Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1903-02-19
LETTER TO ORCHAROlSTS
Fruit Commissioner Carson
Writes 10 Fruit Growers.

y. III. Carson, horticultural COM
missioner for this district, has issued
the following letter to Southern Ore
gon orchardists:
"Thus far this winter the weather
has been very unfavorable for orchard
work, such as pruning, spraying, etc,
as well as for the agriculturist who
combines horticulture with mis- other
pursuits.
With the rush of work that will fol-
low good weather, l fear many or
chard men will, work hard to plant,
and seed their/farms to the neglect
of their orchards, thinking possibly
the scale in their orchard is so small
that they will neglect to spray for it
and thereby entail a loss to themselves
which they--will neglect next fall at
apple gathering. The San Jose scale
is well established through all of this
district, and the only possible way
the fruit grower can protect himself
from loss through this pest is to spray
annually with salt, sulphur and lime
compound.
Commercial apple men know this
to be a fact and there is no trouble
but that they will protect themselves
by careful spraying. 1t is the small
growers who are liable to neglect
their interest and suffer for it. From
a business standpoint-dollnrs and
cents-if you please, every apple
grower with five acres in apples can
make it pay to use modern spraying
outfit such as is used by Olwell Bros.
Of Central Point to. control the scale
and apple worm in his orchard, pro.
viding the orchard is bearing
That the neglect to spray for scale
is serious loss to growers is not to
be questioned
One case l have in mind occurred
last fall where grower with an
orchard Of sixteen acres lost half of his
crop. When the purchaser came to
pack his crop he found about half of
the apples infested with scale which
were thrown among the oulls Had
not these apples been infested with
scale they would all have gone into
the pack as they were four tier and
very free from the worm as the grow
er had carefully sprayed for the
worm, but neglected to spray the
winter before for the scale. This
growers loss alone approximated
$780, as he had sold his crop to the
packers for Sl.1O per box. There is
every reason a. this date to predict a
rousing crop of apples for Southern
Oregon this year For the past tive
years Southern Oregon only produced
G5 per cent of crop. The trees at
this date show a pro16sion of fruit
buds The trees have wintered we'll.
Their vitality has not been weakened
the past two years by overDearing.
Unless late spring frosts thin the
fruit we are liable to incur loss
from overbearing, unless we hand
thin thom, which should be done, as il
pays to grow the best There i.
lalways a demand for the best in all
lmarkots. There is never an over pro.
duction Of the best aples, or any
other commodity in any of the mar.
kets Of the world.
That the apple growers of Southefu
Oregon will have a strong demand
for their apples, it matters not how
large their crops may be, am safe in
predicting
During the year 1902, every apple
growing section in the United States,
except the Pacific Coast, bad a record
breaking crop The crop was SC
large in the apple states east Of the
Rockies that thousands of barrel.
were allowed to decay for want Of
barrels TO ship and export them.
However with this record breaking
crop in the cast many fancy four tiel
Iapples from the Rogue river Valley
sold TO New York buyers for the fancy
trade at sLj0 per box, car lot, +. 0. b.
lt has been observed and carefully
noted that a record breaking crop Of
Iapple5 only occurs once in 10 year,
east Of the Rockies, and invariably
when it does occur "a short crop-not
enough for local dcmauds-alway,
follows. II this rs true, which statis
tics win verify, where is the eastern
demand for choice apples to come
from? say the Pacific Coast as it il
the only apple producing district il
the United States the past year that
the vitality Of the trees has not beer
weakened by over production, ant
consequently we should have an enor
nous crop this year
1t is a well known fact and has beer
noted by all fruit growers, that il
during any wear a fruit tree ovel
bears, the burden taxes its vitality
that tine year following it is a shy
bearer 1t takes rest TO recruit an,
supply it's strength and vitality.
The success Of our fruit men thiI
year is to a great extent in thei
hands
II they spray carefully and intelli
gently, for the scale and apple worm
cultivate well and thin their overbur
daned trees TO the amount Of fruit In,
tree can mature perfectly, they nee,
not fear bat that the product Of thei
| orchards viii command good prices.
| when you feel blue aud that every
thing goes wrong, take dose o
! IChambarlaln's stomach and live
tablets. They viii cleanse and in
vigouts y0ur stomach, regulate you
bowels, give you relish for you
food and make yOu feel that in this oil
world Is a good place 20 live. For sal
] f.r Ca H|' THHHrrrH afa