REPORTS OF W. K. NEWELL 



President of Board and Commissioner at Larc/e. 



APRIL MEETING, 1911. 



Gaston, Oregon, April 1, 1911. 

 To the Honorable the State Board of Horticulture: 



It is impossible at the present time to make any reliable 

 predictions as to the fruit crop of the Coming season, as you 

 well know, but the indications are good. Conditions so far 

 have been favorable in most all cases; the trees ripened their 

 wood well and went into the winter in good condition, and there 

 has been no excessive cold to do injury. While we have had 

 a few heavy frosts that have perhaps injured some of the 

 very early fruits such as early strawberries, the great bulk 

 of the crop was not sufficiently advanced to be injured at that 

 time. 



Nearly all fruit trees are carrying a good supply of strong- 

 looking buds and, barring extremely unfavorable weather, 

 will set a good crop. It is hardly to be expected that the trees 

 which bore the wonderful crop of last year will repeat the 

 Performance again this season, but from present appearances 

 even these trees will have a reasonable supply of fruit. With 

 the increased acreage which will come into bearing this sea- 

 son for the first time the total crop of the State should be 

 considerably in advance of that of any previous year. 



Colorado is confidently expecting a bumper crop this year, 

 as her crop of last season was very short, and our sister 

 states of Washington and Idaho are also looking for good 

 yields. Considerable preparation has been made at Eugene, 

 Roseburg and in the Rogue River Valley for fighting frost 

 by means of smudge pots filled with fuel oil, and it is hoped 

 that the tests will be sufficiently extensive and accurate to 

 afford definite Information lipon this subject, in case it becomes 

 necessary to use them at all. 



Some progress has been made in the matter of perfecting 

 f ruit-growers' organizations ; many local unions have been 

 formed and will be ready for business the Coming season. 

 While at the present writing it seems improbable that the 

 scheme for a central selling agency for the entire northwest 



