66 



ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 



The Oldest Oreliara in the Yakima 

 Valley 



Since the Yakima valley. Washington, 

 on account of the quality of the soil, its 

 climate, and the immense area that is 

 capable of being cultivated to fruits, is 

 already a great fruit growing district, we 

 devote some space to a peculiar charac- 

 teristic of the soil and climate which 

 has recently been discovered. 



It has been supposed that the oldest 

 orchards in the valley were planted about 

 1875 or 1876; since about that time per- 

 manent settlements began to be made, 

 homes to be built, and family orchards 

 to be planted. At this time thei-e was no 

 thought of growing commercial fruits for 

 eastern markets, and ordinarily these or- 

 chards were selected by men without ex- 

 perience in orcharding, varieties being 

 chosen to suit the tastes of those who 

 planted them, according to their memories 

 and experiences of the orchards they had 

 known in their home states. These vari- 

 eties were often unsuited to our climatic 

 and soil conditions, were not of the best 

 commercial sorts, and therefore the old 

 orchards were not highly regarded for 

 their commercial products. These or- 

 chards, too. were planted on low lands, 

 that are not now considered the best 

 adapted to the growing of commercial 

 fruits. They were planted where they 

 would grow without irrigation, adjacent 

 to the streams or rivers, because in such 

 locations the trees would get sufficient 

 moisture by the process of sub-irrigation 

 as the water percolated through the sand 

 and gravelly soil of the alluvial bottoms. 

 At this time irrigation, had not been intro- 

 duced, and the only place that trees would 

 live was along the streams or where the 

 orchard could get the seepage from the 

 higher lands. These orchards are mostly 

 standing yet, and are vigorous and 

 healthy, some of the trees almost as lar.ge 

 as forest trees. There are pear trees that 

 are two feet in diameter and said, at this 

 writing, to be 35 years old, and apple 

 trees almost as large, but these are not 

 generally of commercial varieties. 



However, recently there has been dis- 

 covered an orchard and its history that 



settles a question that is so often asked, 

 "Will the orchards of this country live 

 to be old, and will they continue to bear 

 like some of the older orchards of the 

 eastern states?" Sometimes the question 

 Is put in another form something like 

 this, "Will an orchard after it comes into 

 bearing be a profitable investment for a 

 man in his old age, or will it be a profit- 

 able heritage to hand down to his chil- 

 dren?" 



In a general way it is known that 

 peaches, plums, apricots and almonds are 

 short-lived trees, that the Crawford peach 

 will probably live and bear profitably for 

 20 years, the Elberta 25 years, while pears 

 and apples should live and bear, provided 

 the soil conditions are right, for from 

 75 to 100 years. The statement as to the 

 long life of the apple and the pear is 

 often doubted, because many orchards 

 are known to be short-lived and observa- 

 tion leads us to the conclusion that we 

 cannot count on profitable returns from 

 an orchard more than 50 years old, and 

 many are unprofitable before they reach 

 that age. This we grant to be true, but 

 if orchards are planted in climates 

 adapted to fruit growing, in soils where 

 there is sufficient plant food, and if they 

 are given enough water, and then pro- 

 tected from insect pests and fungus dis- 

 eases: and if they are cultivated and 

 pruned, there is no reason why an orchard 

 should not profitably bear for 100 years. 

 Orchards have been planted where there 

 was not enough water and they famished 

 with thirst: we have known them planted 

 where the soil was poor and they starved; 

 we have known others killed by drouth 

 and the hot sunshine of summer: yet 

 there are orchards that live and grow and 

 bear past the 100 year period. (There 

 are orchards in Canada that are more 

 than 100 years old, orchards which are 

 yet bearing. There are orchards in New 

 England. New York and Virginia that are 

 more than 100 years old and some of them 

 in fairly vigorous health. In 1910 I saw 

 exhibited for sale in a store in Syracuse, 

 New York, apples that came from trees 

 a hundred years old. This fruit was not 

 "extra fancy." according to the standards 

 set in the Northwest for commercial fruit. 



