50 Report of State Board of Horticulture. 



REPORT OF JUDD GEER 



Commissioner for the Fifth District. 



Cove, Oregon, November 19, 1912. 



To the Honorable State Board of Horticulture: 



Herewith I have the honor to present to you my semi-annual 

 report. I am pleased to report that in the fifth district this 

 season was fully 90 per cent of a füll crop, and the quality 

 above the average. Though the apple market has not been as 

 brisk as usual at this time of year, there is no reason why the 

 growers should not get fair prices for good quality stock. 



The past season was peculiar, in that we had few warm 

 nights, which I believe accounts to a great extent for the light 

 ravages of the codling moth. There are fewer wormy apples 

 this season than for several past years. Fire blight made its 

 appearance this year in the worst form I have ever seen it, but 

 the county courts are taking a great interest, and doing all 

 they can to assist the county inspectors and myself to clean it 

 up. The Union County inspector will start next week with 

 two assistants and cover the entire county, pruning the blight 

 out. So, I believe, we will put a pretty thorough check to it. 



The cherry crop was first-class. The black cherries were 

 shipped fresh, while the Royal Anns were practically all sold 

 in bulk to be made into maraschino cherries, at from $65 to 

 $80 per ton. 



While the prune crop was not up to the average in some 

 parts of the district, yet as a whole, was good, and the growers 

 got good prices. About half the crop was dried and the rest 

 shipped fresh. 



There have been hundreds of thousands of trees planted in 

 the fifth district in the past three or four years, but to get at 

 the actual number or acreage planted I find an utter impossi- 

 bility. The varieties planted have been mostly apples and 

 cherries, though the demand for prune trees is increasing. 



