The Apple in Oregon. 127 



porous soll. Of course, keeping qualities depend somewhat upon latitude, 

 and also upon the elevation at which they are grown." 



From somewhat extended general observations in the apple orchards 

 of Western Oregon during the past decade or more, I am convinced that 

 much of our soll is admirably suited to the apple tree. The land upon 

 which the Douglas fir thrives, when not too steep and rocky, is usually 

 well adapted to the culture of this fruit. The alluvial soils of the minor 

 Valleys when of a depth of eight-to twelve feet or more produce thrifty, 

 vigorous, long-lived trees. Some of the best old orchards in the State are 

 located upon the gentle rolling lower hill lands of Yamhill County, while 

 some of the cleanest and thriftiest of the younger generation orchards are 

 to be found on the red hill lands of Polk and Marion Counties. In the 

 selection of a site on the higher elevations, or even upon the lower hill 

 lands, care must be exercised to the end that shallow soils may be avoided. 

 Streaks, patches, or larger areas of these lands are occasionally underlaid 

 at a depth of a few feet by strata of impervious rock. Such sites are 

 wholly unfit for orchards. Only a close and thoughtful inspection of hill 

 land tracts will enable one to avoid setting trees on soil too shallow for 

 the successful growth of long-lived and fruitful trees. 



Many excellent small orchards are to be found upon the river bottom 

 lands in all parts of the Willamette Valley. While these latter sites are 

 well suited to the growth of the apple tree, it is probable that better 

 returns, horticulturally, may be obtained by the cultivation upon such 

 sites of the smaller fruits and the choicer vegetables, especially when 

 nearby markets are reasonably good. The latter crops cannot be grown 

 upon the higher lands with the same degree of success as attend their 

 culture upon the river bottoms, while with the apple there is no apparent 

 difference save, perhaps, in the degree of earliness with which the trees 

 begin to bear profitable crops. 



Generally speaking, orchards upon bottom lands will begin to bear 

 from one to three years later than those upon the higher lands. There 

 are well known instances in which trees planted upon river bottom land, 

 as a result of an abundance of water, have extended their vegetative 

 period three to four years beyond the normal period for the same varieties 

 when grown upon correspondingly good upland sites. The economics of 

 hortieulture would appear to point toward the uplands as affording the 

 more promising sites for the apple orchard, since the value of such lands 

 will not increase as fast as that of the more restricted tracts of suitable 

 river bottom soils. 



Drainage. — Having settled the matter of soil, the next important point 

 is the drainage of the site. If possible, by all means select a site that is 

 naturally well drained. It should be so drained that both an excess of 

 water and cold air can readily escape to a lower level. While the apple 

 very much dislikes a wet, soggy soil, it equally dislikes a site upon which 

 cold air may stagnate. Cold air seeks the lowest levels. It frequently 

 carries with it the frost waves that kill blossoms in the spring, or imma- 

 ture wood in the autumn. The force of this point is readily impressed 

 upon the minds of all those who drive over the gently undulating sections 

 of our Valley after nightfall in the spring or early autumn months. 

 Every hollow, especially if it be one without pronounced outlet to lower 

 levels, fills up with cold air, and as one passes from the crest to the 

 bottom and up the opposite side, the change from the cold air of the 

 bottom to the warmer strata above is as distinctly marked as the passing 

 from a warm room to the open air on a frosty morning. Such places, 

 hollows, or pockets, into which cold air may settle and remain with little 

 or no motion, are death traps, not alone for the apple, but for fruit trees 

 in general. Though the soils in such places may be good and deep and 

 water drainage of the best, yet is the site deficient in one of the most 



