The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1906-12-01

thing-and he did it. Why didn't he
tell us how Mr.. Spencer's neighbors,
seeing this valuable fruit, had been al
most falling over each other to get
trees or cuttings so they could plant
the. trees by the thousands? Surely
the enterprising fruit growers who
live all around Mr.. Spencer do not
have to wait till some one comes all
the way from Canada to tell them
what is a good thing Somehow these
neighbors have been very slow to
learn what a great thing this seedless
apple is or the promoters have been
very slow to publish their reports.
have seen reports from apple gro =
ers in Colorado who had examined
into the merits of this apple but
somehow these promoters do not pub
lish them. Why? l will let the read
err solve that conundrum.
This man Dryden claims to have
examined this apple and yet he states
in his report that this apple, being
solid all through produces more meat
than a larger apple with the obnox-
ious seeds and core" Now, | have
examined a number of these seed
less, bloomless, coreless, wormless ap-
ples' and never saw one yet without
the core and have never heard of any
one else who did, except this great
light" from Canada. When a man
sets out to do a certain thing he may
become like some of whom we read,
having eyes, see not and having
ears. hear not" I have before me
some other silly stuff about this ap-
pie but this is enough.
NV friend, L. Ferdinand Floss, OF
Latourell Falls, Oregon, under date OF
Oct. II, asks some important ques-
tons and wants me to answer them
through The Ranch: "The Esopus
Spitzenberg bears well and regularly
every year on my land and its fruit
attains the highest possible color, the
whole apple gets blood red, but lacks
size, on account of it's development at
the time of the very driest season OF
the year without any available 1rrl-
cation. What I would like to know
from you is this: Could the size OF
this apple, under the circumstances,
be enlarged by top-grafting it on very
vigorous growers, like the Northern
Spy or Ben Davis? If so, and this is
natural rule or law, would they
grow smaller if top-grafted on slow
growers, like the Paradise apple or
ounces? Is the Northern Spy our
hardest and most vigorous grower
and has it, as I have heard, the most
resisting power against sunscald,
blight or woolly aphis? If so, and
this quick and vigorous grower is able
to enlarge the size of other apples
grated on it, would it then not be the
most suitable grating stock among
others for all kinds of understood
good apples?"
In answering these inquiries | want
to say that | do not know enough to
answer some of them properly. My
experience goes to show that ii you
graft onto vigorous stocks you Will
get larger apples at first and they Will
be very illshaped and will lack good
color. When the new top is complete
ly installed and assumes its proper
shape the apples will come back TO
their natural shape, size and color.
They may be somewhat larger but
am not certain about that. l never
grated on weak stocks, SO could only
guess how it would be. In such case
your top would certainly outgrow the
body of the tree and would be likely
to break off in time. Again, do not
know that the Northern Spy is more
vigorous than the Ben Davis, Mann,
Wolf River, Black Twig (Arkansas)
and many others. I do know that
the Spy makes a good stock into
which to graft the weaker kinds. 1t
increases the yield and thereby tends
to decrease the size. For some reason