The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1908-01-02
HOOD RIVER APPLES
FOR THE ORIENT
Ivy L. Lee, publicity agent Of the
/ arriman lines, writes as follows:

Ivy L. Lee, publicity agent Of the
/ arriman lines, writes o. follows:
Portland, Ore, Dec. 81, 'O7.
Six hundred boxes OF the finest ap
Piles grown In the Hood River valley
have started this week on q ten tho,is-
and mile journey to Vlsdivostock, 81
teria.
Carefully wrappel. packed and
boxed. this fIuit is expected to reach
its remote destination via Puget
sound, svsncouver and Japan, In per.
feet condition. Ii 10 probable thRt no
other fruit product, Of American or
chards 10 shipped 80 greet q distance.
So perfect are the methods Of select
ing and packing these apples that
should there be defect In this or any
other shipment it can be traced I'm
mediately to the orchardist and pack
er responsible. Nothing bat absolute
ly perfect fruite are allowed to 20 out
OF the state with Hood Rivers name
on the box Barrels are long ago
abandoned. The spples are graded
and placed IN uniform rows, bushel
OF from "a to l28 apples to the box.
All packing is 10 the hands OF profes'
sionals entirely Independents Of the
grower, who mere often than not sells
his crop on the t. ees and has no fur
ther control over 1t.
No orchardist 10 allowed to pack bis
own apples even IL be wants to do so.
The apple growers union attends to
that and their men are under orders
to reject all fruit that shows the
slightest blemish. So great 10 the con
fidence built up by this rule that
thousands Of boxes that the purchaser
has never seen are sold at prices rang
ing from ~. so to 81. so. The methods
of Hood River apple growers are
unique In thi, respect. a
A soil of volcanic ash and o climate
perfectly suited to fruit growing were
the foundations upon which the for
tunes of the Hood River district we're
built. With these advantages and the
most advanced methods OF growing,
less than two per cent OF the average |
crop fails to come up to the high
standard Of growing the growers have
set for themselves.
Last season one orchard reported
only 60 detective apples out OF 1000
bushels. M
So great 10 the care exercised by |
the Hood River growers, however,
that 20 acres 10 considered to be ~
much as one orchardist can look after
properly. k4
but the returns per acre are 90
large that tthere II no complaint In
regard to the income derived, which
runs above sl5, 900 year from these
small tracts. Seven hundred dollars
an Pcre is considered an average re-
turn. Open cultivation with the space
between the trees kept 40 clean ~
barn floor 10 the approved method fol-
lowed throughout this section. This
allows the trees to derive the maxi
mum amount of nourishment and
flom the soil. Small or de-
fective apples are picked before ma
turity In order that the healthy fruit /
may reach its best development.
10 ascertain the right moment for
moths and insect pests their
growth is watched day BY day on trees
BY fins screens and at the
Iirst signs that any insect has begun
20 do damage, spraying is begun.
Only 10 900 OF the 40, 600 rich acres
of the Hood River district are under
The enormous profits
realized on the crops grown here are
bringing In settlers from all parts of
the county and drawing them II ON
Ill empIoyments.
Nine out of ten hood River or
,hardists followed some other calling
most Of their lives. Physicians, edit
,rs, engineers, maohinists, bricklay-
'rs and printers are among the most
uccessful Of late arrivals.
Men who arrived few years ago
With but few hunderd dollars and
low own orchards valued at $50, 200
ire numerous