APPENDIX. 193 



warmer climate of Rogue River makes it a less desirable climate for the 

 I)roduction of the Italian prune than the TImpqua or Willamette valleys. 

 The Italian prune seems to require the cool and moist climate, such as pre- 

 vails in the valleys of Western Oregon during the summer, in oi-der to reach 

 perfection. In these localities, where planted on deep, well-drained soil, 

 the trees thrive well and the production of fruit is enormous. The prune 

 best adapted to the Rogue River Valley is the French prune. The warmer 

 climate of this valley brings this fruit to a higher state of perfection than 

 the cooler and more moist conditions existing further north. 



BASIS OF SUCCESSFUL PRUNE CULTURE. 



The permanent cost of production of fii-st-class fruit is the economic basis 

 of successfiil prune growing. If the Italian prune is required in large quan- 

 tities to meet the food demand of the people of the United States, and can be 

 produced, the industry will thrive und'?r skillful direction. The present 

 value of the choice prune land in Oregon ready for planting is about $;")() per 

 acre, the cost of trees and caring for orchard for seven years will add $T.j 

 per acre, so that a choice prune orchard at eight years, the beginning of 

 good bearing, will be about $125 per acre. 



An eight-year-old tree should produce at least thirty pounds of dried 

 l)roduct that should bring three cents per pound. The cost of gathering and 

 drying prunes in Tulare County, California, where the total product brings 

 the growers nearly $500,000 per year, averages between $15 and $17 per 

 ton. The cost in the Santa Clara Valley is given at $12 to $15 per ton. It 

 has generally been conceded that the cost of evaporating in Oregon was 

 much in excess of this ; but careful accounts, by competent men, show that 

 the cost will vary from one-half to three-quarters of a cent per pound. This 

 makes the expense no greater than in California. 



The cost of production, then, and preparing for market will range from 

 one cent to one and one-half cents per pound. Thirty pounds of dried 

 prunes, at a profit of one and one-half cents per pound, would give forty-five 

 cents per tree profit, and, with ninety trees to the acre, this would give an 

 average profit of $40 per acre. A prune orchard that will not, on an average, 

 bring these results, has either in its inception or management improper 

 conditions. 



In order to maintain a successful and substantial condition of the industry, 

 the grower must, through organizations for marketing, seek to give his 

 product to the consumer at the lowest cost of marketing. It must become 

 his duty now to find the cheapest and best method of marketing his fruit. 

 The present method of marketing is awkward and expensive, and the great 

 task now for the fruit men of Oregon is to develop associations for marketing 

 their fruit. 

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