Page 6 



BETTER FRUIT 



March 



AN OREGON LOGANBERRY FIELD 



Loganberry Culture in the Willamette Valley 



By C. M. LaFoUette' Amity, Oregon 



MY experience in Loganberry culture 

 dates back seventeen years, my 

 father and I having planted the first 

 commercial patches in this state. My 

 father planted one-half acre in the 

 year of 1901 and in the following year 

 I planted seven and one-half acres on 

 my farm, where I now reside, located 

 in Wheatland, Yamhill County, Oregon. 

 This was the largest planting in the 

 state for several years. Little was 

 known of this wonderful fruit at this 

 time, having been introduced into this 

 state from California, where it was 

 propagated by Judge Logan, from whom 

 it derives its name. This berry is a 

 cross between a red raspberry and the 

 wild blackberry, oblong in shape, often- 

 times measuring one and one-fourth 

 inches long and three-fourths of an 

 inch in diameter, when grown under 

 extremely favorable conditions. The 

 color is a rich maroon to a very dark 

 red as the berry develops with age. The 

 following season after planting my 

 seven and one-half acres (sixteen 

 months later), I harvested seventeen 

 hundred and fifty crates of twenty-four 

 pounds per crate from this patch, a 

 little less than three tons per acre, 

 which is considered a very good yield 

 for the first crop. The next year I 

 picked thirty-seven hundred and fifty 

 crates from this patch, or six tons per 

 acre, which was about my average for 

 several years, or until market condi- 

 tions justified me in destroying this 

 planting. The first year my father and 

 I had some difficulty in disposing of 

 our crop. We contracted same to par- 

 ties in Portland at $1.15 per crate of 

 twenty-four pounds f.o.b. boat, the buy- 

 ers to furnish crates. After we had 

 delivered the first three days' picking 

 we received a telephone message for us 

 to come to Portland, that the berries 

 were arriving in very bad condition. 

 \Vhen we met the buyers they claimed 

 they were short-weight boxes, not full, 

 and a lot of other faults, so we weighed 

 several crates, all of them over-run 

 from one to two pounds per crate. 

 Then the buyers said, "Gentlemen, we 

 may as well acknowledge we are up 

 against it; we cannot sell them; people 

 do not know what they are and are 



slow to take hold. If you will cancel 

 the contract we will give you all we 

 have made so far." We called the deal 

 off and hired one of these men by the 

 day to handle the berries for us. He 

 canvassed the city and sold where 

 he could, and in this way we managed 

 to dispose of our first crop, although we 

 failed to get as much as the contract 

 price. Next season was a different 

 story. The Portland people, as well as 

 other people, had got a taste, with the 

 result that we didn't have enough to go 

 around. The commission men would 

 call me up by 'phone, ask my price, 

 place their orders for from fifty to two 

 hundred crates, to be shipped as soon 

 as possible, which was generally three 

 or four days later, as we had more 

 orders than berries. And so it went for 

 several seasons. We sold plants every 

 spring and presently there were a lot 

 of us raising Logans, and then we 

 raised more Logans until our market 

 got top-heavy, and you can guess the 

 result. We formed a Loganberry Union 

 at Brooks, Oregon, and tried shipping 

 East and other points to relieve our 

 local market congestion, but all with- 

 out success. This was about ten or 

 twelve years since. The Logan had 

 not developed as a commercial canning 

 berry at this time, the dried product 

 experiments still in its infancy, and the 

 juice as a commercial article unknown, 

 save by a few who choosed to stock up 

 their cellars to quench their thirst be- 

 fore the drouth struck the state. I was 

 one of the first to quit the game, had 

 English walnuts set in this berry patch, 

 so took out the berries and put in peach 

 fillers between the walnuts. Since then 

 I have planted more, and bought a small 

 patch, until I have at present about four 

 acres. We expect to plant about fifty 

 acres one year from now on a place 

 we purchased this winter in Multnomah 

 County, this state, near Fairview. This 

 berry will grow almost anywhere in 

 the Willamette Valley, Western Wash- 

 ington and California, but is especially 

 adapted to the Willamette Valley. As 

 you go farther south the climate is a 

 little too warm and dry to obtain the 

 best results, although while the Logan- 

 bery will grow on most soils, as do 



other berries, it thrives best on heavy 

 clay loam or rich river bottom sandy 

 soil. I do not recommend light sandy 

 soil for the best results. A great deal of 

 our prairie soil, where it has good 

 water drainage, is well adapted to the 

 plant, and some of the best patches we 

 have are to be found in these locations. 

 Also we have some very good patches in 

 the foothills, but as you get higher up 

 the berries are more inclined to dry out 

 in the hot summer months. The Logan- 

 berry will not thrive in cold climates. 

 When the mercury drops below ten de- 

 grees above zero the vines will perish. 

 Several years ago it reached this point 

 in this valley with the result it killed 

 all the vines above the snow level. 

 There was about one foot of snow then. 

 The best time to plant is in the spring, 

 usually during the month of April, or 

 as soon as you can get good, strong 

 plants and the soil is in proper condi- 

 tion. They may be set during May with 

 good results. The plants should be 

 from four to six inches high before 

 planting. Good plants can be secured 

 at a price from fifteen to twenty-five 

 dollars per thousand, depending on 

 supply and demand; are selling for the 

 latter figure at present. It requires six 

 hundred and eight plants set eight 

 feet each way, or seven hundred and 

 seventy-five plants set seven by eight 

 feet apart, per acre. They should be 

 set about eight feet in the rows with 

 the rows from seven to eight feet apart. 

 I believe seven feet apart for the rows 

 is equally as good, as it makes more 

 shade for the ground, also with the ad- 

 vantage of one-seventh more rows on 

 the same space. The following fall or 

 winter they should be trained up. For 

 this we use from three to four wires 

 No. 12 size. Three wires will do very 

 well, but four is much better. The bot- 

 tom wire should be about eighteen 

 inches from the ground and the top 

 wire from four to five feet, the latter 

 preferable for heavy soil. Put in good 

 anchor posts for the ends of the rows, 

 and set a post every four plants, or 

 thirty-two feet, thereafter. Always 

 plant the rows to run north and south 

 if it is practical, as it divides the sun- 

 shine to both sides of the row. In train- 

 ing the vines they should be distributed 

 equally over the wire and trained as 



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