140 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



careful culture the rows of potatoes may be placed 

 near each other, though they should not be within, 

 say four feet of the newly planted trees; and thus a 

 good crop assured in ordinary seasons. Frost may 

 sometimes hurt a crop, but with irrigating facilities 

 one good crop may be practically assured ; in some 

 cases two crops might be grown in one year by 

 proper care. 



Relative to the probable outcome of a potato crop, 

 we have full and reliable statistics for almost the en- 

 tire country. By the census of 1890 it is shown that 

 the average yield of potatoes for the whole United 

 States for a period of ten years was 76.2 bushels per 

 acre per year, worth at the farm $38.34. It will be at 

 once seen that taking so long a period and so wide 

 an area as was embraced in the report, the potato 

 crop has been one of the most profitable j grown by 

 farmers. In fact, it is so now, and bids fair to so con- 

 tinue to be for some time to come. But the census 

 figures show still more. They show that the average 

 yield of potatoes in Washington for the ten years, 

 1880 to 1889 inclusive, was 117 bushels per acre, the 

 greatest given for any State or Territory. The next 

 highest yields were those of Montana, 107.4 bushels, 

 and Oregon, 100 bushels per acre. The farm value 

 of the potato crop of Washington during^that period 

 was $54.91, or $16.57 more than the average for the 

 country at large. 



In view of all the known and unknown conditions 

 affecting the queries of our correspondent, it^is Jquite 

 safe to recommend potatoes as an interculture^among 

 new orchards in the Yakima region. In fact, there is 

 no better potato region in the world than that. Next 

 to potatoes, we should recommend an investigation 

 of peanuts for the same purpose. There is just now 

 something of a peanut " boom " in various parts of 

 the country, and some allowance must be made for 

 excited imaginations among the most enthusiastic 

 advocates of peanut culture. This is, however, a 

 crop not fully tried on a large scale in the region un- 

 der review, and plantings should be experimental 

 and comparatively small at first. Cabbages are often 

 grown with good profit among orchards and can be 

 shipped long distances with satisfactory results. 



To conclude, we cannot recommend castor beans 

 as an orchard crop, but believe that with careful 

 culture any of the other crops named can be made to 

 yield reasonable profits while interfering very little 

 with the growth and early maturity of the orchard. 

 In planting any crop among orchard trees, care 

 should be taken not to encroach too much upon the 

 legitimate domain of the trees themselves. After the 

 second year it will be found that their roots have 

 reached out to a considerable distance, and if en- 

 croached upon by other crops, enough fertilizing ma- 

 terial should be applied to give both trees and other 



crops sufficient nourishment. Even if the land be 

 new and rich, both trees and other crops will be 

 found to appreciate a ration of fertilizer. 



As a further practical suggestion, to be considered 

 in connection with the foregoing, we quote the follow- 

 ing from The Ranch, published at North Yakima, 

 Washington : 



" No reason in the world why the turkey ranch will 

 not pay in this dry country. Few are the springs 

 when the rains or the dews will chill the young. In 

 summer the grasshoppers are plentiful and there is 

 an abundance of range. They can be herded like 

 sheep and driven home at night. The sage brush 

 gives shade, and when well along the young turkeys 

 can be allowed to get their drink from the irrigation 

 ditches. 1 ' 



MARKETING THE ORANGE CROP. 



BY W. C. FITZSIMMONS. 



ONE of the benefits of concentration and cooper- 

 ation in marketing crops, is shown in the case 

 of the Florida Fruit Exchange. The promiscuous 

 consigning of Florida oranges by individual growers 

 and shippers inevitably led to the glutting at times 

 of every market, thus depressing prices below the 

 point of profitable production. As a partial remedy 

 for this great evil, the Florida Fruit Exchange has 

 proven of immense advantage, not only to the men 

 who have sold their fruits through its efficient agency, 

 but the steadiness of the markets, largely brought 

 about through the action of the Exchange by its in- 

 telligent distribution of shipments to many consuming 

 centers, has resulted in better prices for all Florida 

 fruit. 



While the past season has been one of unprece- 

 dented depression in nearly all lines of business, and 

 in spite of the fact that the orange crop of Florida 

 was the largest ever grown, the Exchange prices for 

 fruit marketed through its agency were reasonably 

 satisfactory. At a late meeting of the Exchange the 

 report of the manager showed that the amount of 

 fruit handled by this agency for the season was 456,- 

 119 packages, an increase of about 25 per cent, over 

 the preceding year's business. The total gross aver- 

 age price per box for oranges was $1.75, and the net 

 price at shippers' stations was $1.02 per box. The 

 gross average price received for pineapples was 

 $4.93 per crate, and the net average was $3.16. 



Besides acting as a reasonably successful selling 

 agency, the Florida organization fought to a tri- 

 umphant finish the contest between fruit shippers 

 and the railway companies concerning an increase of 

 freight charges by the latter. The result of this con- 

 test before the Inter-state Commerce Commission 

 was a saving of about $115,000 in transportation 

 charges alone on the last season's crop. Further pro- 

 ceedings are to be had also with a view to collecting 

 from the transportation companies the excess paid 



