Sketch of Fruit-Growing in Pacific Northwest. 175 



A SKETCH OF FRUIT-GROWING IN THE PACIFIC 



NORTHWEST. 



Peofessoe S. W. Fletciiee, Ithaca, N. Y. 



Commercial fruit-growing in the Pacific Northwest is mainly the development 

 of a quarter century. Dr. J. K. Cardwell, one of the pioneers, relates that in 1853 

 a few peach plums were sold in the streets of Portland, then a mere village, to a 

 clammoring and hungry crowd at five for a quarter, the smallest coin current in 

 those days. This was one of the first sales of home grown fruit in the Northwest. 

 It had been supposed that improved varieties could not be grown there. A little 

 later a few venturesome spirits planted prunes, and were surprised with large 

 yields and fine fruit. Some of these prunes sold in the early days for 25 to 30 

 cents a pound ; the growers now content themselves with 5 cents a pound. 

 Prune-growing in the Northwest has since become an industry of many thousand 

 acres, and other fruits have increased in like proportion. In scarcely a quarter 

 century the fruit area of Oregon has grown to 80,000 acres, and of Washington to 

 100,000 acres. By far the majority of these orchards are still under fifteen years 

 of age, and the orchard area is increasing from 10 to 20 per cent annually. In 

 1901 it was etimated that 2,730,000 fruit trees had been planted in the State 

 of Washington alone, during the years 1889-1901. 



Men are the makers of history in horticulture as well as in nations. The 

 whole history of northwestern fruit-growing is a record of obstacles overcome, 

 ancient prejudices set at naught, and success won by daring and energetic men. 

 Orchards now thrive where the "old-timers" said fruit could never be grown. 

 The lowlands of the Coast Region, the wind-swept uplands of the Inland prairie, 

 and the sagebrush deserts of the river basins, — all now pay tribute to the pluck 

 and energy of the northwestern fruit-grower. We in the East already know 

 something of this aggressive spirit. Already eastern markets have felt the compe- 

 tition of northwestern fruit, and the pocketbooks of eastern fruit-growers have 

 felt the impact of northwestern push. This is but the beginning of a long cam- 

 paign. These hustling northwesterners will keep right on pushing their fruits 

 into our eastern markets. They will make us look to our laurels, and to our 

 orchards. If they can force our eastern fruit-growers to adopt better culture, 

 better packing, better varieties and a ore aggressive spirit, in order to keep their 

 local markets, the competition which many eastern growers now complain of so 

 bitterly will be a help rather than a hardship. I have recently spent two years 

 in examining northwestern fruit-growing, particularly the fruit-growing of Wash- 

 ington, and shall try to give a summary of its most striking features, as seen 

 from the point of view of an eastern man. 



By the Pacific Northwest is meant the states of Oregon, Washington, and 

 lower British Columbia. The horticultural conditions in Idaho are quite similar 

 to those in Eastern Washington and Eastern Oregon, and the fruit interests of 

 that state are rapidly assuming large proportions, but they cannot be considered 

 here. Even without Idaho the area of the Pacific Northwest is still immense. 

 Oregon, with 05,274 square miles is nearly twice as large as the State of 

 New York ; Washington, with 89,180 square miles is larger than all of the New 

 England states together, and British Columbia is a vast stretch of 400,000 square 



