The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1909-02-27
ACROSS OCEAN NORTHWEST.
ERN FRUIT FINDS WELCOME


pies are produced largely because of
the ease with which they can be
handled and the safety with which
they can be shipped long distances.
Yet prunes have been shipped, fresh
from the trees, direct to London and
there sold at Is cents per pound
Peaches and pears are delicate ship
pers and require extreme care in
handling. Clarke county, of which
Vancouver is the principal city, leads
the state in the production of prunes
and plums, over $4,000 bearing
trees being reported last year. Over
5000 acres of land are given up to
prune culture, alone.
But the fruit business in Wash
ington is, as yet, hardly even in it's
infancy, if facts can be relied on.
In every county in the state the de-
mand for fruit trees last year far
exceeded the available supply from
all sources and thousands of acres
in the state were not planted to trees
because the young saplings could not
be secured. No less than half a
dozen new nurseries have been es-
tablished in the hope of securing an
ample supply of young trees within
at least two years.
Over 100000 trees were set out
last year, of which more than half
were of apples. Half that many
more would have been planted had
it been possible to have secured the
trees at any fair price from reliable
nurseries. In the warmer sections
of the state peaches are becoming
more of a favorite fruit, and last
year more trees were planted than
had been planted in any two previous
years.
Millions of Boxes Shipped.
The mystery of it all is, where did
all the fruit produced from the mil
lions of trees go? Where did it find
a market? Millions of boxes were
gathered and shipped east, while for
local consumption on the coast other
millions of boxes were demanded.
Last fall apples were sent as far east
as New York, as far north as Winni-
peg, as far south as st. Louis, as
far north as Alaska. Isn't that room
for a good sized market place?
Next year the markets of the world
will again be found, waiting for the
high class fruit of the northwest. The
supply will be greater, and the de-
mand will surely have more than de-
veloped with it. Growers should
make a good pack, and in every box
should be placed piece or pieces of
good advertising from the section
which produced the fruit. In this
way can be carried the news of the
northwest to millions of people in
the eastern and central states who
eat the fruit, praise it, but know as
little of the country which produced
it as the American people know of
the Isle of Pines.
Nor is the market open only to
fresh fruit. Last year Washington
sent out over 100000 cans of black
berries and nearly as many cans of
raspberries. In all, the state sent
out over 100000 cans of fruit,
produced in the several districts, usu-
ally from the choicest of the produc-
ton after it had ripened too fully to
stand shipment. The cannery indus
try needs development all over the
states of Oregon and Washington.
The people are rapidly getting
away from the old fashioned idea
that wheat farming is the only line
of agriculture worth following. Irri-
CATION is forcing the price of other
wise worthless land toward the top
rapidly, modern methods of home
building and modern conveniences
are forcing the community plan of
living, and the suburban settlement
is bound to take the place of the big
farm and of the city tenement as