102 Report of State Board of Horticulture. 



REPORT OF COMMISSIONER SECOND DISTRICT. 



To the President and Memhers of the State Board of Horti- 

 culture : 



I herewith submit my biennial report for the term ending in 

 the year 1906. The Second Horticultural District of the State 

 of Oregon comprises the counties of Marion, Linn, Lane, Polk^ 

 Benton, and Lincoln, the most of which is located in the Wil- 

 lamette Valley. 



The orchards are numerous and small, the most of which 

 are old and have been neglected ; young orchards present an 

 entirely different appearance from the pioneer orchards. 



The work during the past two years has been to clean up 

 the old orchards and instill in the owners of them the idea 

 that fruit may be grown in the Willamette Valley with 

 greater profit than most any other produce they may raise, 

 consequently there has been more pruning and spraying of 

 these old orchards in the past two years than there has been 

 in the twenty years preceding. 



The county inspectors for the various counties have organ- 

 ized county fruit associations and have held many beneficial 

 meetings in various parts of their respective counties. 



Intelligent fruit growers in other parts of the State have 

 demonstrated that the apples grown in Oregon can not be 

 surpassed, and in their respective communities the price of 

 land has been greatly enhanced by reason of the handsome 

 returns they receive from their crops. 



We of the Willamette Valley have dem.onstrated that, using 

 the same degree of intelligence in growing fruit and prepar- 

 ing the same for market, we can present to the consumer 

 fruit which is equal to any that is grown in the State. 



I think that the Willamette Valley olfers better inducements 

 to those wishing to go into the fruit-growing business than 

 any other part of Oregon ; we have sufficient moisture so that 

 irrigation is unnecessary; the wind velocity is low, and thus. 



