•REPORT OF STATE BOARD OF HORTICULTURE. 31 



HORTICULTURAL TEXTBOOK. 



According to custom, and agreeable with your instructions, 

 I have compiled, edited, and read the proofs of our iifth bien- 

 nial report, now ready for distribution. In the absence of any 

 horticultural literature specially adapted to our various soils 

 and climatic conditions, I concluded to make this report a 

 "horticultural textbook," so to speak, so that any novice, or 

 one already engaged in fruitgrowing, could find all he wislied 

 to know about any particular fruit, soils best adapted for their 

 production, and sections most favorable to successful results; 

 also insects and fungous diseases, and how to combat them, 

 as well as a comprehensive spray calendar, as to how to spray, 

 when to spray, why to spray, and what to spray for, so that 

 there is no good reason for an}" one interested in horticulture 

 to make mistakes. For this purpose I have, for the past two 

 years, gathered material ; hence the articles in the appendix, 

 which are from the pens of our most advanced and successful 

 fruitgrowers, and, based upon practical experiences — not the- 

 ories merely — are most valuable, and implicit reliance can b6 

 placed in them. I spent over nine weeks with the State 

 Printer, editing, compiling, and proofreading every galley-. 

 I feel that I have carried out your ideas faithfully, and, judg- 

 ing from the many flattering editorial notices, satisfactorily. 



NEW LAW BENEFICIAL. 



What spare time I had at my disposal I spent in orchard 

 inspection, and am gratified to state that much pruning and 

 spraying has been done, and the click of the spray pump is 

 heard in all directions. The new law, known as the "Morton 

 Law," which makes it a misdemeanor to disregard notification 

 to spray, had almost beneficial effect in my district, notably 

 among smaller growers and home places near Portland, which 

 were difficult to reach heretofore. I know of places, the 

 owners of which had positively refused heretofore to do any- 

 thing, which have been pruned and sprayed since the passage 

 of that law, the owners not waiting to be notified to do so-. 

 Yet some aggressive work is now necessary, especially against 

 old dilapidated apple orchards which are still to be found in 

 many sections. These will either have to be thoroughly 

 pruned and sprayed, or, better still, dug up bodily and burned, 

 as most varieties are worthless and unmarketable at best. 

 With this point in view I have thus far notified twenty-nine 

 owners of orchards to prune and spray within thirty days 

 under the law. 



