FORTY-FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT. 93 



not be like those of New York, but they are often the same men, and 

 even if they are not, they are human. 



With the great and growing apple industry of Michigan, now 7,534,000 

 trees of bearing age and 2,253,000 trees of nonbearing age, she must not 

 only create a market for her apples but she must gain and maintain 

 the confidence of the consumer, the public. 



The things we must consider are: (1) Are all fruit growers and fruit 

 packers following the Sulzer law? If they are not then there must be 

 some law whereby every man will either pack only good fruit or else will 

 brand the fruit package according to its contents. (2) If Michigan 

 apples are to receive the just amount of credit due them, the package 

 bearing the fruit must be made to stand for good fruit. This can be 

 done only by a suitable state law such as the state of New York has — 

 I mean the New York apple packing law. 



RAISING BARTLETT PEARS IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST. 



BY KRIS P. BBMIS^ EAST LANSING^ MICH. 



(Third Prize.) 



Mr, Chairman, Members of the Michigan Horticultural Society, Ladies 

 and Gentlemen : 



The topic, "Raising Bartlett Pears in the Pacific Northwest," natur- 

 ally brings before the mind a series of questions, as, ''What do you mean 

 by the Pacific NorthAvest?" ''How are Bartlett pears grown and handled 

 there?" "How and Avhere are they marketed?" and "Are they a profitable 

 crop for the average orchardist?" 



To begin with the first question, the region known as the Pacific North- 

 west is composed of Oregon, Washington, the panhandle of Idaho and 

 the western part of Montana. The greatest commercial centers are con- 

 centrated in four valleys of Washington and Oregon, and so far as Bart- 

 lett pears are concerned, in two, namely, the Rogue River valley of 

 Oregon and the Yakima Valley of Central Washington. While, owing 

 to the fame of its splendid ap])les and peaches, the i»ear industry is not 

 first in the Yakima valley as it is along the Rogue River, still on ac- 

 count of the greater size of the region we will concern ourselves with 

 the Yakima pear as typical of the northwest. 



The whole of the Yakima valley is composed of rich volcanic ash soil 

 from one to forty feet deep, and all of uniform quality. This means that 

 ill the places of greatest depth one could dig a hole deep enough to bury 

 the average dwelling house, and the soil from the bottom of the hole 

 would be just as friable, loose and fertile as that from the first three 

 inches of the top. Naturally enough, Bartlett pear trees smile all over 

 at this kind of soil, and when they feel the irrigation water tickling 

 their roots they grow a pear for every tickle. 



About three-quarters of the orchard owners of this district belong 

 to a fruit growers' exchange, of which there are two in the valley, both 

 operating in connection with the big Pacific Fruit Distributors of 



