The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1914-08-27

Mr.. klemer is the orchardist who has
superintended the laying out of this
great community orchard: who for
three years has kept force of 40 men
and 20 teams at work preparing the
ground, keeping il cultivated to a de-
gree Of pulveriZation and preparing the
orchards for the new fruit growers
who are about to come. He is a youth,
in his 30s, who is a fruit expert be-
cause he loves il. And his love for it
is contagious.
"Oh, we'll build a schoohouse
whether they vote us a district or not. q"
he said, referring to troubles with the
school district. 'lt'll be used all
right.
Mr. Klemer built the community
civic center building on two weeks
notice. He waited until the residents
found need for il: let them believe
they wanted it, and offered to help
them.
1--WE want to hold a dance" they
said. So Mr.. klemer ordered the COM
munity centre. and in two weeks they
held the dance.
He does things scientiticially'because
lNo NuCupRsls
81 have to have good roads in order
to get around the place" he says.
They save me money.
''lt isn't the man who comes in and
breaches better farming that the farm
ers follow" he says. ''lts the man
who comes in and does il himself. The
neighbOrs watch him, and the next
year they do il too.
Mr.. Klemer took several hundred
acres of land, not set to orchards, that
until now has always been pasture
land, and planted clover. In the past
year the residents around Fern Ridge
clover and more is being set out this
year.
at makes feed cheap, and this re-
duces the cost of plowing," said Mr..
Klemer, who believes that the finer the
soil is the better the trees grow. He is
an advocate of dry farming, and in the
middle of hot summer day the soil in
his orchard is wet an inch under
ground. THE farmers are tickled to
death at this new product. They're
producing dollars on lands where moth
ing grew. They're keeping cows in
the barn where cows belong"
Mr. klemer is the son of a wealthy
manufacturer in Minnesota. He edu-
Gated himself at Cornell and at other
eastern universities, studied fruit grow
ing and horticulture and came west.
He picked up tract of land at Hood
River, earned money one winter by
cutting wood. and in three years sold
his orchard at tremendous profit.
With capital and five years of fruit ex.
periences. founded on college educa.
ti0n, he came TO Lane county and is in
Producing scientific fruit growing on
Fern Ridge, where ferns are now as
scarce as they were thick four years
ago. Each winter MIR. Klemer travels
abroad to educate himself nine months
of the year his orchard is his soul.
He believes in getting behind things
not in leading. His name is not even
among the incorporators of the great
fruit organization. He has declined
offers of community political positions.
He has had interesting experiences
with district school meetings and the
intrusion of the newcomer who cleared
the generations of pioneers off Fern
Ridge has caused some stir in the com.
munity. But these are his playthings.
His orchard is planted; his commun-
ity is in the process of development.
His next problem will be the dumping
of possibly a million boxes of apples,
lO.O 900 tons of prunes. a thousand car.
loads of pears and hundreds of tons OF
berries. Small fruits, which are inter.
cropped between the trees, form an
enormous factor in the markets of the
world.
The cooperation of the entire north.
west will be sought through the North
Pacific Distributors. Representatives
will be scattered throughout the world
and direct the placing of Oregon fruit.
at is not question of market, y
said MIR. Klemer "The world wants
fruit It's question of distribution
and organization. We can't dump all
our stuff into Chicago or New York
It's matter of not shipping 10 boxes
Of fruit where one will suffice.
"The refrigerator cars in express
trains direct from Alvadore to the
east, and refrigerator steamships,
capable of carrying from 100 to 2O(
carloads through the Panama canal,
will be the chief factors in our distrib
utinn -