144 THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



advantage here. That it is a wonderful fruit country there 

 is no question, and while I was duly impressed with much I 

 saw there, I came back more than ever convinced that the 

 eastern fruit grower has as great, if not greater, opportuni- 

 ties at his own door. 



I visited three typical sections in this Northwest fruit 

 belt, — Kelowna, in the Okanagan district of British Colum- 

 bia ; Hood River, Oregon, the oldest and most famous of all ; 

 and Wenatchee, Washington, already a close rival. 



At Kelowna, while there was an older section of limited 

 extent developed, some seven years old, the main portion of 

 the region was still raw prairie, bemg sectioned off in ten and 

 twenty acre plots, with irrigation ditches in the process of de- 

 velopment. It was most interesting to see raw prairie land 

 transformed from a worthless tract to fruit land selling 

 anywhere from two hundred and fifty to five hundred dollars 

 an acre, by the simple addition of water, brought from a 

 distance of ten miles. In Kelowna, as in other fruit sections 

 of the Northwest, the area where fruit can be grown is limit- 

 ed, the valleys and not the hills being utilized, as fruit can be 

 grown only where water can be applied. The soil of volcanic 

 ash, which we in the East have come to regard as possessing 

 some magic composition, looks barren and unpromising enough 

 before water is let on. Alkaline patches are sometimes in 

 evidence, but a sufficient application of water will wash it out. 

 We would call the soil a rather light, sandy loam. W^ater 

 changes it to a darker and richer color. There is no question 

 as to its productiveness and ease of manipulation ; its porosity 

 is such that the moisture will diffuse evenly and quickly and 

 not become stagnant. Being a new country, insects and 

 fungous pests are not yet abundant, though the coddling moth 

 has to be fought quite strenuously. Jonathan, Northern Spy, 

 Spitzenberg, Yellow Newtown, and Ben Davis are the varie- 

 ties most grown. The cool nights and the bright sunshine 

 give a finish to the product which we of, the East will find it 

 hard to equal. The prairie towns are their markets for second 



