TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL MEETING. 135 



A Me^iber: I would like to ask the g-entleman abut 

 the value of the apple lands out there, and as to whether you 

 have to use irrigation to make them productive? 



Mr. Castner : In some sections of the country we do, 

 but in Hood River you do not need an\- irrigation. Some sec- 

 tions require water and some do not. You take in Yakima, 

 and there they irrigate heavily. There is only one time of 

 the year when we have to irrigate. As you all know, there 

 comes a time in the summer when the trees take up moisture 

 faster than at other times, and that is the time from the tenth 

 to the fifeenth of July. That is the time that the core of the 

 apples, together with the seeds, is farmed. Then if it is dry 

 with us, we run the water on three or four times, and stir the 

 soil with the cultivators and harrows. That is all the irriga- 

 tion w^e give. I have been in Yakima, and they have got some 

 very fine apple land there, but that land brings from $1,000 

 to $1,500 per acre. They figure that they can keep it in ap- 

 ples for from twelve to fifteen years, and get their money out 

 of it. 



A Member: Is there much of a rainfall there? 



Mr. Castner: There is at the regular time of the year 

 for it. We do not get any rain to amount to anything from 

 April to September. In some sections of the valley they will 

 get a little during that time, but not much of anything". In 

 some sections it will require a little irrigation, and in other 

 sections it won't require any at all. 



A Member: Do you thin your fruit? 



Mr. Castner : Yes sir, we do. Now about this thin- 

 ning proposition, I think we were the first to take it up. Ev- 

 er}- man that can ought to thin his own apples. I have never 

 found \et the hired man that could do it. We thin so that 

 they are not closer together than every six or seven inches. 

 W'e do not allow them to be cjoser than eight inches if we can 

 •help it. 



A Member : How many times do you go over the trees? 



Mr. Castner : Twice. The first time is right after the 

 first dropping, and then we wait until we know which is the 



