The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1905-03-15
following breezy letter under date OF
Feb. &c:

Feb. 70:
Dear Sir: AS you will notice by my
remarks in the Okanogan Valley Argus,
which The Ranch republshed in the issue
of Dec. Ii last, under the caption OF Graft
flying Recognition" you are my sugar plum
as a horticultural writer but you must De
more consistent or I'll be under the neces-
sty of yanking you from the pedestal!
But joking aside, while waiting for the
building of the governments Okanogan IT
rigation project, 1 have been very seriously
| studying the question of which are the best
Ave varieties of winter apples for a small
| commercial orchard. I say five, because
| l believe a common mistake is that OF
| having too many varieties. You nave
| taught that it is wisdom to make my
| selection from the well known ana trleo
varieties and market favorites, therefore
| | have thrown aside the list l made be-
| fore subscribing for The Ranch. had de-
| cided the varieties, for easy sale, should ali
| be red, but a concession to your Judg-
ment l am now willing to accept one yel-
| low apple, these candidates being Yellow
| Newton, Grimes Golden, and Yellow Bell
| flower, in the order named, because L think
you would classify them
Now for the reds! In The Ranch of
| Nov Is last you say you are topworlking
your Ben Davis to Sptzenbergs and other
| varieties. Dec 15 you say the Sp1tzenperg
is not profitable with you. This variety was
my first choice among the reds. The alt1-
| tude here is about the same as with you
near Zillah, 1 think, about 1900 feet rms
| apparent inconsistency on the Spltzenperg
|
me with Rome Beauty, Jonathan, W1nesap'
Arkansas Black, and Canada Red as candl-
dates from which to secure the four Varle-
| ties which, together with one yellow, give
nv total of five. Restricting the total to
five, would you include a yellow at all!
| Would you include the Spitzenberg among
the reds. considering that it is not an an
nual bearer?
| please place the varieties named in the
order of their merit as commercial apples,
| all things considered. Then tell at what
| of no
should be headed and the keeping qualities
| of the varieties with you at Zillah.
In answer to friend PrOctor's ques-
lions | would say that l have written
quite a good deal about the Spitzen-
berg apple. l have stated that in
some localities it is a good bearer,
or at least, is so reported, but that
in other localities it is not a good
bearer. Near Zillah it has not proven
to be a good annual bearer and TAX
ing one year with another, it is not
profitable apple. Where it has
proven itself to be good annual
bearer as in the Wenatchee valley
near Mission and other points, l
would most certainly plant it. 1t is
claimed for the Spitzenberg that it
lS very pTOuIdDle dppIS W SIOW oI
Hood River, Oregon | would recon-
mend friend Proctor to find out
whether it has done well anywhere
near him and at his altitude and II 1t
has done we'll under such surround
ings, then he may safely plant it.
Zillah is only 800 feet above sea level,
hence much lower than Riverside.
am not sure that elevation is the only,
or the chief factor, in the variations
in the productiveness of the Spleen
berg
Friend Proctor thinks | am not con-
sistent in top working some of my
trees with Spitzenberg after what
have said about it's non-productive-
ness near Zillah. Very well | am
willing to have such good friends as
Mr.. Proctor camp on my trail and
''yanK" me whenever they think l
need it. But they must not forget
that some months ago | wrote about
top working the Spitzenberg on some
vigorous varieties like the Mann,
Ben Davis and Northern Spy and
stated that my observations had con-
WINGED me that the Spitzenberg is
greatly improved in productiveness by
| boipo Gu mnrlzad While NV nYnQri-