44 REPORT OF STATE BOARD OF HORTICULTURE. 



the soil is of the proper kind, as to richness, texture and drain- 

 age, it matters little whether your orchard is in the valley or 

 on the hill, provided that in the valley you are not in an un- 

 duly frosty locality, or on the hill in too windy or exposed a 

 location. As regards the prune, the hill orchards are rather 

 more sure of a crop — they suffer less injury from spring 

 frosts; but the valley orchards, when not injured. in the 

 spring, produce the heaviest crops and the largest sizes of 

 fruit. The northern slopes of the hills are undoubtedly the 

 best for prunes and cherries, as their fault is early blooming, 

 and being on the north tends to hold them back a little in the 

 spring, and also, in case of a frost, they do not catch the early 

 sun, have a chance to thaw out more gradually, and are thus 

 often saved where blooms on the south or southestern slope 

 are ruined. With apples and pears, they being later bloom- 

 ers and more hardy, I can not see that it makes any difference. 



Grapes should always be on a southern or southwestern 

 slope, with a valley or at least a ravine below them where 

 the cold air can settle at night. It is better also not to plant 

 quite to the top of the hill. During the growing, and espe- 

 cially the ripening season, the grape in this climate needs all 

 the heat it can possibly get, and the object is to so plant on the 

 southwest slope that they will get the full strength of the 

 afternoon sun. 



The Puget Sound Country annually imports several car- 

 loads of New York or Ohio Concord grapes. Now Oregon 

 can and does produce just as fine a Concord grape as New 

 York or Ohio can possibly boast of, and there is no reason 

 why we should not supply all that Puget Sound and British 

 Columbia demand. There is even a demand for Concord 

 grapes in San Francisco, and no doubt a good trade could be 

 worked up for them there, as they do not thrive in California. 

 There is an expanding market for all our fruits. China, 

 Siberia, Alaska and the Philippines will take our prunes and 

 apples in unlimited quantities once they are thoroughly in- 

 troduced and trade relations established. Travelers tell us 

 that the Russians in Manchuria and Siberia take very kindly 

 to our prunes and will, in time, consume immense quantities 

 of them. 



There is another line of fruit culture that must be devel- 

 oped, and that is the growth of berries and small fruits for 

 canning and preserving purposes. No country on the face of 

 the earth can produce finer strawberries, blackberries, rasp- 



