NURSERY AND ORCHARD CONDITIONS IN WESTERN OREGON. 427 



NURSERY AND ORCHARD CONDITIONS IN WESTERN 

 OREGON IN AUGUST, 1906. 



PROF. F. L. WASHBURN^ ST. ANTHONY PARK. 



The writer had occasion to make a hurried trip to the' Pacific 

 Coast in August of this year, and while there it occurred to him 

 that some of the conditions which existed in nurseries of the 

 northwestern Pacific Coast would interest ^linnesota nurserymen, 

 in the w^ay of comparison wnth conditions here ; hence he visited 

 a large nursery near Portland, T)regon, where he met with most 

 courteous treatment on the part of the proprietor. 



Their seedling roots they purchase for the most part in Kan- 

 sas, paying from four to five dollars per thousand for the best ap- 

 ple roots, and five dollars per thousand for pear roots. As a rule, 

 the stock is budded onto these. The peach is budded on its own 

 roots. These buds, as a rule, do well, and I saw stock one year 

 old from the bud, really representing only six months' growth, 

 over four feet high. These were apples. Some of the Italian 

 prunes, a few of them at least, were ten feet high. These are 

 cut back to make three foot trunks, and are pruned to four or five 

 limbs. Sometimes when a bud has failed to take, they resort to 

 grafting. 



Oregon nurserymen aim to sell out all their stock when one 

 year old, and they sell practically during the entire year, at least 

 during eight months. This dealer informed me that he sold quite 

 largely in the middle states, and often shipped to New York, 

 though most of his sales were in Oregon and Washington. Ap- 

 ple trees are retailed at I2j^c, and pears at 25c; cherries bring 

 about 20C. Spitzenbergs and Newtown Pippins are called for 

 mostly for planting by eastern Oregon growers, and Baldwins, 

 Northern Spy and Jonathans for western Oregon. Of cherries, 

 the Royal Ann, the Lambert and the Bing are most in evidence. 



Cultivation of nurseries stops in July, and, naturally, there 

 is absolutely nothing done for winter protection. They combat lice 

 with quassia and soap, the same commodities being used in large 

 quantities in the Oregon hop fields ; scab they fight with Bor- 

 deaux ; San Jose scale with lime and sulphur washes, fumigation 

 and the elimination of infested stock. 



The scale problem there appears to have resolved itself into 

 keeping the pest out of the nurseries and choice orchards. From 

 personal observations in various parts of western Oregon, I should 

 judge that with all their inspectors and laws they have despaired 



