TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL MEETING. 129 



grow just as good apples as can be grown anywhere in the 

 world. Now where does the trouble lie ; with you or the 

 fruit? In Hood River we used to hear this same "I can't," 

 and "it does not pay.'' and "the prices will not stay up," but 

 those people did not last long. Eastern people who had seen 

 the fruit in the market and saw the possibilities of raising 

 good fruit came in and bought out the dead ones, and have 

 made the country what it is. Had the possibilities here been 

 shown them you would probably have the most of them here 

 now, and you may yet when they find out what they have 

 left behind. I had to answer a good many inquiries from 

 eastern people when I got back to Hood River. An editor 

 of one of our papers refused to publish an article I wrote in 

 regard to the good qualities of the eastern apples. He is 

 going to make himself believe that Hood River is the only 

 spot in the world that will grow apples. The secret of the 

 success of the apple industry in Hood River is organization 

 of the growers. The Hood River Apple Growers' Union has 

 as its members at least ninety per cent of the growers of the 

 vallew The association handles the packing and shipping of 

 the fruit. No grower is allowed to pack his own fruit, so 

 by using these methods the grade of fruit put out by the 

 Union is the same. We also have laws requiring the grow- 

 ers to spray their trees, also not allowing any wormy or dis- 

 eased fruit being offered for sale, so one reason that the 

 fruit is what it is is simply because the grower is forced to 

 take care of his orchard and fruit whether he wants to or 

 not. Then another is that the price of orchard land is so 

 high that a grower if he makes a success of the business and 

 makes any money on his investment has got to use all the 

 methods used in apple culture in order to pay out on his in- 

 vestment. Here in Xew England apple growing is sort of 

 a side issue with most growers. The trees are planted, and 

 that is about all that is done with them, except to harvest 

 the crop when the trees come into bearing. You ask a 

 grower if he sprays his trees and fruit. He says no, as he 

 doesn't believe there is anything in it. He figures what the 



