118 REPORT OF STATE BOARD OF HORTICULTURE. 



" What plant we in the apple tree ? 

 Sweets from a hundred flowery springs 

 To load the May wind's restless wings, 

 When from the orchard row he pours 

 Its fragrance through the open doors ; 

 A world of blossoms for the bee, 

 Flowers for the sick girl's silent room, 

 For the glad infant sprigs of bloom. 

 We plant with the apple tree." 



This healthful fruit has only recently received proper 

 recognition in a commercial way in Oregon since we learned 

 that apples grow to such perfection as to size, color, palata- 

 bleness, quantity and long-keeping qualities, making it an 

 extra fine article, not alone for home consumption, but for 

 export trade. 



In Oregon the planter cannot only find the localities best 

 suited to the difi'erent varieties of fruit, but in addition has 

 his choice as to climate. He may select Eastern Oregon 

 with its extreme seasons, the arid lands of this vast inland 

 empire, located east of the Cascade Range of mountains, 

 especially along the canyons and flat areas of the Snake 

 River, which were heretofore considered only fit to grow sage- 

 brush and greasewood, and the home of the jackrabbit and 

 toad, has proved wonderfully fertile under irrigation, and 

 under the management of progressive and up-to-date fruit- 

 growers. The beautiful valleys that lie scattered throughout 

 the higher plateaus and Blue Mountains, as well as the now 

 famous Hood River Valley, along the Columbia River, and 

 which do not depend upon irrigation, are most fertile spots 

 for the fruitgrower ; perhaps nowhere do apples grow to 

 greater perfection as to size, flavor and color than in these 

 valleys. 



Southern Oregon tempts him with its enchanting valleys, 

 clear skies and balmy air. The decomposed granite soils, as 

 found in the Rogue River and the Umpqua valleys, ofi'er the 

 same advantages to the horticulturist. The commercial apple 

 orchards in this section, Avhicli embrace from one hundred to 

 one hundred and sixty acres, ship their apples mostly to 

 England and German}^, where they have found a sympathetic 

 market at good figures. 



Then there is our own Willamette Valley of two hundred 

 miles or more in length, with equable climate throughout the 

 year, which does, and always did, grow fine apples. True, 

 they have not the keeping qualities, owing to our humid cli- 

 mate, of those raised in the more dry localities and higher 

 altitudes. But for size, color and flavor they are not excelled 

 anywhere. Apple-growing is no longer an experiment in 



