PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS ' CONVENTION. • 23 



the wash from the foothills, on which was produced the car lot of 

 Spitzenburgs which in November last won the capital prize at the Spo- 

 kane apple show, no other district on earth can surpass the Rogue River 

 Valley in its production. The orchard which this year won for its 

 owner the crown of an "Apple King," has produced car after car of 

 just as fine apples in the past, but awaited the sagacity of the man who 

 knows and the man who had the enterprise to enter the contest to win 

 plaudits from ocean to ocean. Through the medium of the writer, the 

 present owners purchased this orchard in 1906, men entirely without 

 experience in horticulture, and it is sufficient to say that they have 

 deserved all the success they have obtained in winning this world's 

 prize, for they have applied good, hard business sense to the manage- 

 ment of their orchard, and there is no better in the best district in the 

 Northwest. 



The close student of the markets knows that in the immediate future 

 other varieties of apples will be planted largely in the Rogue River 

 Valley, although to-day even the residents find it difficult to procure the 

 Rome Beauties, the White Winter Pearmains. Yellow Bellefleurs. Jona- 

 thans, and Ortley Pippins, which once filled their cellars for winter 

 supply. Of these, the Rome Beauty and the Ortley will unquestion- 

 ably be planted in a commercial way. on account of their uniformly 

 high quality and productiveness. The Jonathan and the Stayman 

 Winesap will also divide honors with the Spitzenburg for both are pro- 

 ductive, very precocious in bearing, and much hardier than the Spitz. 

 It is even predicted that in certain locations in a few years blocks of 

 Ben Davis will be set, for that old standby is holding its own in pro- 

 ductiveness, and with all its inferior quality, there are orchards in the 

 Rogue River Valley of this fruit which are almost as good yielders in 

 dollars as the choicer fruits. 



In setting an apple orchard in this valley it is the uniform practice 

 to use yearling nursery stock, and many prefer the medium sizes to the 

 overgrown stock which was once in greatest demand. It is preferable 

 to set on land which has been in cultivation for some years, and many 

 of the most flourishing young orchards are growing on land which had 

 been ** farmed to death" in the days of wheat production. While the 

 apple itself is a shallow-rooted tree, it finds the elements it wants in the 

 subsoil below the level robbed in grain culture through former years. 

 Thorough preparation of the soil, often with subsoiling at least the tree- 

 row, is practiced and after setting the land between the rows of trees 

 is either cultivated with spring-tooth harrows, extension tools and weed- 

 cutters, or planted to corn, potatoes or other hoed crops, and at times 

 set to berries. Berries, however, require irrigation to be successfully 

 handled, and our growers do not, as a rule, approve of irrigation for 

 young trees, at least not until they have grown for some years with sur- 

 face cultivation. The idea is that the roots of the young trees will 

 extend further into the subsoil without irrigation, which may or may 

 not be the case. Corn is the great "expense crop" grown between 

 young trees in this valley. Other varieties come into bearing younger, 

 but if an expense crop is produced on Newtown or Spitzenburg trees 

 the sixth year in this valley, the grower is well satisfied. Many are 

 now resorting to peach tree fillers, to expedite returns from the orchard, 

 and this course is now considered good management, as conditions for 



