220 Appendix. 



thirty miles, covering tliousands of acres of ttiese lands, whiich are now being 

 brought into cultivation. I have repeatedly visited these regions, especially along 

 Snake River, and seen the transformation of a desert into an oasis. Hundreds 

 of acres had been sown to alfalfa, with surprising success, with an average 

 yield of seven tons of liay per acre for the season. On one of these ranches 

 is an orchard covering two hundred acres planted to peaches, apples, pears, 

 and prunes, now in full bearing, in a most perfect condition, both as to health, 

 vigor, luxuriance of foliage, and bearing capacity. It is almost beyond belief 

 what water, under the control of intelligent endeavor, will produce on these 

 soils. The alfalfa is fed to hogs, calves, and steers for the markets, thus bring- 

 ing in a ready cash revenue to meet expenses, while the orchard is slowly but 

 surely growing into a revenue producing fact. Along these benches is room 

 for thousands of happy and contented homes, amid plenty to eat and drink, and 

 pure, invigorating health-giving air to breathe. Finer fruits and melons are not 

 grown anywhere than right here. Grapes measuring ten inches to the bunch, 

 with berries as large as marbles ; in fact the bunch of grapes which won the 

 gold medal at the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago was grown near 

 Snake River. 



The beautiful Grand Ronde, Wallowa, Burnt River, Powder River, Eagle 

 Creek, and numerous smaller valleys scattered throughout these higher plateaus, 

 and Blue Mountains, as well as the Hood River Valley, along the Columbia 

 River, and which do not depend on irrigation, are most fertile spots for the 

 fruitgrower, especially the rolling foothills. Perhaps nowhere do apples, pears, 

 cherries, and prunes grow to greater perfection as to size, flavor, and color, 

 than in these valleys. A paper was recently read at a Farm rs' Institute held 

 at LaGrande, in which the writer said: "At Cove (the garden spot of the 

 Grand Ronde Valley) and here at LaGrande, instances have been reported and 

 verified where over five hundred dollars have been received for the product of 

 a single acre of Jacunda strawberries, while there is no place under the sun where 

 red raspberries do better than here." H considers the apple, pear, and cherry 

 the mf>st profitable fruits for that locality. The ft-uits grown there, on ac- 

 count of the high elevation and climatic influences, have peculiar keeping qual- 

 ities ; the cherries, owing to the absence of rain in the ripening season, do not 

 crack open, ana by reason of so much sunshine color highly, come into market 

 late and consequently always bring remunerative prices. The Hood River valley 

 and foothills have become especially famous for their apples and strawberries, 

 and many acres are gradually planted into orchards. The soil of this valley 

 seems peculiarly adapted to the production of large, sound, highly-colored apples 

 of fine flavor and long keeping qualities. It is the boast of the applegrowers 

 of that district to produce nothing but first-class fruit, by thorough care of 

 trees and fruit, and succeeding in this, they receive the highest prices for their 

 fruit. The Hood River apple crop for 1903 amounted to 50,000 boxes of 40 

 pounds per box. which sold at an average price of $1.2.5 per box ; while last fall the 

 whole crop of Spitzenburgh apples was sold under contract at $2, and Yellow 

 Newtown Pippin apples at $1.80 per box,, f. o. b. at picking time. It is es- 

 timated that not one-tenth of the available ground adapted to apple growing is 

 planted. The Hood River strawberry yield for 1903 was about ninety thou- 

 sand 24-pound crates, and sold at $150,000 in i-ound figures. The average 

 yield per acre is from one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred and fifty 

 crates, while frequently some especially favorably located plantation produces 

 from three hundred to even five hundred crates per acre. These strawberries are 

 shipped in refrigerator cars and find a market in ^Montana, Wyoming. Kansas. 

 Nebraska. Iowa, the Dakotas, and Manitoba, while the apples are generally 

 shipped to England, France and Germany. 



Southern Oregon, with its decomposed granite soils, as found in the Rogue 

 River and I'mpqua Valeys, offers the same advantages for horticulture, and at 

 no distant day will be a veritable paradise for the fruitgrower. Its soils are 

 naturally very rcih in all the plant foods necessary to produce excellent fruit. 



