REPORTS OF W. K. NEWELL President of Board and Commissioner at Large. APRIL MEETING, 1911. GASTON, OREGON, April 1, 1911. To the Honorable the State Board of Horticulture: It is impossible at the present time to make any reliable predictions as to the fruit crop of the coming season, as you well know, but the indications are good. Conditions so far have been favorable in most all cases; the trees ripened their wood well and went into the winter in good condition, and there has been no excessive cold to do injury. While we have had a few heavy frosts that have perhaps injured some of the very early fruits such as early strawberries, the great bulk of the crop was not sufficiently advanced to be injured at that time. Nearly all fruit trees are carrying a good supply of stronglooking buds and, barring extremely unfavorable weather, will set a good crop. It is hardly to be expected that the trees which bore the wonderful crop of last year will repeat the performance again this season, but from present appearances even these trees will have a reasonable supply of fruit. With the increased acreage which will come into bearing this season for the first time the total crop of the State should be considerably in advance of that of any previous year. Colorado is confidently expecting a bumper crop this year, as her crop of last season was very short, and our sister states of Washington and Idaho are also looking for good yields. Considerable preparation has been made at Eugene, Roseburg and in the Rogue River Valley for fighting frost. by means of smudge pots filled with fuel oil, and it is hoped that the tests will be sufficiently extensive and accurate to afford definite information upon this subject, in case it becomes necessary to use them at all. Some progress has been made in the matter of perfecting fruit-growers' organizations; many local unions have been formed and will be ready for business the coming season. While at the present writing it seems improbable that the scheme for a central selling agency for the entire northwest will materialize this year, the agitation of the question will result in good, by calling attention to the absolute necessity of strong local organizations as the only basis upon which the structure can be erected. Recent press reports show that the railroads have granted a material reduction in freight rates on fruits from California points east. Our growers should at once demand the same concessions. In accordance with an act passed at the last session of the legislature, the members of the experiment station staff at Corvallis will establish a number of branch stations for the purpose of studying fruit pests throughout the State. I trust that each of you will make it a particular point to co-operate with them in every way possible. W. K. NEWELL, Commissioner at Large. APRIL MEETING, 1912. GASTON, OREGON, April 8, 1912. To the Honorable the State Board of Horticulture: It is the unanimous opinion among Oregon fruit-growers at the present time that this is to be the "big" year in fruit. All indications point to a heavy yield, and only extremely unfavorable weather can prevent it. The great amount of new acreage that will come into bearing will swell the total, and it will likely tax our machinery for harvesting and distributing. However, it is not well to count our chickens before they are hatched; the time for spring frosts is not yet entirely passed, and our ideas may be materially reduced. But, in the event of a big crop, the problem of marketing will be a big one. This, of course, is not directly in our line of work, but indirectly we can have a decided influence. First of all, the standard of fruit marketed must be raised materially over that of last year. In a light-crop year the quality of fruit is always lower, and a little more latitude is advisable and even necessary, in the rules regarding marketing, but with a full crop we must draw the lines closer. The producer is entitled to protection against competition from inferior fruit and the consumer is certainly entitled to a pack fully up to standard. Not only must we be careful in inspection of the export fruit, and in that of the large markets, but in that of the smaller markets as well. The interior towns must not be made a dumping ground for stuff that will not stand inspec tion elsewhere. Pests may thus be introduced into new sections where otherwise they might be kept out for many years. I would urge that you give this matter a great deal of attention during the coming season and see that all your inspectors are fully posted. Fruit that is fit only for the vinegar factory should, just as far as possible, be converted into juice at the point of production. Such fruit should not be shipped unless there are absolutely no facilities near at hand for caring for it, and then only under special permit, and direct to a factory. I would also urge that you give every assistance in your power to the formation of local fruit-growers' organizations. With all that has been said and written on this subject there are still important fruit-growing districts in the State that have no organization. We must keep hammering away on the importance of every fruit-growing community providing its own facilities for marketing its crop in the most profitable manner. For many years, ever since Prof. Cordley worked out the problem of fighting the apple tree anthracnose, we have been advocating the importance of early fall spraying of the apple tree, and every year's practice shows more strongly the importance of this spraying. And now Prof. Lawrence, employed as a special investigator by the Hood River growers, and at this time also county inspector for that county, has been investigating this problem still further and has become convinced that the larger part of the premature rotting of fruit that has been giving so much trouble of late is due to the action of this most destructive fungus. It therefore becomes of still greater importance to apply this early fall spray in order to kill the spores on the fruit as well as on the branches. Prof. Lawrence advises the application of 4-4-50 Bordeaux or 1-30 lime-sulphur just before the apples are ready to pick. Red apples should be pretty well colored before spraying. Apples so sprayed will of course have to be carefully wiped before marketing, but that will be a small item compared with saving it from rotting prematurely. This will make the spraying most effective for the disease on the branches also. I am glad to be able to report that the question of standard packages and grades for fruit is at last in a fair way to be settled amicably and to the advantage of all concerned. This question, under the guise of the "Porter Bill," the "Lafean Bill," and the "Sulzer Bill," has been agitated for a number of years, and the northwest growers have felt that the proposed legislation was very unfair to them, in that it provided for a box that we could not well use, and that it failed to give any credit to superior size and color in its grading rules, and that the methods of inspection were faulty, and lastly, that the penalties for its violation were excessive. Mr. As the matter was brought up in Congress again this winter it became necessary for us to give it further attention, and to that end, Mr. C. E. Whisler of Medford and I went to Washington early in March. We were joined on the way by Judge Fremont Wood of Idaho, who worked in close harmony with us on every point. Representatives from the state of Washington were also sent, but owing to some delay they failed to arrive until after the question was settled. Joseph Wilson, of Hood River, also joined us at Washington. The friends of the "Sulzer Bill" were at Washington in full force; the National Fruit Jobbers' Association, the Western Fruit Jobbers' Association, the retail dealers organizations, and practically every fruit-growers' organization in the apple growing states east of the Mississippi River was represented at the conference and the hearing before the Committee on Coinage, Weights and Measures of the House. The friends of the bill had recognized the necessity of compromising with the delegates from the northwest, so a conference was held at the Raleigh Hotel the day before the hearing, March 6th, at which all the representatives were present, and it was agreed that the present bill should omit all reference to the box or basket package and be confined to the barrel alone; that all future objection to the northwest standard box as a standard package should be removed, and that the penalties should be made less stringent. A new bill was then drafted along these lines, and the substitute bill was introduced the next morning by Representative Sulzer of New York, and the entire delegation of fruit-growers and commission men appeared before the committee in its behalf. It is believed that this bill will pass at the present session and take affect July 1, 1912. This then leaves the field clear for us to secure the adoption of our box as a national standard, and it should now be an easy matter. Wherever the eastern growers are taking up the packing of apples in boxes, they are adopting our box, and the Colorado growers are beginning to realize that they must fall in line also. I believe that in future the majority of the fancy apples both east and west will be packed in our box, and that we shall use the eastern barrel for much of our cheaper grades. This was the opinion of most of those present at this meeting. I feel that this meeting will be productive of much good as many misunderstandings were cleared away and the feeling firmly established that our interests were not antagonistic, but mutual, and that we must work together in all things to estab lish higher grades of fruit, better marketing and larger consumption. The probabilities are that the eastern fruit crop will not be very large this year, owing to the heavy crop in many sections last year, and the excessively long cold winter just passed. The southern Mississippi Valley states report prospects very good at the present time. Another matter that our organizations must take up is the raising of funds for systematic advertising of apples as food. Not one-half the apples are being consumed by our people that there should be. Baked apples could supplant the bulk of the so-called "breakfast foods" to the great advantage of the American people, and a continued campaign of advertising could accomplish it. W. K. NEWELL, Commissioner at Large. ESTIMATE OF FRUIT CROP, 1912. GASTON, OREGON, December 1, 1912. To the Honorable the State Board of Horticulture: I submit herewith my report, of the quantity and value of the fruit crop for the State for the year 1912, based on the reports sent in by the commissioners and county inspectors, from personal observation and from all other sources of information available. The total is very satisfactory in quantity, and in view of the comparative low prices at which much of the fruit has been sold, in value also: |