Report of Prf:sident and Commissioner at Large. 9 



The prune is more largely cultivated in this district than any 

 other fruit, and Commissioner Newell estimates the shortage for 

 190-4 as not less than 75 per cent. Orchards situated in the hilly 

 sections of the district bore fairly well, while on the lower levels 

 the crop was practically a failure. 



In a paper read before the Farmers' Congress at Salem on June 

 iK 1902, the writer took occasion to say: "I often cast my eyes 

 longingly to the foothills and to the timbered mountain slopes and 

 benches that inclose this valley, and it requires no gift of prophecy 

 to say that eventually your most valuable apple orchards will be 

 found 500, 1,000, 2,000 feet above the valley, and from these higher 

 elevations your longest-keeping apples will come." 



Upon other occasions we have emphasized the importance of water 

 and cold air drainage, as both seek lowest levels, in selecting a site 

 for an orchard. 



Mr. Newell notes the commendable enterprise of the fruitgrowers 

 of Yamhill County, who have organized and built a cannery at 

 Springbrook to utilize their surplus. There should be more of 

 these factories manufacturing various commercial fruit products, 

 as there is nothing that concerns the grower more than the dispo- 

 sition of fruits that the market will not take at living prices. 



The commissioner gives a good account of the physical character 

 of his district, and on the whole reports the fruit industry in a 

 promising condition. 



Second District, Charles A. Park, Commissioner. 



This district includes the larger part of the Willamette Valley, 

 and we regret that his report is so brief. In this district prunes 

 and hops are the great horticultural products, the product of dried 

 fruit in 1903 amounting to 10,000.000 pounds. 



The nursery interest is also largest in this district, growing an- 

 nually more than 6,000,000 trees. 



Commissioner Park reports that Salem is the largest primary 

 hop market in the world, and that during the year 1904 there were 

 planted 16,050 acres. 



Connnissioner Park is manager of the well-known AVallace or- 

 chard, situated in Polk County, and described in Conmiissioner 

 Newell's report. We visited this orchard last September just as 

 a shipment of 65 tons of Bartlett pears had been completed, and 



