Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-06-02

$500. Orchards in full bearing are worth
what they Will bring. ranging ali the way
from 300 to I,o0o per acre. These are the
prices given me by the real estate men 4
and the citizens here and they seem 10
think them not extFavagant They say IL
10 alt question as to how much the land I
will pay on the investment and that an
orchard OF five acres which will bring In !,
$Joo year ought to be cheap at 5000. AT
the same time. II were buying l should /
consider the chances of scale and other !
fruit diseases. and would Knock off a pretty
penny for elights and bad seasons. 1t il
fair TO say. however. that an irrigated !
property never suffers from drought and I
that the trees here are the most healthy !
of any l have seen.
The prices l have given are those asked
Tor lands near Wenatchee. / am told there
are many valleys running north and south !
ali along the Columbia river which can
be irrigated. and which will bear fruit
as well this valley. These lands arc
cheap varying in value according to their
distance from the settled country. Some
of them be bought for practically
nothing, and there are some government
lands left. At resent the only outlet for
suoh valleys is by the river steamers bur
attempts are being made to induce tho
Great Northern railway TO run branch
up ehe Columbia river valley. and II this
Is done every one of these regions will be
rapidly settled. At present doubt whether
ali the valleys have a population of 25HEl
ana am told there Is enough land TO give
"NAaSS ~ tSh tilflts lnAI NUMBER.
Wenatchee Apples
The Wenatchee valley is known as thu
home OF the big red apple Its fruits are
anyways scarce in the eastern markets and
they bring the highest prices. Some Of the
best apples are wholesaled In New Yors
and Boston at "a box and a box holds less
lhan pushel. Such apples bring 81 a box
at this station. and IL costs IL cent. ner
bo> on the fast freight to get them to
Boston. i ~
The apples are noted for their fine color
ing and flavor. They have no blemishea
ana are evenly good throuebnnt
some OF them are of extraordinary size
one SHOWN by c. A. Harris at the Port
lana exposition weighed thirty-nine ounces
and was eighteen inches IN circumference
Ihat was raised near Lake Chelau tust
ABOVE here. At Portland Wenatchee TOOK
more premiums than any other region can
.uidns eilIrty-hve out of eighty-hve gold
fnedals awarded TO this state for prize an
pies have not been to Chelan -but
am told that the shores of that lake arc
pordered with apple trees and that great
apple country is rapidly deyelonipu, -rbtr,,,
thousand boxes were sold by one man tbars
last year to be sent to Burlington ana C'Itr~
ton, Iowa. The apples brought Al 10 a nor
on the ground.
Among the Orchardists.
took carriageNand drove up and down
his valley the other afternoon. L, Is now
one series of orchards from end to end
The houses almost adjoin one another thera
being one to every five or ten-acre tract.
AS a result. the valley is more ike a great
orchard village than the ordinary farming
country. The houses are so close togefbaSS
that the women can walk few stems ana
talk to their neighbors. Every house he's
its own telephone and the rates are from
II 10 y month with no restrictions as to !
the number of conversations Most OF the
houses have pipe connections with the irri-
CATION works, that each home has IT'S
own 'hydrant. and most Of them have bath
rooms and all modern conveniences An
electric light system is now being put into /,
this orchard district and within a short
time nearly every one of these cottages, the
average of which did not cost more than
Il 600 to build, will have Its own electric
fight service. The rural delivery system
furnishes daily mails, and the school build,
ings have been so located that no child
has more than mile to walk TO school.
In addition a system of country omnibusest
is now being organized to bring In the !
school children from the outlying districts.
Plow Thirteen Times Year.
These Wenatchee people know how to
raise fruit They keep their plows going
from end of the season to the other.
One man tells me that he plowed his or
chard thirteen times last year, and thu
most of the holdings kept clean al
kitchen garden. The few slovenly orr
chards 1 have seen show the lack of cults
walton. Their trees have a rough bark ana
they are not one-third as large as those
IN the well tended orchards. Trees groW
much faster here than in the east. On the
Apple Pie ridge of Virginia one seldom
gets fruit from an orchard in less than
six or seven years, and 1t is ten or eleveu
before the apple trees are in full bearing
Here apple fruit at FIVE years, peaches az
three and apricots at about the same tlrn1
The crops vary somewhat from year TO
wear I know of one man who had ten
acres which he wanted 10 cell at 5000, OF
which $4,000 was to be cash ana S1ooo on
time He failed to find a purchaser ana
kept on with his cultivation. His crop last
wear netted him $4,000. and ne is now looks
ing about for an additional orchard 70 puY
-e FRANK G. CARPENTER,