Report of State Board of Horticulture. 65 



the fall and continued until late spring. This applies to ship- 

 ments from without the state, no account of shipments from 

 nurseries from within the state being kept, but we know it to 

 be very large however. It was of almost daily occurrence for 

 this office to be notified of shipments in transit to all parts of 

 the state. 



Shipments for this season have begun to arrive, and up to 

 tliis time — November 10, 1902, — some half dozen states east 

 of the Mississippi have contributed very largely. 



FAME OF OREGON FRUIT. 



The excellence of our fruits which were on exhibition at 

 Chicago, Omaha, and Buffalo fairs, have added very much to 

 our fame as a fruit-growing state. It is no unusual thing at 

 this day to have people come into our office and say that the 

 principal thing that attracted them at these fairs was oui" 

 fruit exliibit at Chicago and Omaha, and tliat tliey liad pledged 

 themselves that if ever opportunity offered, Oregon woukl 

 become their home. This leaven has been working for years, 

 and we come in touch with its good results every day. The 

 buyer of fancy apples for Eastern or European markets comes 

 to Oregon for his stock. It is now no uncommon thing to see 

 dealers from the Atlantic States, England, and France in our 

 markets, and the cream of our fruit crops go to those sections 

 each year. Large- sales of Oregon prunes have been made 

 this year to French buyers, who have shipped direct to their 

 country. This is an unusual feature of the prune market, 

 France usually being a competitor in the markets of the 

 world. This has been caused by the almost complete failure 

 of her prune crop, causing a deficiency of nearly fifty million 

 pounds, and the Pacific Coast will be called upon to largely 

 make up this shortage. 



FRUIT REPORTS. 



Following my predecessor in the matter of securing fruit 

 reports, in June and August of 1901 and 1902, I addressed 

 letters of inquiry to prominent growers over the state, and 

 the commissioners worked along similar lines in their dis- 

 tricts, and in so far as it was possible, reliable information 

 on the condition and prospects of the crop was gathered and 

 published in the daily press, and agricultural and horticul- 

 tural papers in the East. 



