654 



THE IERIGATION AGE. 



been in full bearing for over thirty years and has never 

 failed to produce a crop. In 1907 a part of the Snowy 

 Butte Orchard, containing sixteen and a half acres of 1,200 

 Winter Xelis pear trees, grown by F. H. Hopkins, pro- 

 duced $19,000 net, f. o. b. Medford. The crop on these 

 same trees in 1909 sold for $17,000 net. Mr. Dillon Hill, 

 who has a fifty acre pear orchard, says: "I could sell 

 Bartletts at fifty cents a box and still make money.'' But 

 Bartletts do not sell for fifty cents a box; they average 

 from $2.00 to $2. "'5 per box. 



Yellow Newtown Pippins, the Best Selling Apple Raised 

 in Oregon. 



For many years New York orchards have been famous 

 for their apples. So have the orchards of Missouri, West 

 Virginia, Colorado and other states. The eastern apple 

 grower learned his business from the accumulated exper- 

 ience of a hundred years or more. Yet during the last 

 few years these eastern growers have crossed the con- 

 tinent to inspect young orchards that were half hidden 

 among the fir-clad Oregon hills, to find out why a New 

 York buyer preferred to pay a bigger price for a bushel 

 of Oregon apples than for a barrel raised by his neighbor 

 at home. The average price New York fruit men have 

 been paying for our Hood River apples during the past 

 three years has been $2.50 per box, with $3.65 as the top 

 price. As a standard size apple box holds about a bushel, 

 this is at the rate of $7.50 to $10.95 per barrel. 



The Oregon grower has this advantage. His apples 

 are sold, as a rule, several months before they are picked. 

 There are no long waits or tidings of fruit that arrived in 

 bad condition. The New York dealer, not the grower, takes 

 chances of sale. The grower jingles the money in his 

 pocket as soon as the fruit is delivered at the depot. 



On July 23, 1910, George Rae of the firm of Rae & 

 Hatfield, wholesale fruit men of New York, opened the 

 buying season by taking the entire crop of Sears & Por- 

 ter and August Paasch of Hood River. The combined out- 

 put will be about 30,000 boxes. On September 1st of this 

 year, Mr. Joseph Steinhardt of Steinhardt & Kelly of New 

 York, concluded one of the biggest purchases of fancy 

 apples on record. He cleaned up the entire fancy pack of 

 the Hood River Fruit Growers' Union, which will amount 

 to between 250,000 and 300,000 boxes or over 400 car- 

 loads. This includes many thousand boxes of Spitzen- 

 bergs and Newtons, beside Jonathans, Ortleys. Arkansas 

 Blacks, Winter Bananas and" other varieties. Where ap- 

 ples are contracted so far in advance the prices are not 

 given out. When I asked one of the growers about profits 



this year, he said they were entirely satisfactory and 

 showed his teeth just as he did the year he realized $3.65 

 per box. The Davidson Fruit Company has also con- 

 cluded the purchase of the entire crop of the Mosier Hills 

 Orchards, which amounts to 12,000 boxes. 



Sears & Porter have the largest full bearing orchard at 

 Hood River. The records taken from their books show 

 the average net earnings extending over a period of eight 

 years are above $800 per acre. The actual earnings from 

 a three and a half acre tract of Newton Pippin apples in 

 this orchard consisting of 346 trees ujanted in 1896, are 

 $24,000. This is not including the present year crop. It 

 can be seen this is better than an average of $857.14 an 

 acre from the fifth year or when the trees began bearing, 

 or it is an average of almost $528 an acre since the trees 

 were planted. 



As a rule, a man can make bigger profits on a small 

 orchard from three to ten acres, because he can give it 

 more careful attention. Mr. E. H. Shepard of Hood 

 River received gross returns of $2,240.35 from 160 trees 

 of apples on one and a third acres. After paying all ex- 

 penses his net profits were $1,400 or more than $900 per 

 acre. Ludwig Struck picked 1929 boxes c I first-grade and 

 400 boxes of second-grade apples from his orchard of less 

 than three acres. He received a total of $4,258. B. R. 

 Tucker, who owns an apple orchard of three acres, accord- 

 ing to records shows that in 1906 he received for his ap- 

 ples $2,184.19. In 1907 he received $4,320.30. In 1908 he 

 received $2,367.29. Similar records from the orchard of 

 James Lacey, who owns three acres, show that in 1906 

 he received $1,764.20 for his crop; in 1907, $3,801.36; in 

 1908, $2,493.41; in 1909, $2,367.71. This was for first-class 

 fruit. In addition to these returns, Mr. Lacey received 

 several hundred dollars for second-grade fruit. 



The profits on apples in other parts of the state hold a 

 very high average. The Williamette, Umpqua and Rogue 

 River, as well as smaller valleys tributary to the coast 

 region, the Powder and Grand Ronde Valleys in the north- 

 eastern part, the Mosier Hills and other sections along 

 the Columbia River, ail contain very profitable apple or- 

 chards. 



The best marketable varieties of apples grown in Ore- 

 gon are the Yellow Newton Pippins and the Spitzenbergs. 

 Jonathans, Arkansas Blacks, Baldwins, Ben Davis, North- 

 ern Spies, Ortleys, Winter Bananas, Russets and others 

 are also raised. The varieties of pears that thrive best are 

 Bartletts, Doyenne du Cornice, Winter Nelis, Beurre Bosc, 

 Beurre de Anjou and Howell. 



Packing Apples Ready For Shipment at Hood River, Oregon. 



The largest orchard in the Northwest is that of the 

 Western Oregon Orchard Company in the Rogue River 

 Valley. The tract contains 1,700 acres of which 1,120 

 have been planted mostly to apples an'' icars. The com- 

 pany is handling the orchard by the most up-to-date meth- 

 ods. The plan of this company is a stock proposition, 

 a share of stock representing one-half acre. The amount 

 of fruit that this orchard will produce when in full bear- 



