Report of Commissioner Fourth District. 37 



Apricots of large size and excellent flavor are produced in ever- 

 increasing quantities. Quinces, too, are largely produced, while 

 grapes grow luxuriantly on the south and east exposures of our 

 more hilly soils. Not to exceed 5 per cent of the available area 

 suitable to fruit culture tributary to The Dalles is at this time de- 

 voted to this industry. 



The approximate value of the entire fruit crop of the Fourth 

 District this season is $500,000. 



Other sections of this District will soon be heard from as pro- 

 ducers of large quantities of various kinds of fruits. Much of the 

 arid land along the south bank of the Columbia River is only 

 awaiting the magic touch of irrigation to be turned from its pres- 

 ent desert state into a broad oasis producing bounteously most 

 luscious peaches, grapes, and other varieties of fruit. 



Efforts now being made at Trrigon, IMorrow County, are ample 

 evidence that with sufficient moisture, artificially administered, 

 these lands will yield abundantly. 



Much valuable fruit land in this district now remains unde- 

 veloped from lack of transportation facilities, but the several rail- 

 roads now building, and others contemplated, Avill be a great in- 

 centive to the development of the industry in many favorable 

 sections. 



In the year 1905, Avhen thousands of our transcontinental cousins 

 will visit our fair State to take a look at the Lewis and Clark Ex- 

 position in Portland, the acknowledged hub of the Pacific North- 

 west, special efforts should be made by the fruitgrowers to produce 

 a crop of unexcelled quality to fully demonstrate to our visitors 

 the superior advantages possessed by Oregon and the Pacific 

 Northwest in the lines of horticulture for the production of the 

 greatest variety of high-grade fruit in the temperate zone. 

 Respectfully submitted, 



R. H. Weber, 

 Commissioner Fourth District. 



