54 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 



This chart shows the average yields per acre per year for 5 

 years back of orchards that have been in sod and those that 

 have been cultivated for various periods of time. The aver- 

 age in each case is the average for the whole county. Those 

 of you who are acquainted with the fruit industry of New York 

 will recognize two of the largest fruit producing counties of 

 that state. In Niagara county the average yield per acre in 

 those orchards that have been in sod for at least 10 years was 

 194 bushels; in sod 5 years or more 197; in sod at least 3 years 

 209 ; on the other hand the yield in those orchards that have 

 been cultivated at least 3 years was 239; cultivated 5 years or 

 more 254; and cultivated 10 years or more 280. In Orleans 

 County the difference in yield was much the same, being 176, 

 204, 222, 225, 274, and 327 bushels respectively under 10, 5, and 

 3 years of sod, and 3, 5, and 10 years of cultivation. 



These results are especially significant because they arc the 

 results of experience, not experiment, — the experience of the 

 fruit growers of two large fruit producing counties. Note that 

 these "experience" figures seem to show that the beneficial ef- 

 fects of cultivation in the orchard are cumulative and that the 

 injurious effects of sod are likewise cumulative. In these 

 counties experience would seem to demonstrate that it is profit- 

 able to invest $6 in cultivation and get back the value of 86 

 bushels of fruit ( the difference between 194 and 280) in the 

 one case and 151 (the difiference between 176 and 327) in the 

 other. Again I ask, does cultivation pay? 



Within the last few years several widely separated regions 

 in the United States have become famous for the production of 

 fine fruit. For apples probably no region has become more 

 famed than Hood River, Rogue River, and Yakima Valley. I 

 have the figures showing the status of orchard cultivation in 

 only one of these districts — Rogue River.* In Jackson County 

 where that is located there are nearly 10,000 acres of orchard. 

 Over 98% of this area receives some cultiv^ation and 70% re- 

 ceives good cultivation. Only a little over 1^^% of the area is 

 totally neglected and that is mainly in the small home orchards 

 where no fruit is raised for the market. Other factors have 



*Lewis: Eul. loi.. Ore. Exp. Sta., P. 53. 



