The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1907-12-15

experiment pays say the same lnlnS
and repeat the experiment. | have
one small orchard near my house on
the ranch that is too thick-I know It
and have known it for some years
and vet l have not the grit to cut
out fine healthy trees that bear good
crops. The only way l know to get
such work done is to hire faithful
hand. give him his instructions about
cutting out these filters and then to
leave home till the job is done. Ii
friend Hedger can work out his theory
to the letter he may make a success
of it.
If l were going to put out those
Rome Beauties, l would put at least
half of them Winesaps and may be
three-fourths of them. The Winesap
is a better seller than the Rome eBau-
| ty and with me bears quite as we'll and
| rarely Is much damaged with frost. Ii
the case is different where Mr.. Hedger
wants to plant his orchard, then |
| would recommend the apple called the
| Geneton or RawPs Geneton. 1t is the
| latest blooming apple l know OF, 1t
bears we'll and sells about as well as
| the Rome Beauty. The Geneton being
such a late bloomer may not cross fer
tilize very we'll with the Rome.
know of no apple that blooms precise
| ly with either the Rome or the Geneton
but all apples string along more or
| less and thus help each other out IN
| the work of cross fertilization.
do not know what Mr.. Stewart
means by affinity of one apple for an
other. l am pretty well read up on
| botany and plant physiology but l do
| not call to mind any thing about one
apple having an affinity for another
| We read in the newspapers about mar
ried men sometimes having an affinity
| for another mans wife, but | never
knew that apples cut up such unbe'
coming capers! So far as l know one
apple will fertilize another regardless
of any affinity provided that the pollen
of the one is placed on the stigma OF
| the other. Apples are so closely re-
| lated to each other, being merely dlr-
| ferent varieties and not different spe'
cies, that there is no difficulty in n.y.
| bridizing them. 1t is a law of plant
| life laid down by our bOtanists that
varieties will readily cross species
| frequently if nearly related, but gen
orally only on very rare occasions.
What we need to insure cross fertiliz-
| ing of apples is simultaneous bloom
ing with plenty of insects to carry the
| pollen from one flower to another, and
| not affinity unless this word affinity
has some esoteric meaning with which
l am not acquainted.
NY experience with very late
| peaches does not tally with that OF
| friend Hedger. Generally the price OF
peaches drops after the main crop. The
past season Elberta peaches sold in
| the Yakima valley from Is cents to 85
cents per box and yet I know of a
man who had several wagon loads OF
| Salways that had hard work to get
| 40 cents per box for them. Sometimes
| the Salway which is an October peach,
gets caught with an early freeze and
| they are ruined.
We have tried various methods to
| ward off the frost at blooming time
| with peaches but have not met with
much, if any, success. A smudge TO
| be of any use must hang over the or
chard but this with us did not prevail
| for it foated away. The theory or the
smudge is that by hanging over the or,
chard it checks radiation of heat and
hence keeps the heat absorbed by the
soil during the previous day. 1t does
not raise the heat but holds what is
already there. But to do this the
smudge must be there before the dan
ger point is reached. The reason why
cloudy nights prevent frosts is that
the clouds check radiation. If we
could spread sheet over our orch-
ards it would do the same thing. IN
California a screen of laths woven
together and stretched over an orange
orchard has nrOtected it. But we can