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BETTER FRUIT 



April, 1922 



Growing- Apples in Willamette Valley 



Bi/B. N. Johnson 



Manager Oregon Apple Orchard Company, Monroe, Oregon 



Ul' IN OUR section the natives long 

 were prone to regard me as 3. 

 "nut." They said I was crazy in 

 head and that my associates had more 

 money than brains if we thought we couiJ 

 raise fruit on those "squirrel lands;" that 

 those red hill ranches were oniy fit for 

 goat pasture. 



During the past couple of years some of 

 them are changing their tunc, however. 

 They have seen the fruit we are growing 

 and some of them now say, "1 always said 

 them red hills are the best fruit soil in th,- 

 world." I quite agree with them. 



My observation leads me to the belief 

 there are too many "doctors, lawyers, 

 merchants, thieves," engaged in the busi- 

 ness and not enough real honest-to-goadness 

 fruit growers. It would be a good thing 

 for the industry if a lot of them could be 

 piohibited by law from further activity 

 in '*■- o-ame. 



We should not lose sight of the fact that 

 raising apples is a highly specialized in- 

 dustry. Given the soil and climate neces- 

 sary, production of the high grade apple 

 is, to an extent, dependent on the attitud;' 

 of mind of the grower. It is a mistake iv 

 attempt to grow corn and hogs, run a dairy, 

 raise grain and 57 other varieties of farm 

 products, along with raising apples. ' ' 

 you want to diversify, diversify with fruit. 

 If you are going to stay in the game, -aise 

 fruit exclusively. Specialize on size and 

 quality. 



A man with an apple orchard of fivj 

 acres or less invites disaster. A 1 0-acre 

 unit should be the minimum for app'es. 

 Twenty acres would be better, and I am 

 inclined to the belief that 30 or +0 acres 

 of tree fruits — probably somewhat divei- 

 sified — woul'd be still better. 



Another thing — apple raising is not a 

 poar man's game. The trees should be 

 pruned and sprayed and tilled each year, 

 whether you have a crop or not. It is a 

 dangerous undertaking to attempt develop- 

 ment of an orchard unless one has the 

 means or an income sufficient to defray the 

 expenses of development up to the time 

 the orchard comes into profitable produ'. 

 tion. This means 9 or 10 years in the 

 Willamette Valley for an apple orchard, 

 and at a cost of $5 00 an acre in good 

 American money. 



Ten or 1 5 years ago we were handed a 

 lot of bunk about being able to bring an 

 orchard into profitable bearing in six year', 

 at a cost of from $15 to $200 an acre. 

 It can not be done. That is why a lot of 

 growers have become discouraged. 



As a general proposition, I maintain that 

 apples of size and quality can be grown in 

 the Willamette Valley at a profit. Too 

 much care can not be excercised in selec- 

 tion of the land for an orchard. Before 



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I Here are presented salient features | 



\ of a meaty practical fafer read | 



I before the annual meeting of the | 



I Oregon State Horticultural Society, | 



I /; is a matter of some regret | 



I that other excellent fomts touched \ 



I upon by Mr. Johnson can not be | 



i given sface here. Frotn his ex- | 



I feriences, for instance, he has come | 



I to be a strong advocate of early -pick- | 



I ing and shipping. His faper quoted | 



I at length from other authorities by | 



I way of driving home the value or | 



I almost ruthless thinning. It is im ■ | 



I portant, in reading of results he | 



I mentions, to have in mind the fact | 



I that most orchards in irrigated sec- | 



I tions have nearly twice as many trees | 



I to the acre as do the Willamette \ 



I Valley orchards. | 



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we planted ours we had several thousand 

 acres under option and before the purchase 

 of any land we had it examined, bored and 

 tested by a soil expert from the agricultural 

 college— Professor H. D. Scudder. We 

 followed his recommendations in the pur- 

 chase and subsequent planting of the land, 

 and since then have been impressed with 

 the wisdom of this course. 



I can not give the growers any hard and 

 fast rules to follow that will insure the 

 raising of good fruit. Each grower has 

 his individual problem. Soil conditions and 

 pruning methods vary. Uniform orchard 

 practices are not followed. 



DURING the past four years we have 

 experienced little difficulty in develop- 

 ing size, color and quality. This required 

 attention to five important details — prun- 

 ing, spraying, fertilization, tillage and 

 thinning — with emphasis on the last two, 

 tillage and thinning. 



Without plenty of light and air, apples 

 will not set well nor color properly. 

 Hence it is important that trees be kept 

 open by means of intelligent pruning. 



We follow the spraying program as out- 

 lined by the specialists at Oregon Agricul- 

 tural College. Most of our spraying is 

 done with outfits using 300 pounds pres- 

 sure or better, and at the proper time. We 

 applied seven sprays during the past season. 

 Our warehouse foreman informs me that 

 our culls did not exceed three per cent of 

 the crop. 



Cover crops and artificial fertilizers, 

 preferably both, must be systematically 

 used if best results are to be obtained. 

 Plowing, two double discings and two or 

 more kimballings or harrowings constitute 



a minimum tillage program. Years when 

 plowing is omitted, a third double discing 

 mieht be added with good results. 



At Monroe we do not follow any hard 

 and fast rule in thinning. While six inches 

 is a general gauge to follow, the variet". 

 the condition of the individ"-' * - - " 



as the set "f fniir. 3— '1 factors to '—' 

 one in thinning operations. During o 

 thinning season we had as high as 75 per- 

 sons working, at a cost -'" ''''^22.64. 



Always take off the undersized fruits, 

 regardless of their position on the tree, is 

 one safe rule to follow. If an apple is 

 perceptibly small at thinning time it is 

 almost certain to be in the five-tier class at 

 packing time. Thin early, thin thoroughly 

 and always thin off the doubles and the 

 little ones. 



We took off easily 75 per cent of our 

 Ortleys last season, and yet many of the 

 trees were overloaded. Always thin heavily 

 on Jonathans and Grimes. These varieties 

 tend to grow small and the trade does not 

 want the small ones. While 10 per cent of 

 175s and smaller will usually be accepted, 

 many orders received by us last -season 

 provided for 163s and larger, no five-tier 

 stock being wanted. 



W7E HAD one block of 60 acres of 

 » ' apples which show a net profit 

 of $75 to $100 an acre for the season. 

 It is planted to Kings, Spys, Newtowns and 

 Ortleys. It produced between 12,000 and 

 15,000 boxes of fruit. On this particular 

 section the tillage was $5.20 an acre; spray- 

 ing $17.95 an acre, including cost of spray 

 materia's; pruning, $16.25 an acre, and 

 thinning, approximately $12 an acre. 



Including overhead and miscellaneous 

 expenses, the cost of producing a crop on 

 this section will run about $60 an acre. We 

 estimate the tree-to-car expense at 60 to 65 

 cents per box. Based on a crop of four 

 boxes to the tree, or 200 boxes an acre, at 

 60 cents per box, we hace a tree-to-car 

 expense of $120 an acre and a production 

 cost of $60 an acre, making a total of $180 

 an acre, or 90 cents a box, for allgrades and 

 varieties. 



Cost of production, including physical 

 handling, should not exceed $1 per box, 

 and ought to be kept down to 75 cents per 

 box as production increases. 



In this connection I would stroTigly 

 advise more attention to the production of 

 apples of size and quality. If it is going to 

 cjst 75 cents to $1 per box to get our apples 

 grown and loaded on cars, no financial 

 expert is required to show us that we are 

 losing money on nearly every box of C 

 grade or five-tier apples we ship. In my 

 judgment, the best thing that could happen 

 the industry here would be the definite 



