The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1910-05-05
PENNSYLVANIA MAN
GETS POINTERS HERE
(philadelphia North Americanl
Philadelphia North AmeIican)

Hundreds of expert apple growers
have reported upon the apple raising
! industry as it exists in the western
states. There have been many explana-
| tions given for the success of the
Pacific slope growers. 1t remained for
H. F. Hershery, young Pennsylvania
State College student, however, to
place publicity as the greatest force
back of the triumph of Oregon fruit.
The department of horticulture at
State College requires in its course
that some time after the junior year
the student made a study of some
large commecial orchard for the pur-
pose of observing the methods used and
the market conditions that prevail.
Mr.. Hershey selected the Hood River
valley, as the place in which to do
his note taking. And in reporting
upon conditions there as he found
them, his first word to Pennsylvania
orchardists is that the thing most
essential in the creation and develop
ment of market is publicity. The ad-
vertising methods used struck the
young State College student as high
point. In making his report he says:
Much has been said concerning the
methods of the western apple growers
and the fine apples they produce.
Many sections, as the Hood River
Valley, are known from the Pacific to
the Atlantic coast. The people of Great
Britain, Germany, France and other
European countries eat their apples
and pay high price for the privilege
of doing so.
'1t is because the people of the West
are alive and looking for every oppor-
tunity to advertise and make their
apples better known throughout the
world.
But thorough as their advertising is,
the Hood River growers, who have
made worldwide reputation in
valley only twenty-five miles long
and from six to ten miles wide, are
just as thorough in their methods of
cultivating, pest fighting and packing.
Thoroughness is the keynote of all
their methods.
The soil in the Hood River valley
says Mr.. Hershey, is one of the
volcanic ash variety, being light and
moistened only by a light rainfall.
Irrigation is practiced to some extent.
Strawerries are grown quite extensive
ly in some of the orchards, and in such
cases irrigation is necessary. Western
orchardists are of the opinion that if
an orchard is once irrigated this
method must be followed as the trees
have become accustomed to plenty of
water, and so demand it all of the
time. In other words says Mr.. Her.
shey, the trees can be trained, as good
results being obtained from non-irrigat-
ed orchards as from those that are
irrigated.
The rill method of irrigation is the
one chiefly used. No sod mulch is used
at any place in the valley, the dust
mulch being counted upon to retain the
moisture. Orchards are gone over
every ten days with spike harrow,
and in all of them it is possible to kick
the loose earth way to depth of
several inches. The average raj fall
is 20 inches, and most of this comes
in the winter, and yet the growers,
cultivating their orchards about IL
times as much as the average Pennsyl-
vania orchardist, are able to give
their trees all of the water they need
by mainta ming good soil mulch.
Botl WI ter and summer pruning are
practiced, and there are some few of
the growers who rely on summer prun-
ming alone, but they are the exception
rather than the rule. A larger number
prune both nj winter and summer, but
by far the greater percentage prune in
the winter only. The open center tree
is preferred, and in nearly every in
stance the trees are headed low, 18 to
20 inches from the ground. In winter
pruning the tree is shaped, while in
summer the water sprouts and cross
limbs are cut out.
The fruit grower in Hood River is
troubled very little with fungus
disesaes. One of the chief reasons for
this is their effective methods of spray
ing. 1t has been said that there is a
cloud of spray continually floating over
the Hood River valley. This state
ment is somewhat exaggerated, but
tie fact still remains that they do
great deal of spraying. Some of the
fungus diseases found are anthacnose,
mildew, and apple scab. Bordeaux
mixture is the fungicide most common
ly uSeu, anu goOu results are
obtained from it.
The coddling moth and aphis are
among the most troublesome insect
pests at present. The San Jose scale
at one. time threatened to ruin the
orchard business, but the thorough
spraying did the work, and now it is
hard to find any scale in the valley.
Even though the scale has been
practically extermnated, nearly every
grower gives his orchard a precaution-
ary spraying of lime and sulphur in the
spring. One thing that seems very
peculiar in spite of the reported high
yields and large profits made is that
many of the owners have only bought
their lands recently and paid high
prices for them. Many of the people
are willing to sell, but the prices
ranges from $1,000 to $4,000 per acre.
The yields vary from $50 boxes to 500
per acre of first class apples. The
price per box for the last few years
has ranged from So to $3.15 per box
and some of the apples have sold for
even higher prices than this. The in
come per acre ranges from $500 to
S2000 North American