22 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS ' CONVENTION. 



a good proportion of yellow Newtown pippins and Bartlett pears. Un- 

 fortunately, as usually happens when horticulture is in the experi- 

 mental stage in a new district, many varieties were set which later 

 proved not to be good commercial kinds, although yielding good crops. 

 At that time there were many small family orchards scattered through 

 the valley, affording a demonstration of what varieties were best 

 adapted to the soil and conditions. A favorite among the early settlers, 

 and found everywhere throughout the valley, was the Esopus Spitzen- 

 burg. Prior to the advent of the railroad, there were practically no 

 fruit pests. The codling moth did not make its appearance until about 

 1890. closely followed by the San Jose scale. With the scale, those 

 thrifty old family orchards became a matter of history. No effort was 

 made to save them, and for a time even the commercial orchards seemed 

 to be doomed. When the first salt-lime-and-sulphur formula was intro- 

 duced, even applied with the crude man-power sprayers then on the 

 market, it was apparent that science had triumphed over the pest. When 

 gasoline power was used, and the first gasoline engine used for this pur- 

 pose was equipped and used in a Rogue River apple orchard, very effect- 

 ive work was done in spraying, and each year has seen an advance in 

 methods and a wonderful growth in acreage of orchards in the valley, 

 until to-day there are no less than fifty thousand acres of apples and 

 pears planted and approaching maturity in the valley. 



To-day the major portion of the apple trees planted each year in this 

 district are of the yellow Newtown and Spitzenburg varieties. Since 

 the first shipments were made directly from the grower to the dis- 

 tributing firms in London, the English trade has shown a decided pref- 

 erence for the Newtowns from this valley, and since the year 1900, when 

 the grower first came in direct touch with the market here, the price 

 has been uniformly good, car consignments frequently averaging three 

 dollars per fifty-pound box, free on cars at shipping station. Until 

 within three years there was the same effort made by the grower to excel 

 in size of individual Newtown Pippins that still distinguishes the 

 demands of the American red apple trade. It became evident, however, 

 that the more conservative Englishman finds the four-tier, or 128 to the 

 box. size more to his liking than the abnormally large apples, and that 

 is the type most sought for at present. The tree is hardy, vigorous, 

 and very productive in this section, and the smaller sizes being most in 

 demand, the labor and expense of thinning the fruit of this variety is 

 reduced to the minimum. The tree is allowed to bear to the limit, and 

 in case of an unusually dry summer, if water is available, two moderate 

 irrigatings are given the trees. Irrigation is not here considered essen- 

 tial, and yet all concede that it adds immensely to the yield of all apple 

 trees, especially those over fifteen years of age. It will be resorted to 

 much more in future than in the past, for as yet the bulk of the 

 orchards in the valley are young. 



Oregon prides herself especially upon her 1 1 red " ' apples. And yet the 

 best of all the red apples, and the one best adapted to Oregon conditions, 

 the Spitzenburg, has not proven nearly so profitable as the Newtown in 

 the orchards of southern Oregon. Nor can it adapt itself so well to all 

 soils, ranging from the volcanic ash to the black adobe, in all of which 

 the Newtown thrives. When the conditions of soil are just right for 

 the Spitzenburg. however, that blend of alluvium or sediment soil with 



