46 REPORT OF STATE BOARD OF HORTICULTURE. 



REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER. 



SECOND DISTRICT. 



SECOND SEMI-ANNUAL REPORT. 



Salem, Oregon, April 9, 1900. 



To the President and Members of the State Board of Horticulture: 



Since our last annual meeting there has been a great change 

 in the prospects of the fruitgrowers of the second district. 

 At that time the greater number were discouraged and ready 

 to abandon the business. Many, indeed, thought whole 

 orchards were ruined, and a few went so far as to dig out 

 their orchards without waiting to see what the outcome would 

 be. Few had the courage to spray, plow and cultivate as if 

 a crop were to be harvested. This condition was not without 

 good reason in many cases. Some were confronted with 

 mortgages and interest, without any means of meeting their 

 obligations, and in not a few instances men were compelled 

 to leave their orchards and seek outside employment in order 

 to provide a living for themselves and families. Under such 

 conditions, it was very hard to secure co-operation of the 

 growers in an effort to care properly for their orchards. The 

 clouds have rolled by, however, and the sky is clearing, in 

 view of the fine prospects of a good crop this season. 



With the anticipation of a good yield, growers are again 

 becoming interested in the question of spraying, with the 

 hope of saving their fruit and preserving the health and vigor 

 of their trees. To this end information is constantly being 

 sought in regard to the best methods of spraying, remedies, 

 kind of apparatus, etc. Such inquiries have been answered 

 with the best information we were able to secure on the sub- 

 ject. Numerous inquiries have been received relative to the 

 best plan for building an evaporator. To such questions we 

 reply by advising those who intend to build to examine the 

 different styles of evaporators, and learn their respective 

 merits through those who have used them. 



Fruit trees were in demand this season, and, in consequence 

 of the higher prices to be obtained, some nurserymen seem 

 to have been a little careless in allowing poor stock to be sent 



