n 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 excell