best, and were atracting favorable attention abroad. The last few years trees of these varieties had been set out by hundreds of thousands all over the State, but mostly through the Willamette valley. The trees when properly cared for make a vigorous, healthy growth; and five years from the setting make pecuniary returns.

As these to-day are our leading varieties and of considerable importance and great promise in the future commercially, they seem to deserve some historical record. The prune, as before stated was introduced in 1847 by Henderson Lewelling of Iowa. Our little German prune-Rhine prune, Lewelling prune-is the true German prune, a native of the Rhine, propagated from the seed, and cultivated more extensively in Germany and over the continent of Europe than any other fruit, and is the "butter" and the condiment of the peasantry and a principal source of revenue. The prune has always done well with us. In 1857 Mr. Henry Miller, of the firm of Miller & Lambert of Milwaukie, who had purchased the orchard of Lewelling & Meek, sent to Ellwanger & Barry, of Rochester, N. Y., for the best drying prunes; and in answer, received scions of the Italian (Fallenburg), and a little oblong purple prune called the d'Agen, but not the prune grown now as Petite d'Agen or French prune. These scions were worked on bearing plum trees, and soon bore heavy crops. The d'Agen, though a sweet, palatable prune, when green, proved to be a poor shipper and watery and unsuitable for drying; so after being pretty extensively tested over the State, was abandoned. The Italian was a large palatable fruit, a good shipper and yielded 33 per cent. when dried; making a showy black prune excellent as a "confection" to eat out of hand; requiring little sugar and of the finest flavor when cooked. The tree is free from all pests, stocky and vigorous; is a regular bearer, carrying its fruit well distributed, and requiring no thinning; remarkable in the respect that it sheds all fruit, it cannot perfect to a good large size according to the dryness of the season. The tree responds to good treatment but does tolerably in the grass plot and under neglect, and has been called "the poor shiftless man's tree. This prune brings in the Eastern markets 2 cents per pound more than any other prune grown on the coast, and is favorably known as the "Oregon prune," and is destined at no distant day to be a leading commercial export. But it is pertinent and proper to say that much talk and many published statements about large yields and net profits of from five to seven hundred and fifty dollars and upward per acre annually, notwithstanding they are true, are misleading and should not be considered in a business proposition. These are rare and fortunate exceptions in favored localities, under exceptionally favorable circumstances, and will not apply to the general grower. One, two or three hundred dollars per acre net returns annually, according to the locality and orcharding skill, and pecuniary ability of the man is good enough. This is a reasonable conservative estimate which may be relied upon, leaving the rest to the possible, and the hopeful dream of the visionary.

About the year 1858, Mr. Seth Lewelling, a brother of Henderson Lewelling, set the first Italian prune orchard near Milwaukie, which continuously, since 1865, has borne regularly and always paid a handsome dividend to its owner. Others, noting the elegance of the fruit, in quality, size and flavor, and its fine shipping and drying qualities, began setting trees in different localities over the State for home use, and as an experiment to test locality, and as a basis for business calculation. About 1870 there was much talk and speculation about prune and plum growing as a business, for and against, those favoring showing facts and figures; those against claiming that our prunes were not the true German and Italian prunes, and that the prunes in this country would, as they had in Eastern states, degenerate into a worthless, watery plum not fit for drying, and at any rate, that the curculio would soon come and destroy them. Solid business men considered the prune business a visionary scheme, not worthy a serious consideration.

To verify our plums and prunes, in 1872, I ordered from August Bauman, of Bolwiler on the Rhine, one of the largest and most reliable nurserymen in Germany, scions of fourteen varieties of plums and prunes. These came by express at a cost of $11 per package. After five orders and five packages in various shapes had been received in worthless condition, the sixth package enveloped in oil silk and hermetically sealed in a tin can, came in good order. These were grafted on bearing trees, and the third year bore fruit. The Italian prune, German prune, the Petite d'Agen, Coe's Golden Drop and all other varieties-just such fruit as we had been growing for these varieties-thus settled the matter of varieties beyond dispute.

My correspondence with distinguished entomologists elicited the statement that our climate, like that of France and Germany, was unfavorable to the curculio, and that as her work depositing the eggs was done at night, and when the thermometer was above 75°, we had an immunity from this pest in the fact that our summer nights were very cool, rarely up to 70° and generally much cooler.

Whereupon, from 1871 to 1881, I set eighty acres to orchard near Portland; six thousand prunes and plums, one thousand Royal Ann and Black Republican cherries, fifteen hundred Bartlett pears, five hundred Winter Nellis, and other pears and winter apples. Since 1880 to the present time, orcharding as a business has been growing in favor. The experimental era has passed. It has been proven that the business, when followed upon business principles, has always paid, and will continue to do so.

Very respectfully,

J. R. CARDWELL, Commissioner for the State at Large.

REPORT OF THE INSPECTOR OF FRUIT PESTS.

To the Honorable State Board of Horticulture:

GENTLEMEN: Allow me to say that for half a century I have been something of an enthusiast upon this pleasant and profitable subject of fruitgrowing. When a mere boy I began this study, and when I reached the years of majority I had planted and grafted a fine orchard on the old homestead in the state of Maine. For the larger portion of all these years I have been personally engaged in the propagation of fruit trees, and the growing of fruit and flowers.

In 1873 I was appointed one of the executive officers, a charter member of the Maine State pomological society, and was annually reelected to the same position, until the Oregon fever brought me this side of the Rockies. In 1876 I was delegated by that society to exhibit Maine fruits at the Centennial exposition at Philadelphia-Maine the extreme northeast State, the far-away State of Oregon, then the northwest extreme, occupying a table by themselves. I can assure you that the exhibition of fruit made by your commissioner, Mr. Dufur, was a most creditable one. Many were the expressions of praise mingled with tokens of astonishment made by the thousands who examined the Oregon exhibit, many of whom had scarcely realized that there was any such country on the globe as Oregon. From that day until now no doubt. has existed in my mind that Oregon could produce magnificent fruit. I refer to these personal incidents, not in a spirit of egotism or boasting, but rather to show that I have always had a love for fruit culture, and am not a mere novice in it.

In submitting a brief account of my visits to different portions of the State, I can only give a partial statement of my observations since our meeting in April last, at which time I was appointed inspector.

It has been my object to get a general impression of the condition of our orchards, and also to become better acquainted with the fruitgrowers, their opinions and prospects, and their methods of dealing with insect pests. Necessarily my stay in each town has been short. Ï have endeavored to call the attention of all interested in this important industry to the existence of insect pests, and to the adoption of the best known methods in use for their extermination. Fruit-growers have, without exception, accorded me a hearty welcome; indeed I have been agreeably surprised in this respect; and I trust that my suggestions based upon the experience of many years and the opinions of leading horticulturalists in this and other countries have been of some value to our people. I have given the press from time to time the results of my investigations, hoping thus to awaken a more general interest in the subject and to stimulate a more thorough and earnest effort for the extermination of our pests. How successful I may have been remains for you and the fruit growers of Oregon to determine

In some cases I found orchardists inclined to be despondent over the present outlook; but, generally speaking, I am confident they believe we may yet grow good sound fruit in Oregon. New and well kept young orchards are being planted in all sections of the State, indicating that their owners have not lost faith in this industry.

About April 20th I visited the orchard of Louis Winters of Milton, Umatilla county. Having previously learned that his trees were so severely affected by some insect pest as to stop the growth and even kill the trees outright. I felt quite certain that it was not the black scale, as he supposed, but a worse pest that threatened the existence of his orchard. My impressions were well founded, for the San Jose scale (Aspidiotuus Perniciosus) was there. At first this insect appeared on a Petite prune and a pear tree, two trees which Mr. Winters said were sold to him for trees coming from Rochester, N. Y. Upon investigation it was found that these trees were brought from California, whence this dreaded insect has been spread over the State by the industrious tree vender. From this small beginning they spread very rapidly. Mr. Winters had sprayed all the trees showing any sign of the scale in the winter season, after having cut out root and branch and burning many of his peach trees, which variety seemed to suffer most. The peach trees were planted alternately between the apple and pear trees. The work was well and thoroughly done, apparently and I could find no living scale left. In an adjoining orchard I found a few prune trees that had a few scales on them, standing near three or four other prune trees that had been badly infected, the latter having been treated to a liberal spraying of kerosene, undiluted, resulting in the death of both trees and scales. The scale was brought into this orchard from Mr. Winters simply carrying one or two fruit boxes there to be filled with prunes. I also found the scale had taken complete possession of a number of birch trees standing beside a water ditch several rods distant, and as they could not be removed without passing over ground planted in the orchard, I requested Mr. Smith, the owner of the premises, to spray them with as nearly boiling hot concentrated lye and rosin as he could handle, sufficiently hot and strong to kill both tree and pests, which he did, as he informed me a few days later. In order to be satisfied that the work had been well done in these two orchards, I wrote some weeks later to Mr. Winters, who informed me that no sign of the scale could be found. At this time the pest had only been known to exist in one other portion of the State, in Southern Oregon as reported by Commissioner Whitman, of Medford.

The apparent successful treatment at Milton, proved but an illusion; for, in answer to a second inquiry, in the month of October, Mr. Winters informed me that the scale had again spread over both these orchards.

During my investigations this season I have found it in several counties, and in some locations to such an extent that the crops of fruit

were blighted, and the trees entirely ruined, and still in most instances. the owners thereof were not aware of its presence.

In California no other scale insect (and they have a number to which we are yet strangers) has wrought so much harm to deciduous trees and spread over so much territory as this, and I would urge the fruitgrowers of Oregon to prompt and united effort for its extermination. One thing is evident, viz. that active co-operation must be had, in the towns and cities especially, where gardens and orchards are in close proximity; otherwise the pests would naturally spread into the country and thus cripple the efforts of those who would diligently seek to be rid of them.

For the information of those who may not be familiar with this scale, a brief description of its appearance on fruit trees may not be out of place at this time. The fruit shows a distinct red mark around the spot where the insect is located; the branches also show the same quite plainly. The color of the fully grown covered scale is grayish, the nipple darker, and the young scales appear like fly specs. The full grown scale is scarcely one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter. Each female produces thirty to fifty eggs. The young larvæ are quite active; color, pale yellow, and scarcely perceptible with the naked eye. There are three broods, hatching in the months of May, July and September or October. When the trees are badly infected the bark when cut will be found to be discolored and red. Professor W. G. Klee, inspector of fruit pests in California, is of the opinion that these hatchings vary somewhat with the climate and season, and that evidently all the insects do not hatch at once, and this agrees with my own observation, for I saw the young insects in great numbers crawling on the sunny side of trees even as late as the twenty-ninth of October. Enough of the young larvæ thus linger between the periods of hatching to prevent summer washings to be thorough remedies; the old scales being too well protected to be killed by any wash that can be safely applied in summer while the trees are in leaf. In winter, insecticides sufficiently strong to kill the protected insects may be used without endangering the life of the tree or injury to the fruit buds. Indeed, this is the best season of the year to apply remedies for all the insect pests, except the codlin moth, of which mention is made later on.

At the urgent request of leading fruit-growers of Walla Walla, I went there to learn that the San Jose scale, the maple scale and the black scale, as well as the pests that are more common to us, including the woolly aphis, had gained a foothold in the gardens and orchards of this beautiful valley and upon the ornamental street and lawn trees in and about the city. In one orchard I visited, a few miles out of town, not less than two acres of fine young trees were nearly ruined by the San Jose scale. These trees had been treated, however, and if properly cared for may recover.

Judging from the experiments thus far in this State and profiting by the valuable publications issued by the board of horticulture of Califor