HORTICULTURAL PRACTICES IN OREGON 129 



there. The fact that a great section of Oregon and the Northwest 

 states are subject to wet winters and dry summers makes it necessary 

 to so cultivate as to conserve this moisture for summer use. A fair 

 estimate as to the number of cultivations necessary is about ten, if an 

 oi-chard is to be kept to the best of condition. Observation of two 

 orchards side by side, clearly shows up the value of this cultivation. 

 I had occasion to observe it this last summer. The fact also that in 

 the one case too, the pruning had been neglected, emphasized the 

 point more plainly. I do not believe it necessary to tell you how 

 they go about it to obtain the dust mulch necessary to prevent exces- 

 sive evaporation. You perhaps, know the tools better than I do. 

 Cover crops are employed extensively and also quite a bit of inter- 

 cropping — berries and small fruits being put in, particularly the 

 loganberry and strawberry. When it comes to harvesting of the fruit, 

 the orchardist would have his pickers get the idea that every indi- 

 vidual apple is alive, that it must be handled in that light and that 

 rough handling is going to shorten the life of that apple. The results 

 of their system of harvesting is shown in some of the light colored 

 apples, as the Artley, Winter Banana, and apples of that type upon 

 which the slightest bruise shows. When you go through a box of Ort- 

 leys and find every one without a mark, you can then see that they 

 try to hold to the idea I have mentioned. The orchardist as a rule 

 still holds to the 10 to 12 quart galvanized pail as being the best type 

 of picking receptacle. Perhaps the picking sacks or some other type of 

 patent picker is used in some cases. With these, however, it is quite 

 possible to obtain just the opposite results than expected. The tripod 

 ladder also is becoming a favorite, being top heavy above twelve feet. 

 Most fruit can be reacched from that height of ladder however. Care- 

 ful grading and packing must follow careful picking. The last two 

 are now quite frequently taken care of by the associations. To a 

 person who grades and packs his own apples, an injury may look 

 awfully small, so small that he hates to throw it out, especially since 

 the apple is his own. This idea alone has led to much of the asso- 

 ciation grading and packing in order to keep the grades up to standard. 

 I do not mean that the orchardists haul their fruit to the association 

 packing houses, and that it is there graded and packed. At Hood 

 river, for example, the grading and packing is done by men who are 

 licensed by the association to do such work. These men usually 

 work in squads of four and it is in the orchardists own packing house 

 that they do their work. Each box is marked by the packer — the 

 marks showing the number of apples, the grade and the name or 

 number of the packer. Thus they may have a line on every packer 

 and should he fail to pack or follow the association rulings, his 

 license to pack in that association is withdrawn. Better packages are 

 without doubt the result. Community interest and co-operation has 

 benefitted greatly the fruit interests of the Northwest. For instance 

 consider the Rogue River valley in southern Oregon — pear growing 



