The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1896-01-17

one season received from the sale Of
strawberries, grown on three and one-half
acres, $500 and a large portion of them
were grown in his young orchard The
cultivation Of this fruit does not require
near the amount of care and labor that is
required in the Eastern states
The raspberry, especially the red variety,
is perfectly at home here, even on our up
land. They produce wonderful crops, but
in our valleys they are simply immense.
This fruit is patiently waiting for some
enterprising person or firm to establish an
institution that will prepare it for ship
ment abroad. l received letter last year
from firm, not in the United States, that
had received an order for nine tons of this
fruit made into pulp to be shipped in large
casks to England. The firm could not get
the fruit in their own country, and we
could not ship because there was cents
per pound duty. Had we had a firm doing
that kind Of a business in some one of our
cities we could have filled the order with
ease and realized a neat profit. / speak
only of one case. The raspberry cannot be
shipped East fresh. Blackberries are
much the same as raspberries, are more
at home on our low lands, where they
bear luxuriant crops every year. The
Evergreen blackberry does equally well on
our upland; no fear OF frost hurting the
vines here. All varieties of currants do re-
markedly well, bearing large crops every
year. This fruit, as well as the raspberry,
blackberry and gooseberry, ask for a pre-
serving institution on Puget Sound. Cher
ries are being planted more extensively,
having proved themselves worthy, eSpe-
cially the late varieties, not because the
early varieties do not do well, but because
the demand is greater for the late ones,
they being superior for canning purposes.
There is no reason why an orchardist
should not have fresh cherry pie from
June to November l every year. Plums,
all kinds that I have seen, and this in
cludes the leading varieties, do well The
trees are remarkably healthy and carry
heavy crops each year. This fruit is now
receiving more attention and will be more
extensively planted. since it has been
proved a good shipper to the East, where
but little of such fruit is grown. Probably
no other kind of fruit has been so extern
sively planted on Puget Sound the last few
years as the prune. 1t also has proved it
self worthy and has such q reputation and
is so widely known the world over that
there are but few families who do not use
more or less Of them every year. The
prune does not have to be marketed when
fresh, but when dried can be shipped any
where at any time.
Peaches-This fruit Is not claimed to be
q perfect success on Puget Sound. The
writer, however, has not been without
peaches, grown on his trees, since 1886,
and which were claimed by a reputable
commission merchant in this city to be the
finest peaches that came to this market
the past two years.
Pears-There is one difficulty with this
fruit. AS with some other fruits, it gen.
orally bears too heavily, and is apt to
break down the branches o. the tree, I'M
less it's owner relieves it of some of it's bur-
den while the fruit is small. Size and flavor
ore equal to those grown anywhere. This
brings me to the last of Tho fruits that I
shall name in this paper, viz, the king
Of all fruits-the apple. I have carefully
watched this noble fruit on Puget Sound
for eleven years, being very much inter-
ested in its development, and now I am
perfectly satisfied that the apple is all
right. True, the red varieties do not attain
the brilliancy of color that they do where
the climate is warmer, but size and flavor
are good, and during my residence on
Puget Sound, without single exception
choice winter apples have always COM
manded a good price.