The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1907-12-26
BOOSTING HOOD
RIVER APPLES

MvEk APPLEI
Every city, every town, almost ey.
cry hamlet in the great state of Ore.
gon has publicity organization
which by various means lets the
world know that they are in exist
ence. About the only exception is
Jacksonville. Several attempts to do
something towards boosting for the
Deautiful little town have been m ide.
but for some unknown reason they
have been abandoned.
The above remarks are occasioned
Dy the arrival OF beautifully illus
trated brochure just issued by the
publicity committee Of the Hood Riy-
er Commercial club explaining how
the Hood River apples a % grown. The
booklet is printed on heavy hook pa
per and the hslf-tone illustrations OF
orchsrd and field scenes show up as
we'll as the original photographs could
have done. The straw berry fields are
coiored In the natural tints aud the
Dig red apples are set off by boxes of
large yellow ones in the picture OF the
exhibits. In discussing apple culture
the following pointer is given:
The secret OF growing the wonder
tul apples that are produced at Hood
River is In the fact that nature has
endowed the Hood River valley with
volcanic ash soil that contains all the
elements necessary for growing per.
feet fruit. Added to this is a tenn
perature exactly suited to their pro
pagation and last, but not least.
methods employed that have been
found to produce the best results.
From tar and NIde fruit men come
from other districts to learn of thes
methods, simply though they be, and
easily learn ei by the novice. 1t has
been found that the apple grows best
at Hood River under the clean cult
walton system, which conserves the
moisture and allows all the nutriment
OF the soil to go into tbe making of
both tree and frui; Spraying to kill
all insect life that is injurious to the
growing of perfect apples, is rigidly
adhered to, and so careful in this re-
spect are 1rchardists here that less
than two per cent of the entire CROP
is found to he imperfect. In this re-
spect the Case CT one orchard can Ee
CITED, that last year bore 1000 boxes
In which there were during the whole
season but sixty wormy apples. An
other feature is thinning or picking
of Fart of the fruit when it is small.
in order to alllw that which remains
to get mole ncurisbment, grow to a
larger size and not exhaust the life of
the tree. Twenty acres is considered
all that one orchardist cen properly
care for, but fiom such immense
profits as $500 to $500 per acre and
more, such large income is provided
that 1t pays better returns than sever
al hundred acres of farming in other
branches. .-JacksonVillu Post.
Protest Against X illing Coyotes.
"Action of The government, through
it's subordinate forest reserve officials
and Others, in cooperating with the
stockmen for the annihilation of the
coyote" said AlfreI Penney, of
Naohes, to the Yakima Republic, 'is
in my mind rather serious matter
which should be deeply considered by
the orchaldists There are two sides
to every question aud | have grave
doubts whether the benefit to accrue
from a saughtering of the coyotes can
be proven to be positive.
1.-THE coyote Is the natural enemy
of the rabbit and it is the rabbit we
have to fear here more than anything
else. We can guard against the coyote
but we can't guard against the rabbit.
At least not eff ectively. We know ab
solutely what the rabbit has done to
the people in Australia and we know
also what We have suffered from its
depredations.
ave know that the coyote keeps the
rabbits under subjection. We know
also that rabbits, unmolested and in
a country where focd is plentiful, es.
pecially in climate as mild as this,
multiply most rapidly. Now if we kill
off the coyotes what is there to pre-
vent sn enormous increase in the
number of rabbits, especially as the
country, under irrigation, is yearly
becoming able to support more?
"Stockmen are practically the only
ones who suffer from the coyotes. and
their losses, while large in the aggre-
gate, are not as large as are generally
supposed. 1t IL question Of the
greatest good to the greatest number.
In many sections Of the state now
rabbit drives have to be resortei to
as a protection, but despite all efforts
they continue to increase. 1he coy
ote, we know, will not touch horses
or horned cattle and so far ~ To"
feath hered stock is concerned We Gan
protect it at night. That leaves tie
sheep and in measure they can be
cared for. How can we fence against
the rabbits? What way is there OF
protecting young orchaif.
"Fruit is destined to be the para
mount industry of this valley at no
very distant date. We should prepare
to look forward to that time now. The
government, in the last report OF Sec,
rotary of Agricultural Wilson, pointed
out the extent of the complaints OF
the great damage done by rabbits,
mice, rats and other field pests and OF
the eff orts made to find some protec-
tion. Now we know that the coy ote
Is protection and that the good he
does, by killing the pests, mo1e than
offsets his harmful side when no
takes lamb or chikenn.