YOUNG GROVES OF OREGON
The Prince walnut grove of Dundee, Yamhill county, thrills the soul of the onlooker with its beauty, present fruitfulness, and great promise. Lying on a magnificent hillside, the long rows of evenly set trees—healthy, luxurious in foliage, and filled with nuts—present a picture of ideal horticulture worth going many miles to see. There is not a weed to mar the perfect appearance of the well-tilled soil; not a dead limb, a broken branch, a sign of neglect or decay. In all, 200 acres are now planted to young walnuts, new areas being added each season. From the oldest grove, about forty-five acres, the trees from twelve to fourteen years old, there was marketed in 1905 between two and three tons of walnuts; in 1906 between four and five tons; in 1907 ten tons were harvested, bringing the highest market price, 18 and 20 cents a pound wholesale, two cents more than California nuts. The crop for 1908 was at least one-third heavier than for 1907. One tree on the Prince place, a Mayette, that has received extra cultivation, by way of experiment, now twelve years old, has a spread of thirty-eight feet, and yielded in its eleventh year 125 pounds of excellent nuts. Mr. Woods, the superintendent of the Prince place, considers walnut growing a comparatively simple matter; he advocates planting the nut where the tree is to grow, choosing nuts with care; and then thorough cultivation. The soil is semi-clayey, red, hill land.
Near Albany, Linn county, 700 acres are planted; the soil is a rich loam, and seems admirably adapted to walnuts.
Near Junction City, in Lane county, there are 200 acres of young trees. Every condition seems present for the best results.
Eugene has two small groves.
Yamhill county, where the greatest demonstration thus far has been made, has close to 3,000 acres in young trees, the planting having been both on hill and valley lands.
At Grants Pass, Josephine county, there is a promising grove of 600 young trees.
Near Aurora and Hubbard, Marion county, where the soil is a rich, black loam, rather low, a number of young groves are making a growth of four and five feet a season.
J. B. Stump, of Monmouth, Polk county, has a very thrifty young grove.