IN 



spring, and the land kept harrowed or cultivated until July, and then 

 down to clover. The fruit should be better than the year before, but not 

 until the third year should the trees be expected to bear heavily and the 

 orchard to be in good condition." 



VARIETIES RECOMMENDED. 



A list of varieties recommended is contained in Bulletin No. 20, and a 

 repetition here is, therefore, considered unnecessary. 



Professor S. W. Fletcher, lately of the Washington Agricultural College, 

 Pullman, and now of Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y., in a pamphlet 

 entitled " A Sketch of Fruit-growing in the Pacific North- West," concludes 

 with the following remarks: 



" THE DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF NORTH-WESTERN FRUIT-GROWING. 



" It seems to me that there are five distinctive features of North- Western 

 fruit-growing. Eastern fruit-growers may consider each of these with profit : 



" (1.) It places emphasis on high culture. I believe that North-Western 

 orchards are, as a rule, tilled better, pruned better, and sprayed more thor- 

 oughly than most of the orchards in the Atlantic States. There is a special 

 reason for this. The markets for North- Western fruit-growers are mostly 

 distant, not near by, as in the East. They have found by dear experience 

 that it will pay to ship long distances only the best of fruit ; and the best fruit 

 can be grown only under the best culture. Poor fruit, or even medium 

 grade fruit, will not pay the freight. 



" (2.) It emphasises the importance of careful grading and tasty packing. 

 When freight rates are 60 per cent, of the selling price, there is little use in 

 shipping poorly packed fruit. North-W T estern fruit-growers have found that 

 the way their fruit is graded and packed is fully as important as its quality. 

 Hence they pay especial attention to securing neat packages, attractive 

 labels, fancy wrapping paper, and aim to have absolute uniformity in the 

 size and quality of the fruit in each package. Many of our Eastern fruit- 

 growers are distressingly lax on this vital point of attractive, uniform and 

 conscientious packing. North-Western fruit-growers pack well because it 

 pays well to do so ; Eastern fruit-growers can reap the same liberal reward 

 if they choose. 



"'(3.) It emphasises sectional horticulture. The difference in horticul- 

 tural methods between the various regions of the North- West is so marked 

 that the fruit-grower very quickly recognises the impossibility of having 

 uniformity in orchard practice. He learns to consider his own farm as 

 unique, and tries to work out a system of his own. To a greater or less 

 extent this is true of every fruit-growing region. There is special need that 

 the fact of the individuality of farms be more generally recognised in the 

 East as well as in the West. 



" (4.) It is reaching out for the markets of the world. North- Western 

 fruit-growers are selling their fine Italian prunes in Europe right under the 

 noses of unwilling Frenchmen, who have prunes of their own to sell. They 

 are shipping apples to Hamburg and to Hong Kong. They are bidding for 

 the fruit trade of the 400 million Chinese, the 40 million Japanese, and the 



