14 FIELD OPERATIONS OF THE BUREAU OF SOILS, 1912. 



development has extended southward along the White Salmon River, 

 where the lands, although heavily timbered, were fairly moist and 

 could be made to produce heavy yields of the common forage crops. 

 As fruit growing increased in the Hood River Valley and proved to 

 be highly profitable, residents and newcomers in the White Salmon 

 River Valley followed the example of their neighbors across the river, 

 and this led to the clearing of areas on the timbered slopes and the 

 crests of the lower ridges. 



Aside from the change from stock raising to the growing of fruits, 

 there has been no great variation in the type of agriculture in these 

 sections. The different fruits have, as a rule, given regular j-ields, 

 and, as a result, the principal development of agriculture in these 

 valleys has been toward the production of fruit. So pronounced has 

 been this tendency that at present much of the farm produce used in 

 these valleys is shipped into the area. 



With minor exceptions no attention has been paid to the adapta- 

 tion of crops to the various types of soil, and only when the conditions 

 were absolutely prohibitive of tree growth has there been any hesi- 

 tation about the planting of some variety of deciduous fruit. Under 

 such a system crop rotation is absolutely out of the question, except- 

 ing such changes as may be made from time to time in the crops 

 grown between the rows of fruit trees. 



The labor problem is a matter of concern to the growers only 

 during the picking season, as the plantmg, cultivating, and spraying 

 calls for but few men and the demand is easily met by the usual 

 itinerant workers. In occasional years, when the climatic conditions 

 are such that strawberries ripen suddenly, it is sometimes difficult 

 to secure pickers to save the crop, but in the fall the apple-picking 

 season lasts thi-ough several weeks and the supply of help is usually 

 ample. 



The wage of an ordinary farm hand, m this section, is from $35 

 to $40 a month and board, or $50 a month without board. Berry 

 pickers are paid by the box, and a day's pay will run from $2 to $4, 

 depending upon the efforts of the laborer. During the apple- 

 picking season the pickers receive $2.50 a day and board. 



Land holdings in this area vary from tracts of 5 acres to several 

 hundred acres, the latter commonly being held by individuals or 

 companies engaged in the development of large orchard tracts. 

 In the developed sections of the valley 40 acres constitute a large 

 farm, and the greater number of the orchards are in 10 to 40 acre 

 tracts. In the undeveloped portions of the area a greater number 

 of the holdings were origmally quarter section homesteads, and a 

 large proportion of the original entrymen have disposed of theii' 

 holdings either to lumbermen or to real estate operators and develop- 



