The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1903-03-13

should be profitable. While Hoo,
River valley can truthfully claim th
honor of producing the finest New
towns and Spitzenbergs in the world
we have locations that are not adapte,
to these varieties for various reasons
The quality of the soil, the moisture il
the ground, the elevation, etc., all con
! tribute to the success or failure of thes
varieties, and while the time was tina
little was definitely known of these in
| flnences, later years have proven wher
these varieties reach the highest stat
of perfection.
Before locating an orchard, look owe
and see what tue man on the othe
side of the line fence has accomplished
True, he may not have secured the bes
possible results, but If this is fault in
the care of the trees it will show, anC
unless your location has considerable
natural moisture in the ground, don't
overlook the fact that you are apt tC
see the time when irrigation watel
will be of considerable value to youI
crop of apples.
If a man had piece of ground bear.
ing valuable deposits of placer gold, he
would be considered a poor manager il
he persisted in farming the land to
wheat instead of mining the gold So
if man has soil suitable for growing
Newtowns and Spitzenbergs to perfec.
ton, why should he go on producing
corn fodder and Ben Davis and neglect
the fruit for which his soil is the best
in the world? The writer made trip
through the principal cities of the
United States during the winter and
did not see apples from any other sec.
tion that compared with these two
varieties as grown here, but found that
many other varieties do as well in
many other sections as they do with us.
The pomological world has been hunt.
ing for place to grow better Newtown
Pippins and Spitzenbergs for half a
century, and if we can produce SUI
perior quality of these apples and get a
good yield, why not do so and leave
the common varieties to the other sec
tions. In apple growing, 1t is Ike Jim
Hill says about railroading, when he
started he found a great many people
capable and willing to do the things he
was doing, but the farther he gets up
in the business the fewer his competi-
tors, and SO our ambitions are to grow
apples that places us above the great
masses who grow ordinary fruit. The
most interesting feature is that the
class of people who are financially able
to buy superior qualities at high prices
is increasing faster than the supply,
and they want only the best quality,
quality, quality, no matter how good
those little under may be.
1t is unnecessary to say that it
would be rather unfortunate if all of
the apple orchards in the future were
to produce nothing but the two desir-
able varieties named, as other varieties
will continue to be grown on certain
locations with more profit than either
Newtowns or Spitzenbergs, but to the
fortunate owner of soil capable of pro-
ducing the better varieties this lends
no encouragement to plant common
fruit. The growing of a commercial
orchard is rather dull proposition,
for it is a long time before the first pay
day comes around, and there is de-
sire to relieve the monotony of waiting
for returns by growing something be-
tween the rows that will not injure the
trees, and yet compensate the farmer
for his work. This is rather delicate
matter, for some crops need cultivation
when trees need to be let alone, and
vice versa, and we have orchards a.
round us which show the results of
mistakes in this direction, while others
are apparently benefited by the extra
cultivation. The trees should be head
ed the proper distance from theground
with sufficient limbs TO bear full load
of fruit, and pruned sufficiently to
keep the head of the trees we'll bal
anced, and not too thick with wood.
An apple tree deserves as much atten-
ton as a horse or a cow, and if neg
lected is equally, if not more, worth
less; and when any disease or insect
attacks the tree it must be doctored if
it is expected to live and thrive. This
means spraying whenever any disease
or insect appears from the time the
trees are planted until they live out
their full term of life.
1t has been serious matter to or
chafdists to find too frequently that