The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1906-01-04
HOOD RIVERITES
MAKE SPEECHES

| Llhb MElb a1 bllO
of the Northwestern Fruit Growers at
La Grande today by Il. II. Shepard
and j. l.. Garter. Mr.. Sbepard's ad-
dress Is entitled "Hood River Meth
ods," and Mr.. Carter spoke on
spraying. Both these subjects will
be interesting to fruit growers, both
far and near, aud we regret that we
we're not able to obtain the addresses
to be made by e. l.. Smith and a. |.
Mason in time for this issue.
The addresses are as follows:
Hood River Methods.
BY e. II. Shepard
At our last convention In Boise, |
heard two Idaho fruit growers discus
sing Hood River. One said to the
other "Hood River grows fine fruit,
but it Is not because their apples are
better than ours that they get such
wonderful fancy prices, but Lecause
they are such d--n blowers. "
One of our growers called me up on
the phone and asked the title OF my
address, and | replied, BLASTS OF hot
air from Hood River, the valley that
grows the finest Spitzenbergs and
| Newtowns grown anywhere on Gods
green earth aud sells them for the
highest price.
| will not waste time in the usual
peroration full Of platitudes about not
being able TO make speech or having
the time to prepare one, for Hood
River man is 'semper paratus" to
talk, but merely ask your indulgence
II | seemingly epart occasionally
from the subject to blow about Hood
| River, for that is one Of the methods
that assisted in making Hood River
famous And when ! do | will grant
you the privilege of taking all ! say
"cum Crane sails.
| will now endeavor to explain in q
systematic way the Methods employed
that have been conducive to securing
for Hood River such fancy prices as
81. 10 to 49, so for Newtowns and 81. 60
to $3. 90 for Spitzenbergs, o. b., and
the only grand prize given by the st.
Louis exposition to single county
| In the United States for green fruit
One OF the fundamental principles
OF the rapid progress Of America has
been specialism, and 1t Is an old law
| OF political economy that not only the
individual but the locality and the
community should devote its time to
speciality, il it expects to achieve
the greatest success either in the d.
nanoial world of wealth, or In the more
laudable aud crowning glory OF fame
aud honor.
Hood River fruit growers are spe-
cialists to the extreme limit. We
grow practically nothing but fruit, and
of that but two kinds, apples and
straw berries; the apples are praoti-
faIly limited to two varieties New
towns and Spitzenbergs-and the
Strawberries TO one--Clark's Seeding
| beg of you, gentlemen, not to
expect too much In the way OF inior-
nation on the subject of methods, for
we are but mortals and much more of
our success Is due to the supreme gift
Of soil and climate than to our meth
ods. No matter how high class the
workmanship may be you "oannot
make silk purse ont of a sow's ear. "
We had the good luck to discover the
opportunity God gave us, aud the en-
ergy, perseverance and progressiveness
to accomplish the rest The Lord ia
vored Hood River with soil full Of
potash, phosphates and other minerals
necessary to produce high quality
fruit of good size, fine color, excel.
lency of flavor and No. | shipping
qualities an ideal climate for perfect
deyelopment--w days and cool
nights; the ever shining sun kissing
our fruit by day, giving it color, while
Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams, IL, 900 feet
high with ever covered snow capped
peaks, cool our atmosphere { night.
| will now tell you rs best can how
we have done our part. BY investiga-
tion some years ago we asoertalneu
that Spitzenbergs aud NewtOwns we're
not only high quality fruit, but always
In demand. We found by experiment
that they grew to perfection In Hood
River soil and climate. We obsery I'd
that these two varieties could be
grown successfully in few districts
and these comparatively small. We
then decided to plant and grow them,
and have been continuing to do so
ever since.
The point ! wish to bring out here
for the benefit OF every one is that
each individual, each locality, Is par
ticularly adapted to some one thing,
10 do that one thing we'll and better
than any one else will surely bring sue
cess and rich harvest. To illus.
trate, Los Angeles and vicinity Is
famous for oranges and lemons; FIRES
no for grapes; Vacaville for apricots,
Sacramento River for peaches. In Col
orado, Grand junction and Paoma are
celebrated for apples, Rocky Ford for
cantaloupes. Parts of MISSOURI beat
the world on our old friend, Ben
Davis, and, by the way, don't forget
it is grand state and supplies the
government with more and better
mules than any other state In the I'm
ion. These mules beat the world for
kickers. know this because few Of
them crossed the plains and stopped
off at Hood River and went into
growing fruit, and let me tell you,
gentlemen, that Missouri mule fruit
grower will lie awake all night to
think up something to kick about to
the manager of IA fruit union.
But to return to our subject. |
would say, do as Hood River aud
other distI lots have done--tlnd out
what you can grow to perfection ioi
which there is good demand, and
give it every care and attention
Nurse it eat with It, sleep with it,
We began at the beginning by buying
the best trees, the price being no Oh
iect. We buy them of reliable nur
serymen whom we know select their !
sclons from parent trees known to be
good bearers and producing fruit OF
fine color aud excellent quality.
We cultivate with unceasing care |
and in our orchards you will always
find the moisture retaining dust |
mulch and no weeds.
We prune and shape the trees with
the same care and fondness we would
prune our child of bad habits and
shape its character,
We spray thoroughly for every dis
,ase or insect pest our orchards have
lr may have. Spraying is now prac
.ically definite science, and by un.
iiring energy and eternal vigilance
,very orchardist can grow a clean crop
,,l, a !