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.
[Illustration: _A Young Willamette Valley Grove_]
This is a view of a part of the R. Jacobson orchard one and one-half
miles west of McMinnville. The land was bought for $60 per acre and when
planted to walnuts sold for $200. The orchard is now five years old and
could not be bought for $600 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?