116 REPORT OF STATE BOARD OF HORTICULTURE. 



THE APPLE AS A COMMERCIAL FRUIT. 



Speaking of apples so continually referred to by all consuls 

 and dealers from every foreign port, we stand head and 

 shoulders above our neighbors as producers of fine apples. 

 Oregon has acquired the sobriquet of "The Land of Red Ap- 

 ples," and justly so, ever since that healthy fruit was first 

 introduced by Mr. Luelling in the early forties. 



While apples are grown to perfection all over our state, yet 

 certain sections are better adapted for apple culture than 

 others. In our Willamette Valley apples grow everywhere 

 in great profusion, but they have not the keeping qualities of 

 those raised either in Southern or Eastern Oregon, though 

 equally fine flavored and highly colored. Apple trees stand- 

 ing on my own grounds near Portland and planted nearly 

 fifty years ago — Baldwins, Spitzenbergs, Fall Pippins, Gloria 

 Mundi, and Bellefleur — bear as fine fruit to day as they ever 

 did. 



The total acreage planted to apples at present in Oregon is 

 about sixteen thousand five hundred acres, but now that it 

 has become apparent that the apple is the commercial fruit, 

 many new plantings are being made, notably in Southern 

 Oregon, Hood River Valley, and the higher plateau regions 

 of Eastern Oregon, Avhere apples can be grown to perfection 

 commercially. 



My observation at the Columbian Exposition, held at Chi- 

 cago in 1893, and more recently at the Trans-Mississippi Ex- 

 position at Omaha, led me to the conclusion that the apple is 

 the commercial fruit par excellence of the whole Avorld as a 

 fresh fruit, followed by our fine prunes as an evaporated 

 product. We only need to keep track of production and con- 

 sumption to become convinced soon that such is the case, as 

 people become more educated, or civilized, so to speak, if you 

 will allow me to use such a terse expression, the more the}" 

 learn that fruit, especially apples, is the best food for man. 



In 1896 America had one of the largest ajDple crops up to 

 that time, and the cry came from every quarter " over pro- 

 duction ;" yet this year's crop, which is equally as large, if 

 not larger, finds that prices are very firm — apples which sold 

 in 1896 at New York at seventy-five cents per barrel are 

 quoted this day at $1.50 per barrel, and the market in Oregon 

 is very fi rm in sympathy with these conditions. First-class 

 four-tier apples are now selling at from eighty-five cents to 

 $1.25 per box, for shipment east and to Europe, and in a 

 short time will reach a higher figure. 



