Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1906-11-09
PUT UP OR SHUT UP
Valley Orchardist Challenges Hood
River to a Test of Keeping
Qualities Of Apples.

M. o. Lownsdale, whose 3OO-acre
apple orchard near Lafayette ranks
among the largest and best on the
Pacific Coast, contributes we'll
written and highly interesting article
to the Sunday Oregonian in which he
places the Willamette Valley in its
true light as an apple-producing
region and incidentally punctures
some Of the windy boasts Of Hood
River growers as to the superiority of
their fruit over that raised elsewhere
in the state. Mr.. Lownsdale is a man
who does much and talks little, and
as consequence his opinions are
always listened to with interest by
thinking people. He says:
1.-THE claim that Hood River Valley
and the Rogue river section are the
only real centers Of applegrowing has
been due in great measure to a lack
of information as to the real status of
the fruit market, and not, I imagine,
to any desire to ignore or slight the
Willamette Valley.
"For instance, it is not generally
known that two orchards in the Will
lamette Valley produce more Spitzen-
bergs than the whole Hood River
country. 1t is not generally known,
but Is nevertheless a fact, that at
least one grower has for many years
received exactly as much for his
apples as have the growers of any
other section in the state. 1t is not
generally known that, notwithstand-
ing the great cry about SO apples and
the puzzle about the poor mans sup
ply, Hood River is offering today
prime apples at s5 cents per box,
while the same fruit is selling in
Yamhill at considerably higher
figures. With trumpet blast it is an
nounced that Hood River apples are
best in the world because they keep
until midsummer. GA rather ticklish
assertion for an horticultural
authority to make.) tits not generally
known In this connection that in a
test made some years ago under the
direction of Hood River people, and
in one of their own warehouses,
Northern Spy apples grown at Soap
poose and shipped to Hood River held
up longer and better in every way
than the choicest Hood River fruit.
"Now, we Of the Willamette Valley
do not consider the Northern Spy
good keeper, and wonder what would
have been the result il some Of our
Valley keepers had been in the test. I
suggest to my good friends in Hood
River that it might be we'll to conduct
aquiet little test on the keeping quality
Of their apples, as compared with the
same varieties grown in Yamhill, for
instance. I have at this moment a
few apples in my warehouses which |
would gladly lend to such an expert
ment.
"The swagger of braggart has
never appealed to me. His fame has
never been deserved. 1t has not
seemed polite to say that any section
could produce better apples than any
other locality in the world. / have
travelled In too many fruitgrowing
lands and too often seen the fruits of
other localities to make such an
idiotic assertion. But 80 much has
been published by information
bureaus and by horticultural writer's
generally in laudation of Hood River
as the very best apple section in the
state, that propose after my picking
season is finished, to make an exhi-
bition in the most public manner
possible which will demonstrate be-
yond all cavil, beyond all sneer, be-
yond all ignorance, and, 1 hope, to
the admiration Of my rivals, that as
fine apples are grown today in old
Yamhill as in Rogue River Valley,
Hood River Valley. or any other
valley in the State Of Oregon"