40 Report of State Board of Horticulture. 



business as well as many others, but the majority are eager to learn 

 everything obtainable in the way of ciilture, varieties, pruning, and 

 packing and shipping commercial fruit. In every instance I have 

 found that the more the business developed in one locality, the 

 more profitable it proved for all interested. For instance, if a 

 given place has 20 carloads of one variety of fruit, the growers 

 can always obtain better prices than a place having only one car- 

 load to market. More buyers are in the field. Their methods of 

 picking, grading, and packing are all on a higher scale. The com- 

 mercial grower does not and need not fear competition in his busi- 

 ness. Even an over-supply for a season or two should not discour- 

 age him, provided his location is good for raising a high grade of 

 fruit. It induces men to build canneries, evaporators and cold 

 storage plants, which greatly benefit, as off years will come in the 

 business, and a small local market can never expect to have such 

 accessories to the business. 



IRRIGATED LANDS. 



Umatilla, INIalheur, and Harney Counties contain large tracts of 

 arid lands which are now coming onto the market. Some of it is al- 

 ready covered by large ditches, which furnish water for irrigation. 

 ]\[uch more will be. It is hard to believe the possibilities of this 

 land without having seen results. It is to me one of the most as- 

 tonishing things in nature to witness the white arid sagebrush land, 

 and adjoining it to see fields green with tons of alfalfa, acres of 

 melons, tomatoes, and orchards loaded wnth fruit. 



The climate is all that could be desired during the growing sea- 

 son. The question of water is under control of the grower. Rains 

 do not interrupt him or miiii liis hay after it is cut or rot or crack 

 his fruit. 



The Umatilla project contemplates directing water from the Uma- 

 tilla River below the city of Pendleton and taking it westerly to 

 the region of Butter Creek, where a number of shallow depressions 

 can be converted into stronger reservoirs. By building long, low 

 earthen banks of the reservoirs thus made, the water can be con- 

 ducted onto the arid laud. The lands to be irrigated are undulating 

 in character, and are accessible to the markets. 



INIalheur and the Owyhee Rivers rise in the mountainous regions 

 of the eastern part of Oregon, and flow in generally eastern 



