GROWING PRUNES IN THE WILLAMETTE VALLEY.

By A. C. GOODRICH, Commissioner of the State Board of Horticulture for the First District.

In discussing the prune in the Willamette Valley there is only one variety, the Italian, to be taken into consideration. In the earlier days of prune-planting the different varieties were all tried, and to that fact may be attributed many of the earlier failures. In the first plantings there were perhaps quite as many of the Petite or French prunes planted as of the Italian variety and as it later developed that this variety was not at all suited to our conditions, however well it might be to those of our neighbor State of California, half our first orchards were from the very beginning doomed to be failures. Then, when we consider the fact that we had no data on which to base correct judgment as to what soil would be best for them, at what elevation they should be planted, how far apart, how they should be pruned or cultivated, how cured or how marketed, the really surprising fact is that all are now agreed as to the one variety to grow, most are agreed on all the other essential facts, including that hardest one of all, marketing.

In spite of all these adverse conditions and the fact that the apple grows in the Willamette Valley with the same abandon that weeds grow in a well fertilized garden, the prune, in only about a quarter of a century, has reached first place as a market fruit and bids fair to maintain its position, in spite of the fact that for some years the major portion of the tracts cut up by real estate dealers into small parcels and sold to non-residents have been planted to other fruits.

While the planting of prunes has of late years not been so general as the planting of walnuts and apples, they have, in the main, been planted by men who know what they are doing and how to do it, or by their neighbors who learn how, largely by profiting by the experience of those already in the business. Because of these conditions and the close personal attention they are likely to receive there will probably be a much larger proportion of the prune-plantings reach profitable maturity than there is likely to be of any of the other fruits or of nuts.

At first the prune trees were planted much too close together; one orchard I have seen being only eight feet apart, though most of them were planted 16 to 18 feet. The net result of this was that in a comparatively short time the ground was full of prune roots-in fact long before the trees came into profitable bearing, and the plant food available in the soil was so far exhausted that the trees only bore alternate years, or the fruit was so small as to be not only largely unprofitable to the grower, but a menace to the market of the future, for the Italian prune, like the Hood River and the Rogue River apple depends for its most profitable market on the high quality of the output. The distance between the trees has been gradually widened until now most orchards are set twenty-four feet or more apart, and the fact that in digging a ditch last winter eighteen feet from a seven-year-old prune tree I found a root as large as a lead pencil, leads me to believe that in the near future we are likely to be setting them thirty or more feet apart.

PRUNE GROWING IN WILLAMETTE VALLEY.

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As a crop of fifteen tons of green prunes, while above the average is not at all uncommon, it can easily be seen that the soil that grows them must be very fertile in the first place and well and regularly fertilized or it will soon be producing small unprofitable fruit.

In planting prunes the ground should be well and deeply plowed in the fall or early winter, preferably after having plowed under a crop of clover or vetch the preceding summer, and left rough till the following spring. At any time after the trees are entirely dormant they may be dug and set in the orchard whenever the ground is in fit condition to be worked. On very loose soil it is, perhaps, better to set as early as possible, so that the dirt will settle well around the roots before the dry weather comes, while in more compact soils, later will probably do quite as well so the soil will not pack too tight about the roots, thus increasing the work of cultivation. As early as the soil is in right condition to be worked, and it should never be touched while wet, the top should be broken down with the harrow and worked from that time until the latter part of July so as to keep it finely pulverized on top to retain the moisture. If any crop at all is grown between the trees it should be one that can be "laid by" in time for the trees to harden up the wood so as to be ready for the winter; otherwise, there may be serious injury from early frosty weather. It is hard to recommend any crop for growing between the trees as the crop must be one that can be profitably used or one that can be readily marketed at a profit. Hay or grain is not to be considered if one expects to give the trees the care they should have. Personally, I consider potatoes very objectionable, on account of the great amount of potash they remove from the soil. While our agricultural chemists tell us that our soil is very rich in potash, having enough to grow wheat for two hundred years, one only has to look at the spot where a brush pile has been burned and compare the growth of vegetation on it with that on the surrounding ground to realize that there is none too much of it available. If cows are kept— and cows and orchard make a splendid combination-and the soil is sufficiently rich to make it worth while, corn may be grown for ensilage and the fertility returned to the land in as readily available form as it was before. Possibly cabbage may be profitably grown if the soil is rich enough and there is a good market near. Beans can be grown with benefit to the land, rather than injury; though they are seldom very profitable.

Just as the buds begin to swell the trees should be headed to the desired height and on this point there is some divergence of opinion, the usual height being from twenty-four to thirty-six inches high. After the leaves have started all should be stripped off to within about a foot of the top and the following winter all of these but three should be cut back to within four to six inches of the trunk and these should be distributed as nearly even as possible around the tree and at some little distance apart so that as the trees grow older they may not be too near together. The following year all limbs growing from these should be cut off except not to exceed three on each primary branch and these should be cut back to fourteen to sixteen inches. The prune tree should always be cut to inner or upper bud as it has the habit of drooping with the weight of fruit and if the branches come from the lower side they will usually soon droop so they are in the way of cultivation.

Four-Year-Old Anjou Pear Trees-Southern Oregon.

GROWTH OF THE FRUIT INDUSTRY IN OREGON IN

THE LAST DECADE.

By H. M. WILLIAMSON, Secretary of State Board of Horticulture.

The figures of the United States census of the year 1910 are not all available yet, but the more important items have been published. The following table shows the population of Oregon; the number of farms in the State and the amount of production of various crops of the State as shown by the censuses of 1900 and 1910, with the percentages of increase in each case. The crop year covered by the 1900 census was that of 1899, and the crop year covered by the census of 1910 was that of 1909:

In the 1900 census the value of all tree fruits are grouped in the published returns. In the 1910 census the values of each of the leading kinds of fruits are given. The value of the apricots and quinces grown in 1909 are not yet available but if we estimate the total value of the 4,618 bushels of apricots and 5,344 bushels of quinces grown in 1909 at $10,000 then the total value of all the tree fruits grown in Oregon in 1909 was $3,337,717. For the year 1899 the value of all tree fruits grown in Oregon was $906,015. The increase in value for the decade was 268 per cent, as compared with an increase of 190 per cent in the quantity of fruit produced.

It will be observed that the percentage of increase in the quantity of all tree fruits produced in Oregon was approximately seven times as large as the percentage of increase in the number of farms in the State; four and one-half times as large as the percentage of increase in the production of hay; fifteen times as large as the percentage of increase in the production of grain; and nearly seven times as large as the percentage of increase in the production of potatoes.