The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1906-06-15

| OrcndrQS nooQ III the way Vi care.
How | would have been delighted to
have stopped off at Salem and to
nave seen the McDonalds and others
who are progressive nurserymen and
fruit growers; at Forest Grove and to
have seen friend Atwell, the postmas-
| ter there, who is much interested in
fruit growing; and at numerous other
places.
Last summer, while l was at Port
land in charge of the Yakima county
exhibit, many people from the William
cite valley would call on us and often
say: I'VE formerly raised fine fruit
in this valley, but we can't do that
now" AS a rule l gave them mild
scolding for such talk. l told them
| that | did not believe their statement
that the day for raising fine fruit in
the Willamette valley had gone by.
The same sunshine, the same climate
and the same soil are there now that
were there when the pioneers reached
that famous valley. 1t is true that
the soils may be somewhat depleted
and may lack some of the nitrogen
that they possessed in their virgin
state, but that can be restored by
growing the legumes, such as clover,
vetch, peas and soy beans.
The trouble is that the people expect
these old neglected orchards, all
grown up to grass and weeds, to pro-
duce the fruit they did when the trees
were young and were properly cared
! for What is needed in many OF
these orchards is a plentiful supply
of dynamite with which to blow out
these old scraggy trees. Then grow
clover or vetch a few years and pillow
| under a few crops. The roots will
furnish nitrogen and the plowed-under
| tops will furnish humus. Then plant
new trees and cultivate them we'll,
prune and spray them well and the
old-time fruit will come back to glad
den the hearts of the growers. Ii
the old men who drove their OK teams
across the plains fifty years ago are
still alive, they have not got the vigOr
and snap they once had and can not
do work as they did in the days of
their youth. Just so those old apple
trees are worn out and can never be
renewed.
| | tried to see if any of the orchards
in Washington and Oregon were cul-
tivated. | do not believe that one in
hundred receives any attention in
mat direction. Why don't some of
these people try to raise corn, pota-
toes, wheat, oats and barley that way?
They know that it cannot be done and
they will some time learn that the
same is true as to apples.
By the way, I noticed that many of
the farmers in the Willamette valley
are raising vetch with their oats. |
could talk with but one man who is
doing this, and he said that oats and
vetch make most excellent hay. No
doubt of it-and another advantage
is that in this way the depleted nitro
gen can be restored. Vetch belongs
to the pod-bearing class of plants;
that is, it raises it's seeds in a pod.
Hence it is called a legume. Now,
all legumes have the power OF gath
ering nitrogen from the air and storing
it up in the roots. Nitrogen is an ex-
pensive kind of fertilizer when it has
to be bought as nitrates, such as salt
petre, for instance. But by growing
legumes such as alfalfa clover, vetch,
peas and beans, they do the work OF
gathering nitrogen from the atmos-
phere-and do their work for nothing.
am glad to see the enterprising
farmers of the Willamette valley
growing vetch and clover and in few
instances field peas. Their soils will
grow richer each year.
|
H. C. Atwell, of Forest Grove, Ore
gon, writes as follows under date of
May 10: Concerning commission of
blowing a bearing orchard as suggest
ed in Prof. JudsOns article in your