Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1915-02-23
IMPORTANT QUESTION
WILL THE APPLE BUSINESS BE
OVERCOME?
An Authority Holds That Right Kind
of Fruit Will Always
Find Market.
The Oregon Farmer.

ways market aI IL Lar price lol th'
best things. | know this is perioC
of considerable Encouragement to ap
pie growers. In some sections OF the
country the crop is large but price:
are so low that there is very small
net profit. In other sections Of The
country the crop is small and the net
profits are practically nothing. In a
period like this the tendency is al
ways, for those who are least success
full, to decide to get into some other
business that will yield larger profits
1t is a time of pruning or wedding
out, for the elimination of those who
are less successful, but a broader view
of the subject leads me to conclude
that in period Of years such as we
must always consider in the prcduc-
ton of fruit that takes several years
to grow the trees, [ do not think the
business will be overdone.
First: There are nearly 25 per cent
less bearing trees in the United States
than there were at the taking or the
1900 census, yet the population has
increased.
Second: There are, annually, more
trees being dug up and allowed to die
from neglect in the United States
than are being planted.
Some time since, [ made trip
through the principal fruit growing
section of the Pacific coast states,
then into Kansas and Oklahoma, and
following that limestone belt Of soil,
running through eastern Kansas and
Oklahoma, Missouri and Arkansas,
southern Ohio, West Virginia, Ken
tucky and Virginia, thence up through
Pennsylvania, New York and Michi
gan. I was astonished at the num-
ber of old and decaying trees as com
pered with the trees recently planted,
and on inquiry as to the reasons l
found that they might be attributed
to the following causes: First, be-
fore the period of the scientific study
of horticulture many orchards were
planted in locations unfavOrable for
the production of fruits. Soil con-
ditiOns were not studied. 1t was not
known that orchards should be plant
ed where there is sufficient air drain
age to prevent frosts or where they
are protected by large bodies of wat
er. Therefore, many orchards have
failed when if they had been differ
emily located on the same farm they
might have succeeded. Second, when
the San Jose scale struck the country
several years ago it was supposed to
be an ineradicable pest Many or
chards were destroyed before a rem
edy was discovered Now that a rem
edy has been, discovered, those who
are specializing in horticulture find it
easy to control the scale, but the av-
erage small orchardist will not spray.
He has farm on which he grows
other crops; he is not depending upon
fruit for living; he produces little,
if any, commercial fruit. Orcharding
for him is not remunerative. Third,
the quality of apples placed upon the
market in recent times from archards !
that have been especially cared for,
according to the latest scientific meth .
ods, is so far superior to that grown
in the old careless way that the cas-
ual orchardist cannot compete sue ,
cessfully with those who have adapted
modern methods. ;
When fruits are put on sale those }
grown in the neglected orchards can :
not be sold at profit. The best fruits :
are in demand. 1t is the cheap stuff .
that has to be sold at less than cost =
of production. There have been a !
few exceptions to this rule, but there :
are very few. The accompanying ta- +
Bile of statistics l have compiled from !;
the census reports of 1900 and 1910, =
comparative number of bear h
ing apple trees for those years; >
Since the 1910 census, there have ;
been notifications of these statistics,
but they are not available to us now.
These figures represent a tendency to
eliminate the unfit and establish the
best; a survival of the fittest, or rath- ;,
ar of the best adapted. :,
There will be fluctuations in the :,
fruit market as in all other lines of n
business, but the man who is in the :,
business to make the most of it will
'ead, study, think and act in such a
manner as to produce the best crops
md the best of fruits. That man will -,
succeed He will take a view of the =,
based, not on prices in one :
'ear or two years. but of a period of =,
ears. He will know that the best -
hings are never overdone, and he will :,
ndeavor to produce that which the n
market will always take at a fair
roft. "