The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1912-05-30
NORTHWEST WILL
BE PROSPEROUS
FINE FRUIT AND GRAIN PROSPECTS
The Value Of the Years Fruit crop of
the North Coast Communities
Placed at SIS, ,0O0,00

Apples, by the millions. big red and
yellow fellows, are being prepared ty
the rain and sunshine that a pr0yideut
Nature has bestowed upon the orchard
lists of the community for the million
box crop Of this fall. Never have tie
elements been more beueticially com
bined for the interests of the fruit
grower. The sunshine of Blossom
week was ideal for polarization and
now the recent rainfall will add to the
vigOr of the trees, increase the size of
the foliage and add to the size of the
fruit
The rains value TO the valley has
been very great Its greatest benefit
will be felt from the increase IN hay
and potato crops. The strawberry
grower, too. will feel the benefit.
The outlook for prosperity IN the
northwest was never better Not only
is the orchardist looking forward TO a
full purse but heavy rainfalls over the
eastern section of this state and Wash
ington makes the best prospects tor a
wheat crop in many years. The wheat
crop of the middle west is far below
normal, according to reports in eastern
newspapers. Oregon and Washington
farmers of the Inland Empire are
already being offered 75 cents a bushel
for the crop TO be produced. This is
greater price than they have ever been
offered for their crop at this time OF
the year.
The entire northwestern fruit crop
prospect is good. The value of the
yem g product is estimated at between
thirteen and fifteen millions of dollars.
While yet too early to form any
definite idea as to what the output will
be in the final results. conditions as
they appear at this date justify
reasonable expectation that it will
aggregate close to Is, 600 cars of apples
and pears, between 2000 and 5000 ears
of peaches and approximately 1900 cars
of Italian prunes that will be shipped
green. Aprcots will be comparatively
heavy, with cherries a fair crop only.
The total under Favorable condition
between now and harvest. should ex-
ceed the banner crop of two years ago
by so per cent,
Aside from heavy rains in some of
| the growing districts recently weather
conditions have been extremely good,
which, together with the tact Of light
crops in 1911, and the larger number
of young trees coming into bearing
throughout the northwest. are respon-
sibe for the bright prospect. The
prune crop in the willamette valley
and Clark county has been considerably
affected on account Of the late unsat-
sfactory weather, which is also the
cause Of much shorter cherry crop
than was predicted some time ago.
Some apple varieties in the different
sections will be lighter than normal,
such as the Jonathans in southern
Idaho and Winesaps in the Washington
districts, which are reported dropping
during the past two weeks. The pear
crop in southern Oregon will be fair,
Reports from nearly every section
east of the Rocky mountains indicate "A
heavy crop in sight. Colorado advices
| indicate a large output on both the
eastern and western slopes. Texas
will have a large peach crop, and the
Georgia peach crop will be similarly
heavy.
The general apple crops in the east
are expected TO be large owing to
unusually favorable weather cordi-
tons. The Michigan apple crop will
he heavy, but their peach crop and
other soft fruit acreage has been
affected to considerable extent by
recent storm conditions. So far there
has been nothing definite indicating the
character or extent of the miscel-
laneOus tonnage of soft fruits that
were abnormally heavy in 1911. Wide
distribution will be the essential factor
ia successfully marketing the north
west crops this year.
In the preparation for handling
bumper crops of grain and fruit this
sumner and fall, the O.-W. X. q N.
Co. has placed large order for rolling
equipment, including Is large locomo-
tives and several hundred box cars.
I his it is hoped will, with the thous-
ands of old cars, prove adequate to
handle the years crops with prompt
dispatch.
The Pacific Fruit Express, through
which fruit shipments originating on
this coast are handled, has ordered 1000
refrigerator cars to assist IN taking
care of the perishable fruit. This is
of particular Importance to fruitgrow
ers who depend on prompt and rapid
service.