The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1910-05-26
FARM LIFE SOUGHT
MORE AND MORE
THAT APPLICA-
TION OF BRAINS BRINGS Sue
CESS INTERESTS SCOREs-NO
OVER-PRODUCTION.

interest that is being taken nowadays
in the popular slogan, Back to the
| Farm
At first blush, the great interest
everywhere taken in recent years in
| horticulture, and particularly in
northwestern fruit raising, seems
rather strange. A little reflection,
however, shows this to be both natu-
raj and logical. Agriculture as
whole has within a score of years
been placed upon a much higher
plane than heretofore. To be sue
cessful in any branch of farming
brains must be used as in any other
| business. There is no branch of agri-
culture more attractive, more fas-
cinating. and more profitable than
horticulture.
Other reasons serve to accentuate
this interest. We are rapidly becom-
ing a fruit-eating nation. Although
| tuo anu IhC oolhCObAS NC
mand for these fruits has increased
and the export demand has contin-
ually augmented, strangely enough,
the production of necessary fruits
has steadily decreased. The apple
crop for 1909-less than 23,000,000
barrels-for example, was but slight
iy in excess of one-third of that for
the years 1896 and 1900, and much
| less than the crop for the year 1905,
when the production reached a very
low figure.
Northwest Attracts Interest.
In the face of this diminished
production, particularly from east
ern orchards, the increased acreage
in the west yearly devoted to fruit,
particularly in Montana, Idaho,
Washington and Oregon, and the
rare and perfect quality of the pro-
duct has naturally enough centered
attention in the horticulture of this
region.
No section of the west stan is
higher in fruit production than the
Inland Empire, which includes east
ern Washington, part Of northeast
ern Oregon, northern Idaho and Bri-
fish Columbia. Eastern Washington.
however, comprises by far the larg-
est part as nature left it.
The more rapid development OF
this now noted fruit kingdom began
in the early '90s. Here and there,
before that time, throughout the
Yakima and Wenatchee valleys, down
in the Snake Clearwater coun-
try. now known as the lewiston
Charleston region-in the Walla Wal
la valley and in the vicinity of Spo-
kane, irrigation has been tried, and
fruits, vegetables, ETC., grown with
success. With increased Transports
ton facilities and the steady influx
of settlers it became more general.
Vast Tract to Be Redeemed.
AS the results were uniformly
favorable, irrigation works on lar
ger and larger scale were construct
ed, until today not only private in
dividuals and corporations, but the
United States government itself is
expanding enormous sums to reclaim
the old volcanic wastes so peculiarly
adapted to raising fruits unblemished
and perfect in size and color.
A natural inquiry in this connec.
ton is as to the danger of fruit
growing being overdone. Those whe
have been in close touch with the
industry for years and are in a po
sition to judge intelligently, say EN-
phatically that there is no danger
Prof. John Craig, of Cornell univer.
sity, recently said:
II was in Europe for about eight
months not long ago, and while there
was able to make some observations
relative to the fruit market condi
tions. The greatest apple crop we
have had during the past ten OIL
twelve years was that Of 1896.
Big Crop in 1896.
''The crop that year totaled,
think, 100000 barrels in the
United States. The average apple
crop since that time has not exceed
ed 3S,00O,O00 barrels per year. II
is rarely that we get a big crop al
over the country the same year
Looking at it merely from the stand.
point of the ratio of increase in pro,
duction, I do not think there is any
cause for fear whatever. We should
take into consideration the ratio OF
increase in the consuming popula,
ton"
This seems to be the opinion OF
all the "apple doctors"
4 The king of fruits is the prefer.
able kind, owing to it's hardness, the
long period during which it can be
kept in storage without deteriora-
ton, its good shipping qualities, and
the universal demand for it as gen.
eral, all-round fruit.
Electricity for Douglas County.