The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1905-02-01

TOUR 10 SIX Inches apart Oh Tie ILLUS
you will get good sized apples.
On our ranch in the Yakima valley
in 1901, we packed box of Missouri
Pippins that were three tier apples.
They were sent to Buffalo to the Pan
American Exposition and helped to win
the gold medal that was awarded me
on fifty boxes of apples. The amount
of work necessary to bring this apple
up to a good size is point against
it, but is not the chief objection. The
apple is decidedly poor in quality,
whether considered as an eating or
cooking apple. The past season we
had some six thousand boxes of Mis-
souri, Pippins and could sell them but
little better than our Ben Davis. At
picking time I interviewed some of the
commission men in Seattle, but they
did not want to try to handle them at
that time One of the best informed
men on Western Avenue said: eve
can't do anything with Missouri Pip
pins till all the good apples are out
of the way. AS an eating apple they
won't sell till spring and they are
never good as a cooking apple" That
is a fair presentation of the case. The
Missouri Pippin is poor stock on
which to graft any vigorous growing
apple. The Jonathan would do fairly
we'll on such a stock, for it is feeble
grower. If vigorous grower like the
Rome Beauty should be grated on the
Missouri Pippin the top would outgrow
the body and finally would break off.
If your trees are young and you should
ca hn
they might do pretty we'll.
At the present time some Of our
horticulturists, especially in the east,
are advocating what they call the
mulch system of growing apples. The
method consists in seeding down the
orchard to some kind of grass, any
kind will do about equally we'll, but
the hay cut from this grass is never
removed from the orchard but is left
there to rot. 1t is better to bunch it
under the trees rather than to let 1T
remain scattered evenly over the
ground This mOwn grass rots and
furnishes fertility to the soil. Ii the
clovers are grown the supply OF nj
trogen will be greatly enhanced, for
all leagumes gather nitrogen from the
air and store it up in the soil. Then
the soil is supplied with humus by
the rotting of this hay. This is an i'm
portant item in keeping the soil loose.
Then the mulch thus supplied shades
the soil aid induces the fibrous roots
that take in the nutriment from the
soil to come near the surface where
the nutriment is most abundant. All
this sounds we'll and no doubt has
some truth in it, but it will be good
thing to go somewhat slowly with this
new fad till it is thoroughly tried.
Especially would I caution the apple
growers in the warm valleys of Wash
ington and Oregon to think twice be-
fore they adopt this mulch method.
Our greatest pest in these warm val
legs is the codling moth, it's ravages
exceeding all other pests combined.
We can do much in fighting this pest
by spraying at the right time and
with the right material. But it is
important to supplement this spraying
with every other means of diminish
ing the number of these moths. Clean
culture with the aid of chickens and
the birds is an important help in. keep
ing this insect under control. After
we have sprayed and banded our trees