The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1909-02-27
CONTINUED from First Page.)

land of John Bull. Ten years ago
such a thing was unknown. In ten
years more it will be as common as
the expectation of wheat and flour.
But the profits to the grower will be
greater than they are on an average
in the production of the staff of life.
To Hood River, Ore, belongs the
credit of first exploiting fully the
| fruit industry of the northwest. Hood
River has long grown the finest Of
strawberries and the most delicious
of red apples, but for many years a
market was lacking and the industry
of fruit growing was unknown. The
business features had been over
looked until enterprising Oregonians
struck upon the idea of going to the
eastern and central states, getting
positions on the housetops and yell
ing at the top of their voices at the
people to sit up and take notice of
Oregon fruit And the people took
notice. Then they bought. They
liked the product of Oregon soil and
water, scientifically mixed, and they
bought more, then some more.
Land Values Shoot Up.
Wher the Hood River orchardist
had previously looked upon his or
chard land as luxury for the
wealthy, he soon came to look upon
it as a source of splendid revenue,
with a future of wonderful possibii-
ties. Then the price of land jumped
toward the moon. Young orchards
were set out, people saw opportuni-
ties for snug fortunes-and the flu
ture of fruit growing in Oregon, that
is, eastern OregOn-was assured.
The old idea that fruit had to be
grown by natural moisture as mani
tested in rainfall, has long since been
exploded, as it should have been. 1t
| is not difficult to remember when 1t
was held that fruit grown under irri-
CATION was watery, insipid, and had
tendency to spoil. That fallacy has
also gone glimmering. Hood River
had something to do with that good
work, too.
Taking a cue from Hood River,
1.-THE Land of the Big Red Apple
soon got busy Wenatchee had been
desert, or practically so, and 1t
had not been considered a favorable
section for anything save sage brush,
jack rabbits and coyotes, with once
in a while a state politician. Per-
haps to this city more than to any
other section in Washington is due
the credit for establishing the apple
business on a strictly high class COM
mercial basis. North Yakima was
pioneer ahead of Wenatchee, but
the development of apples had been
retarded somewhat on account of the
division of industry, the valley being
partly given up to the growth OF
hops, partly to the production of al
falfa hay, and partly to the fruit
business. While North Yakima is the
center for the greatest fruit business
in the state, the plane upon which
it is conducted is not as high and as
scientific as that in vogue at We
natchee.
In the state of Washington there
are over 100000 bearing fruit
trees. They comprise largely apples,
pears, cherries, peaches, plums and
prunes. There is no way of securing
an estimate of the other varieties be-
cause no account of them is kept
by any department. To produce
these trees and the fruit they bear
requires over 100000 acres of land,
which is estimated to be worth $500
per acre Much of the land is worth
double or treble that price. The
largest individual orchard is that OF
the Blalock Fruit company of Walla
Walla, set out by DR.. N. G. Blalock,
an early orchardist in the northwest
at Walla Walla. It consists of 1900
acres, and at times requires the labor
of 800 men, women and children tc
care for the fruit.
In Oregon the acreage does mo-
. quite equal that of her sister state
but some of the land is in more
perfect condition and better result!
, are secured. In all parts of thu
: state the development of orchards Ii
nothing short of wonderful, and |
seems that scarcely a beginning cal
: be said to have taken place. While
: in the Willamette valley orchards
: have been destroyed on account o
pests rendering the trees unproduct
: i've, the other sections of the stat
are more than making up for tn,