128 OREGON FARMER 



yield in 1911 was 3,000 boxes or an average of 3.35 boxes per tree. 

 This crop was marketed at an average of $2.30 per box; a return of 

 $7.72 per tree, or $576 per acre. 



The home garden supplies the family, but the pear crop constitutes 

 the only source of profit. One cow, three hogs, and eight stands of 

 bees are kept, the produce being utilized entirely for home consump- 

 tion. 



Two men and two teams are required to operate this farm. Only 

 one team, however, is necessary, except for a short time during the 

 busy season. The value of all live stock kept was fixed at $934. 

 The implements and machinery used, including a gas spray and an 

 electric pump, is approximately $1,000. The total capital invested 

 then is $33,934. The total expenditures for 1911 were $3,853.22, 

 which, when taken from the receipts, left a family income of $3,056. 

 This is a payment of nine per cent on the capital invested. 



As all of the work in 1911 was done by hired labor, that account 

 heads the list of expenditures, and including the cost of picking, 

 reached the sum of $1,500. The crop was packed and marketed 

 by a local association, the cost of preparing for market being 27 

 cents per box, amounting to $810; the marketing commission was 

 eight per cent, or $552.72. 



As no feed of any kind is raised it was necessary to purchase both 

 hay and grain at a cost of $328.50. Other expenses were as follows: 

 boxes $125; household $497; and miscellaneous items $40. 



Columbia Basin. 



The remaining three divisions of the state comprise what is known 

 as Eastern Oregon, and aggregate about 60,000 square miles. This 

 region consists largely of high tablelands and rolling plains, vastly 

 different from those sections of Oregon in which the farms already 

 described are located. The farms of Eastern Oregon are, therefore, 

 also, of an entirely different character, and must be described from 

 a different point of view. Wheat and stock raising are the principal 

 industries and the farms, as a general rule, are unusually large. 



The northern portion of this vast area bordering on the Columbia 

 River is principally rolling hills traversed by a few narrow valleys 

 and constitutes the Columbia Basin. Some of these valleys are 

 adapted to fruit growing, but the larger area is a stock and grain 

 district. There are two notable exceptions, however; the famous 

 Hood River Valley and the Freewater-Milton district, known the 

 country over for their fruit production. The former is located in 

 the county whose name it bears, and the latter is in Umatilla County. 

 A few other localities are also coming into prominence as fruit 

 sections. Of the 309 farms visited in the Columbia Basin, consider- 

 ably over half of that number fall within the division of over 320 acres 

 and average 2,137 acres to the farm. There are, however, many 

 farms which are much smaller but just as successful, although at 

 the present time the larger ones are most typical of the division. 



