Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1906-10-26
BIG PROFIT IN
FRUIT RAISING
II Hood River Methods Are EN-
ployed-Oregonian Makes
Practical Suggestions.

The Hood River apples now on
display in this city are magnificent
specimens of horticultural develop
ment. Those who remember the
red checked pippin. the ruddy Spit
zenberg. the pale-gold of the yellow
bellflower, and the variegated tints OF
the Northern Spy of half century
ago are scarcely ready to admit that
these beauties from Hood River excel
those memory apples in flavor, though
they must acknowledge that they ex-
eel their forebears in size and color
ing. And then the price Here in
deed the Hood River apples soar.
They are advertised as cheap at 81 80
box. Apples just as juicy and
toothsome, rotted on the ground In
the Willamette Valley by the ton or
found stinted market at 25 cents a box
before the railroad era. and the Goblin
moth and Jose scale invasion.
But, farther back still, when first the
apple trees of the Willamette Valley
came into bearing, growers received
sl5 bushel for the product. Call
fornia was the market then, and the
apples were shipped in the stuffy holds
of the old Orihamme, Ajax and John
L. Stephens, and were retailed In
San Francisco at no one knows what
price, but enough to clear all costs
and leave a handsome margin of proht
to the importer. A few boxes OF
Hood River apples in San Francisco
then would have been small fortune
to the dealer; couple of dozen boxes
would have been wealth. But the
Hood River product is later develop
ment. and, because of the widened
market, brings wealth to the grower
at 81 box.
At this price, however, it is clear
that apples cannot be a staple article
on the workingman's bill of fare. AS
the potato is the vegetable OF the
masses, so the apple is their fruit.
aud this is in fair supply reasonably,
though not entirely, free from insect
pests, at price that the workingman
with large family can afford to pay.
Not apples with the assured perfection
of the Hood River product, of course,
but apples juicy and toothsome.
The old apple trees, oss-grown,
gnarly and uncultivated, that produce
only stunted, wormy and scaly fruit,
are happily becoming fewer every
year, but succeeding them are many
thrifty young orchards, the owners of
which, properly equipped for the fray.
fight the apple pests vigorously and
with such effect that the product is
marketable. 1t is to the output OF
these orchards that the majority of our
people look for their apple supply.
Fruit inspectors are and must be
diligent in the discharge of their duty.
But it should be exercised rather to-
ward the destruction of old orchards,
and in insisting that the newer trees
be properly sprayed and their product
carefully assorted before being sent to
the market, than in placing the ban
upon all apples that com from even
slightly infected orchards. In the
meantime. apple growers, even though
they contine their efforts in this line
to the family orchard, should not wait
for the compelling power of the law
before destroying their old apple
trees or taking means to keep the
newer orchards free from pests A
little individual pride aud interest
displayed i'll this matter will in a
few years restore the fame of the big
red apple throughout the Willamette
Valley, make the orchardists of Hood
River look to their laurels, and bring
good, marketable apples within reach
of the workingman's family the sea.
son through, with fair returns to the
grower -Oregonian.