The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1906-11-15

serious injury to apple growing
twenty miles north of Spokane. |
don't know unless | could know more
about the immediate surroundings.
Apples are successfully grown two
hundred miles north of Spokane In
British Columbia in what is known as
the Okanagan country, but l have
known the frost to wipe out an apple
crop in southern Idaho three or four
hundred miles south of Spokane.
Danger from frost is a question not
simply of latitude but of immediate
surroundings. These l cannot know
in many cases. Sometimes quarter
of a mile difference in locality will
mean much in immunity from frost.
The only safe thing to do in such
cases is to make inquiry in the I'M
mediate neighborhood. 1 would advise
inquirers not to expect me to give re-
liable answers about localities OF
which I know nothing or but little.
]. F. Prichitt, of Sunnyside, Wash,
asks "Will Bartlett pears bear bet
ter by having other pear trees among
them?" Yes. The department of
pomology, as a part of the department
of agriculture, has experimental with
this matter and has shown that the
pears are better in size by such cross
pollination than where they are grown
by themselves. AS a rule no kind OF
tree fruits, whether they belong to the
pyrus or the prunus family, will do so
well when grown alone as when mix
ed. Some are more nearly self-sterile
than others, but the safe thing to do
is not to plant any kind alone if it can
be avoided. The different varieties
need not be very near each other but
near enough so that insects will carry
the pollen from one tree to another
when they are seeking the nectar for
storing up honey. 1t was once sup
posed that the pollen was carried from
one tree to another by the wind but
careful experiments have shown that
insects do the most of this work.
Again Mr. Pritchitt asks: "Will
some varieties of the apple bear better
on low. frosty land than other varie-
ties and if so, what varieties?" I'm
doubtedly some varieties of the apple
are more frost resistant than others.
This is owing chiefly to their bloom
ing later. The Rome Beauty is a
late blOOmer and sometimes bears
full crop near some other variety
which has none owing to this fact.
The Rome Beauty is a good annual
cropper on account Of this lateness
in blooming. Perhaps the apple that
bears the best on account of this late
ness in blooming is what is commonly
known as the Geneton or RaWl's Gene
ton. AS far as l can call to mind,
this apple is the latest of all in bloom
ing. 1t was known years ago as the
Never Fail' owing to the fact that
it escaped the frost by blooming so
late. There is some difference in the
frost resistance among the other var
ieties of the apple. The Ben Davis is
pretty apt to pull through with enough
bloom saved to make a fair crop.
This is owing to the fact that this
apple does not bloom out all at once
some buds are later in opening than
others. The Winesap is pretty hardy
in bud, likewise the Missouri Pippin,
the Wealthy, the Westfield and the
White Winter Pearmain. The apple
known as the Mammoth Black TWig,
ARKANSAS by the American Pomolo-
gical Society, is very tender in bud.
The Arkansas Black is somewhat So.
This difference in frost resistance is
not wholly due to the time of blooming
but must be to some extent owing to
the natural hardness of the buds.
Some crab apples, for instance, will
go through a heavy frost while in full
bloom and come out with a heavy
crop, while the better grades of apples
will be ''nipped in the bud" 1t is
hard to draw a hard and fast line on
this matter and what l have said