26 REPORT OF STATE BOARD OF HORTICULTURE. 



the state. Jucld Geer, Commissioner. Mr. Geer has an- 

 swered, since last report, two hundred and twenty-seven 

 letters, and visited four hundred and seventy-eight orchards, 

 with an area of two thousand four hundred and seventy-six 

 acres. Fruit industry in this district rapidly increasing, and 

 orchards from six to ten years old yielding a carload to the 

 acre. Two counties in this district, Umatilla and Union, 

 produced, the year 1900, the following : 



Apples 305 carloads 



Green prunes 45 carloads 



Peaches 4 carloads 



Pears . 17 carloads 



Strawberries 11 carloads 



Evaporated prunes 40 carloads 



Cherries 5 carloads 



Blackberries 6 carloads 



Value of products not estimated, from the fact that a con- 

 siderable portion of the crop is unsold. Baker and Malheur 

 counties, in this district, were also exporters o-f fruit to a 

 considerable extent. About thirteen thousand acres in fruit 

 in the fifth district. 



The foregoing summary will give some idea of the extent 

 of the fruitgrowing industry in our state. The commissioners 

 were requested to report the amount of lands in their respect- 

 ive districts adapted to fruitgrowing, and their approxi- 

 mations, so far as they have come to hand, are as follows : 



Second district, adapted to fruit culture, four hundred and 

 thirty-five thousand acres ; now in fruit, twenty thousand 

 acres. 



Third district, one-fifth of land adapted to fruit now de- 

 voted to that purpose. 



Fourth district, large areas along Columbia River suitable 

 for grapes and peaches, one-fifth now in fruit. 



Fifth district, four hundred and fifty-six thousand acres in 

 cultivation, twenty per cent, adapted to horticultural pur- 

 suits, only three per cent, now in orchards. Large amount 

 of land not in cultivation also suitable for fruitgrowing. 



After giving the subject much study and examination, I 

 am of the opinion that only about five per cent, of land 

 suitable for fruitgrowing is now in use for that purpose, and 

 that possibly no state has a greater area adapted to liorticul- 

 tural pursuits than Oregon, No small amount of money and 

 energy has been lost from planting trees on lands unsuited 

 for the purpose, probably five per cent, of the total acreage. 

 Orchardists have been sJow to learn that only deep, well- 



