The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1914-01-29
new STATION
MAKES PROGRESS
EXPERTS CONDUCT EXPERIMENTS
Starring and Winston DO lnveStigatiOnal
Work on Problems that Confront
the Fruit Grower


The remark Of an eastern friend,
"Yes, have heard of Hood River, but
where is Oregon?" aptly illustrates the
enviable reputation which Hood River
has won through the quality Of the
fruit which she has sent out. 1t is a
reputation which one might expect of
older apple regions and, to those unac-
quainted with conditions, might signify
that the fruit industry here is much
older than it actually is. The greater
number of the orchards are young,
many of them have not yet come into
bearing, so that Hood River:is just
getting started.s New, problems pecul-
lar to the Pacific northwest have been
encountered by the growers, though it
is significant that they have not re-
tarded the development of the fruit in
dustTy nor shaken the faith Of the peo-
Pile in the future of the country. The
type of grower is not the kind that
retreats before every little obstacle,
but rather it is determined to meet the
issues squarely in the face, to search
out the causes and sources of our
troubles and the remedies therefor.
Realizing that the problems con-
fronting the Hood River growers we're
not confined to this district alone, but
that fruit growers throughout the state
were interested in their solution the
state joined hands with the county and
appropriated $4,000 per annum for two
years OIL condition that the county
would appropriate $1,000 per annum for
the same period of time, the said sums
/ to be spent in investigational work in
Hood River county and under the aus
pices of the Oregon Agricultural Ex-
pertinent Station at Corvallis. With
these appropriations st it's disposal tho
Oregon Agricultural Experiment Sta
tion established the Hood River sxpey.
iment station.
The primary work Of the station 10
investigationsl, advisory work is sec
ondary. lnasmuch as the results of
value from experimental work are
published as rapidly as obtained and
our horticultural papers are repless
with the experience of growers, thus
placing at the hands of the grower Q
knowledge of the general principles of
orchard management, the need of ad-
visory is greatly reduced. There are
problems, such as the fruit pit and
core rot.and the little leaf or so-called
"winter-kill," which have not been
solved. There are other problems
which have been solved for other fruit
districts, but which have not been
worked out under the conditions found
in the Hood River valley or the state
of 0regon. 1t is for the purpose OF
solving these problems aud building VI
horticultural literature suited TO con
ditons of the state that the station
was established. For this reason the
investigational work of the station il
paramount 'over the advisory work
The station is ready to act in this lat
ter capacity when possible, but there
are times when calls cannot be an
swered without jeopardizing expert.
mental work in which the whole valley
is interested and which should not be
allowed to suffer.
The Hood River experiment station
owns no land of its own, experiments
being carried on in the orchards of the
valley in cooperation with the growers
This was deemed advisable on accoun,
of the different soil types, elevations
and exposures to be found. For this
reason the value of the work depend.
partly upon the growers, the extent tC
which they are willing to cooperate
with the station and the quality of The
cooperation furnished. 1t is not neces
ssry to explain that it is impossibls fsl
| Ea atnt, 20 u nv
periments in every orchard in the val
ley, so the policy of the station hal
been to start experiments in differen
parts of the valley and under the vary
| ing conditions to be found. Ii ther,
are growers, besides those with whom
the station is conducting special exper
iments, who wish to make tests il
their own orchards, the station will no
only be glad. but anxious, to assist il
planning tests and aid the grower II
every way possible to watch and deter
mine the results that are obtsined 81
that future orchard operations will b,
come, not a matter of gutss work, bu
of judgment and With assurance tina
results will be obtained.
The problems with which the grover
have to contend outside of the market
ing naturally fall into three classes
| N The control of insects which infes
our orchards to the detriment of tn,
trees and fruit. (2) The control o
diseases due to fungi or Docssris o.
we'll as so-cslled physiological or func
tionsl troubles, which take their yearl,
toll and give nothing in return. %
This class includes problems of orch
ard management not included in tn
first two, such as soil management
pruning and general care of the trees
Each of these classes of problems EN-
sbraces such an extensive field that j
was thought inadvisable to place tn
burden 0of conducting work in al
three lines upon the shoulders of on,
man who could not be expected to b.
specialist in all three lines, so tn,
work of the station has been divide
into three branches and the following
departments established: Entomology
plant pathology and horticulture. Th
work OF, each department is under tn
control of its respective department a
the experiment station at Corvallis, g
that the growers have the benefit, no
only of the men on the ground, but ais
of experts at the Agricultural College
The department of horticulture is a
present conducting irrigation, cove
crop, shade crop and fertilizer expert
ments. AS conditions warrant othe
lines of work will be taken up. Tn
J relation of irrigation, cover and shad
crops to the fruit pit and core rot
being carefully worked out. Tests ar
also being made of different kinds Q
cover and shade crops with the bes
methods of handling the same unde
valley conditions. The advisabllity G
using commercial fertilizers in th
orchards is continually presenting il
self, some growers report no results
Others favorable results SO that the al
| plication of commercial fertilizers
somewhat of q gamble. A series {
experiments will aid in determinin
the.benefits, if any, from the use {
commercial fertilizers and furnish
basis for their use in the future. De
mite conclusions cannot be reache
j from one seasons work. From expe