Walnut Growing in Oregon | Page 4

per acre. It is located on a hill 150 feet above the level of the valley.
The largest single grafted grove in Oregon is situated one mile from Junction City, the property of A. R. Martin. He has sixty-five acres.
Washington county is rapidly acquiring popularity as a walnut center, many fine orchards being now planted. Mr. Fred Groner, near Hillsboro, is now planting 100 acres to grafted trees. The Oregon Nursery Company is establishing large walnut nurseries in Washington county.
In Douglas county, vicinity of Drain, little attention has been paid to walnut culture, but a sufficient number of trees are doing well to insure good results from large plantings.
In Jackson county, near Medford, a number of young groves have been planted, and individual trees throughout the Rogue River Valley furnish ample evidence of correct soil and climatic conditions in that section. Even when apple trees have been caught by frost the walnuts have escaped uninjured, bearing later a full crop.
In Tillamook county only sufficient trees have been planted to demonstrate favorable soil conditions.
While western Oregon is universally conceded to be the natural walnut center, eastern Oregon also has its localities where walnuts bear heavily, and will prove a good commercial crop. In Baker county there are thousands of acres of land adapted to walnuts; young groves are being planted, and a number of trees have produced fine crops.
When one considers the years of the future when the trees of each of these young groves will lift their symmetrical heads fifty, sixty, ninety feet into the air, laden to full capacity with a plenteous crop, each October dropping their golden-brown nut harvest that falls with the clink of dollars to the commercial-minded, but with an accompaniment of finest sentiment in the hearts of those otherwise inclined, one turns away with a desire to repeat the wisdom of these pioneer planters and start a grove of his own. With what grander monument could one commemorate his little span on earth?

LOCATIONS FOR ADDITIONAL GROVES
Much is heard, in a general way, of necessary climate and soil conditions for walnut culture, some giving preference to the hillsides, others to valley lands; some contending for a deep, rich loam, others for sandy soil. But a careful examination of the soils of Oregon and the trees now bearing thereon produces convincing evidence that almost any deep, rich, well-drained, western Oregon soil--and some in eastern Oregon--not underlaid by hardpan, will insure a good harvest, providing the right varieties are planted. The whole question resolves itself into a matter of intelligent choice of trees to suit varying conditions.
For example, the famous Prince grove is producing magnificent crops on soil decidedly clayey; but the place is thoroughly cultivated and careful selection has been made of hardy trees, the Mayette being preferred.
Another young grove is proving that walnuts do well on clayey hill land of buckshot nature, where the drainage is good and there is no rock or hardpan.
In contrast with the hill land, young groves are making admirable growth on the rich loam about Aurora and McMinnville.
Mr. Henry Hewitt, of Portland, has fine, young seedlings on a hillside, elevation 1,000 feet, that made four feet of growth in one season.
[Illustration: View of a Yamhill Orchard]
In the neighborhood of all these groves, there are hardy, bearing trees that amply foreshadow the future of the larger plantings. Colonel Henry Dosch, the pioneer walnut grower of Oregon, who has experimented rather thoroughly, even goes so far as to claim that rocky soil is not objectionable, providing there is no hardpan.
In this, as in all other horticultural pursuits, naturally the richer soils are best; but the industrious horticulturist, by cultivation, fertilization, and proper care, can produce a fairly good grove on unfavorable lands. However, so much of Oregon is favorable by nature that growers will hardly undertake to enrich the few less desirable areas for a good many years to come. Land that on the Atlantic slope would be seized readily enough, in Oregon is passed by, as there is still so much untouched that nature has made ideal. Years hence growers accustomed to the less fertile conditions of the far east will undoubtedly turn their attention to even the few poorer areas in Oregon, and make of them glowing garden spots.
It is a simple matter to determine the presence of hardpan; you have but to make a series of tests--four or five to the acre--with a plumber's auger; and this care should be taken in every area where soil conditions have not been fully determined.

PLANTING
Gather the walnuts during the fall or winter, fall is better, and put them in boxes about the size of ordinary apple boxes, putting in first a layer of sand (the sandy loam along the valley streams is excellent) about four inches deep, then a layer of walnuts about the