State Board of Horticulture. 



Lincoln County begins and continues to the Pacific Ocean. 

 Marion County lies north of Linn County and Polk County 

 lies north of Benton County. These counties comprise the 

 greater part of the Willamette Valley, which was the earliest 

 developed part of Oregon, and the first to develop the horti- 

 cultural side of farming; the first to grow the big red apple, 

 at which time apples and pears were grown to perfection with 

 little or no care, for the reason that there were no insect 

 pests nor fungus diseases to destroy or mar their normal 

 development. The apple orchards that came into bearing 

 first bore fruit that sold for a nominal price of $16 per box. 

 Many of these old orchards are still standing and they still 

 contain trees as sound as the sturdy oaks that grow near 

 them. I am sorry to say that many of these old orchards 

 have been neglected and have received no cars or attention 

 for years ; they have been left to grow wild, the owners 

 thinking that such trees are of little or no value. I will cite 

 one instance to show what can be done with these old trees. 

 A young man in Marion County had one of these old orchards 

 consisting of a few äcres on his farm. Rather than cut it 

 down he pruned, sprayed and cared for these trees accord- 

 ing to the best methods known to orchardists. The first 

 year after he commenced the care of these trees, he was 

 rewarded with a crop of beautiful waxen apples which netted 

 $500 per acre. 



Many inquiries have come to my desk within the past two 

 years asking for information concerning each of the par- 

 ticular counties which make up the second district, and a 

 few words at this time along the line of general information 

 may not be amiss. 



The topography of this section of the State consists mainly 

 of a large Valley through which flows from south to north 

 the Willamette River, the headwaters of which are in the 

 mountains of Lane County. This Willamette Valley — an area 

 of five million acres — is bounded on the east by the summit 

 of the Cascade Mountains, on the west by the Coast Range, 

 and contains the elevated mountains on each side with their 

 corresponding foothills, and the broader rolling lands of the 

 lower reaches extending to the banks of the Willamette River. 



The western parts of Lane County and Lincoln County lie 

 in the Coast Range and consist of mountains with their Val- 

 leys and streams which are tributary to the Pacific Ocean. 



The Willamette Valley, with its alluvial bottom lands, its 

 upner benches of gray clay loam, and its hill lands of red 

 soll gives opportunity for the successful production of many 

 varieties of fruit. The alluvial river bottom lands consist 



