182 Appendix. 



and very rich. local Indian tribes explain how this came to be. According to 

 their tradition, this whole country was once a vast level plain, with soil of mar- 

 velous fertility. Never were such crops produced in the whole world as here. It 

 was the Beulah land of the red man. When the Indians heard that the white man 

 was coming westward and would surely find and claim their garden spot, they 

 were very sad. Finally they went busily to work and scraped all of the precious, 

 fertile soil into huge heaps preparatory to carrying it away where the white man 

 could not find it. But the white man came before they could do this, and the 

 soil has been in piles ever since. The more matter-of-fact geolog'st claims that 

 these hills were mostly formed by the wind ; liut be that as it may, their re- 

 markable richness is beyond dispute. The soil is mostly a basaltic ash unmixed 

 with sand or gravel. It holds water very tenaciously. Practically no rain falls be- 

 tween .Tuly .-md October, yet the soil holds enough moisture from the rainfall of 

 winter and spring to ripen crops perfectly. In the famous wheat section of the 

 Palouse Country, yields of 50 to 60 bushels of wheat per acre on unfertilized land 

 are common. The virgin soil is covered with native "bunch-grass," growing in 

 little clumps, which makes excellent pasturage. 



The Inland Uplands are distinctively a grain and grazing country. There is 

 a growing tendency, however, to supplement grain and cattle with orcharding. 

 The immense wheat farms, sometimes of several thousand acres, .-ire beginning ti> 

 be diversified with dairying and fruit. Although the yield of wheat per acre is; 

 very large compared with other wheat sections, the prices are often very unsat- 

 isfactory and the farmers find it profitable to have other interests beside wheat. 

 It should be understood, however, that the commercial fruit-growing of the Inland 

 TTplands is, for the most part, but one spoke in the wheel of diversified farming, 

 and is not usually the chief industry of a whole district, as in the Inland Valleys. 

 The commercial fruit-growing of this region is confined mainly to the grow- 

 ing of winter apples and pears. Peaches and sweet cherries are not hardy here 

 except in favored spots, and the season is too short to ripen prunes and grapes 

 satisfactorily, except in a few places. Plums do finely, but there is little demand 

 for them since prunes carry to market so much better. Sour cherries are a won- 

 der, particularly Ostheime. which is far superior to Morello and Montmorency 

 here. I believe that one of the horticultural developments of this region will be 

 the growing of sour cherries to can and evaporate for Oriental and Alaskan trade. 

 The culture of winter applies will, however, predominate. Early apples grow 

 equally well, but there is little market for them at present. The rather scanty 

 rainfall, the short season and the high percentage of bright weather in summer, 

 gives the apples of this region a color, flavor and keeping quality which is equaled 

 in few other parts of the country. Scab, codling moth and other troubles are 

 not serious here, and probably never will be very serious, on account of the 

 peculiar climatic conditions. On these uplands, fruit trees come into bearing 

 very early. With most varieties a full crop of apples is usually expected four 

 years from planting. While this upland fruit is not as large and sometimes has 

 not the vivid color of the Inland Valley fruit, it keeps better and is usually con- 

 sidered of somewhat superior quality. This applies to peai's also, but pear blight 

 has wrought such havoc of late years that interest in pear-growing is at low ebb. 



It may be said in review that the chief line of development In the horticulture 

 of the Inland Uplands will probably be the culture of winter apples and winter 

 pears, and that fruit-growing in this region will be associated usually with grain 

 and stock farming. 



IV. A COMPAEISOX OF Cl'LTrUAI- PROBLEMS IN NORTHWESTERN FKC IT-GROWING. 



(1.) Tillaoe. In the Coast Region, where the rainfall is heavy and the soils 

 unusually rich in humus, there is less need of tilling orchards for the conservation 

 of moisture than in the dryer inland sections. Sweet cherries are usually left in 

 sod, and a large proportion of the smaller apple orchards are in sod. Prunes are 

 commonly tilled. Even under these conditions, which are especially favorable 

 lor the neglect of tillage, it is usually found that tilled orchards are far more prof- 



