The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1905-05-01

ING fruit. Potash in the soil will help
and the presence of water in sufficient
ouantity is an important factor, but
the water does not do the coloring at
all but renders the plant food available
and that properly put into the circula-
tion of the sap does the work.
If this thinning was not done at the
time of pruning, which in the main
should be done while the trees are
dormant, then there may be some
thinning out in the summer time. By
going through with the primers we
can greatly help this congestion of the
foliage and let in the sunlight. 1t is
claimed that by spraying with Bor-
deauX mixture apples will color better.
From actual experience l believe there
is something in this. There is no
question but trees sprayed with this
mixture will have a very healthy fol-
iage. The leaves perform an import
ant part in turning the crude sap into
available nutriment for the tree. The
nutriment as it comes from the soil
cannot be used by the tree to build
up tissue or ripen fruit till it is first
elaborated by the leaves. Strong,
healthy leaves, such as we find after
spraying with Bordeaux mixture, can
carry on this process much more sue
cessfully than feeble and sickly leaves
such as we sometimes see.
AS this is the centennial of Lewis
and Clark's visit to the Pacific coast
| have been reading the account of
that trip and some other things con-
nected with the early history of the
northwest coast. Hubert Howe Ban
croft, in volume twenty-three of his
History of the Pacific States, tells a
very pretty story of the first apples
ever raised in the Pacific northwest.
On page AL of that volume l find the
following: '"The first fruit trees
grown on the Columbia sprang from
the seed of an apple eaten at a din
ner party in London. The dinner had
been given to Captain Simpson, of the
company's coast service. One of the
ladies' present, more in jest than in
earnest, took from the apples, brought
on with the dessert, the seeds; and
dropping them into Simpsons pocket,
told him to plant them when he should
reach his northwest wilderness. The
captain had forgotten the circum-
stance until reminded of it while din
ing at Fort Vancouver in 1927, by
finding in the pocket of his waistcoat
which he had worn last in London, the
seeds and playfully put there by his
lady friend. Taking them out he
gave them to Bruce, the gardener,
who carefully planted them; and
thence within the territory of Oregon
began the growth of apple trees" 1t
must be borne in mind that Fort Van
couver was in what is now the state
of Washington, SO that to this state
belongs the honor of producing the
first apple trees grown in the Pacific
northwest These infant apple trees
We're carefully taken care of and in
a few years were producing all the
apples needed at the fort. In 1888
Chief Factor Douglas in his Private
Papers says: ."Mr. Allen was in charge
OF the farms at Fort Vancouver. There
We're 700 acres under cultivation, in
Guiding apple and peach orchards"
But here is mention of peaches how
did they come to the coast? We
learn that a Captain Dominis in the
brig Owyhee left Boston in 1928 and
on his way out stopped at the. island
OF Juan Fernandes in the south Pa