TOBEY'S TR.<IVELS 



Leaving the fertile Puyallup Valley vie drove to Vancouver and then along the 

 northern mountainous bank of the Colmnbia River to "laTiite Salmon^, Washington and 

 then to the adjacent town of Hood River in Oregon, Both Vilhite Salmon and Hood 

 River are noted fruit growing areas. Hood River is of particular interest to a 

 pomologist as it is one of the oldest fruit sections in the Northwest. The 

 priiicipal tree fruits grown here are apples, pears, and cherries. Quantities of 

 strawberries are produced in this area in fields varying from less than an acre 

 to tliose of five acres or more in size. 



The particular apple varieties grown here are Yellow Newtown, Spitzenberg, 

 Red and Golden Delicious, Ortley, Winter Banana, Arkansas Black, Jonathan and 

 Gravenstein, Some of the trees are fifty to sixty years of age. The severe freeze 

 of '19-' 20 caused severe damage to hundreds of acres of trees planted on the lov;er 

 elevations. This resulted in an important shift to pears. At present about one- 

 fourth of the pears produced in Oregon are grown in the Hood River Valley, The 

 principal varieties are Bartlett, Anjou, and Bosc. 



Leaving the Hood River Valley and Iviajestic Moimt Hood, our next objective was 

 to visit Ifj. Moses Adams, an elderly New Englander who is nm a prominent peach and 

 nut grcn,ver in Salem, Oregon, 



Three years ago i/ir, Adams wrote to the Pomology Department at the University 

 of Massachusetts suggesting that, in his opinion, walnuts could be grown in 

 New England, Subsequently, he sent to the Pomology Department several seedlings 

 from a Hanchurian walnut tree which he had obtained about 1926. These seedlings 

 are thriving at the present time. One superior seedling from this Manchurian tree 

 has been named Adams and is now in the custody of the Department of Horticulture at 

 Oregon State College, 



A considerable volxime of walnuts and filberts are grown in Oregon. ITiether or 

 not walnuts can be grovm successfully in Massachusetts remains to be seen. 



The prune industry is of major importance in Oregon. Twenty-five thousand 

 acres of prunes are grown in the Willamette Valley alone. Practically all of the 

 prunes grovm are of the Italian variety. 



According to Dr, Hartman, Head of the Department of Horticulture at Oregon 

 State College, the fruit industry of the Northwest started with the early settlers 

 in tiie V/illamette Valley who sold their fruit to the U9ers in California receiving 

 as much as forty dollars per bushel for their spples. Ihis stimulated interest in 

 fruit gro\'ri.ng first in the Hood River Valley and then in Vifenatchee and Yakima. 

 Later, California began to grow its own fruit. This fact, together with the develop- 

 ment of other producing areas, resulted in a decline in apple growing in the 

 >/illamette Valley. 



In Oregon as in Massachusetts and other sections of the country generally there 

 has been a marked decline in the number of students specializing in Pomology, This 

 trend definitely indicates the probability of a scarcity of trained Pomologists in 

 the immediate future. 



— 0, C, Roberts 



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