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Report of State Board of Horticulture, 



KEPORT OF COMMISSIONER FIFTH DISTRICT. 



Cove, Oregon, September 30, 1904. 

 To the President of the State Board of Horticulture— 



The following is a brief report of the work done in the Fifth 

 District during the biennial term ending September 30, 1904: 



My district comprises the counties of Uma- 

 tilla, Union, Wallowa, Baker, Grant, ]\Ial- 

 heur, and Harney. 



For one to give a good and true report of 

 a country so diversified is no easy task. 



The territory is a difficult one to cover, 

 many parts of it being somewhat isolated and 

 necessitating long drives over a mountainous 

 country. Nor can I always time my visits so 

 as to see a county when inspection ^vill do the 

 most good. 



Places, like people, are sometimes at their best, and all look fair 

 and bounteous; again, adverse conditions may rule for a time, and 

 one would hardly recognize it as the same place. 



THE HOME orchard. 



For convenience, I would divide the orchards in my District into 

 two classes— the home orchard and the commercial orchard. Of 

 course, there are 50 growers of the home orchard to one of the 

 other, and I would gladly give them a greater share of my time, 

 but it is almost impossible for one man with limited means to work 

 so fast. Nevertheless, I wish they were more numerous. It indi- 

 cates a move in the right direction in any community where a gen- 

 eral interest is taken in horticulture as directed in beautifying and 

 improving the homes. It is a fascinating branch of home-building. 

 and I doubt very much if there is a better or truer indication of the 

 life within the home than the one we may read from people's door- 

 yards and gardens. 



