The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1907-03-15
HORTICULTURE
-By r. WALDEN

A good many fruit growers in the
Pacific northwest remember with pleas
ure Prof. S. w. Fletcher, who now nils
the position of professor of horticul-
ture in the Michigan agricultural col
lege. A few years ago he FLIED the
position of professor of horticulture
in the Washington agricultural college
at pullman. I know he was well liked.
The death of his beloved wife caused
him to resign and return east he
filled important positions in New YORK,
and then was called to his present posi-
+ion man could scarcely be more
bonored az a horticulturist than to be
called TO this great institution in the
capacity of the professor of hort1cul-
+ura The editor of this department
esteems it a favor to be reckoned
nersonal friend of Prof. Fletcher's.
We have kept up more or less OF a
correspondence ever since he Ieft Full
man. Three letters have been re-
ceived from him this winter. He is
an indefatigable worker. very con-
scientious, and always tries to go to
the bottom Of things. I know no man
whom I would be willing to trust in
his conclusions to greater degree
than this distinguished pomologist.
This is Introductory to what follows.
Prof Fletcher concluded TO investi-
gate the Spencer seedless apple" ard
in harmony with the way he goes at
all such enterprises, he went to Spen-
GERS farm near Grand Junction, Col
orado, and made his Investigations at
INF rt1t rel SnQnCRr
was not at home, but Mrs. Spencer and
the hired man kindly showed him the
pile of apples in the barn He made
his examinations there on the grounds
and has sent a statement of his work
and his conclusions to the Rural New
Yorker, from which I make the fol-
lowing quotations: "I was Informed
that all Of the best apples had been
sorted out and sent to the various
agents who are booming the variety
in other states. However, 1 picked
out quite a number the hired man said
were as good as the average in size,
color and frmness. 1 cut open
% Or 80 fruits to investigate the seed
less character Of this novelty. In
over half of these found from two to
five seeds, although most Of them were
shrunken. But what interested me most
was that in over three-fourths of the
specimens that I examined the cores
were apparently well developed. l
chewed on them hopefully but the tough
partitions that separated the cells Of
the core got between my teeth and were
just as obnoxious as those in the core
of a Yankee Baldwin. Some specimens
have more core than others, bnt all that
I saw had enough core to require the
corer on them before they are put in
the baking pan. A large percentage of
the apples were wormy, although they
had been sprayed. Even the hired man,
who is enthusiastic over the apple, ad-
mitted that it was even more likely
to get wormy than other sorts.
IT returned from my visit feeling
that, so far as the tree is concerned,
the Spencer seedless apple is all right,
but that the fruit itself does not poss-
ess the essential points of a profitable
market variety. 1t is interesting and
unique, and may be the progenitor Of
something valuable in the future, but
of itself do not consider it worthy Of
commercial planting. The information
concerning this variety that I gained
from interviews with Colorado's fruit
growers will be presented in a fol-
lowing article"
The article referred to in the clos
ing paragraph in the above quotation
has not yet appeared. When it does,
some further quotations may be made
if any additional light is thrown on
this question.
Touching the quality of the seedless
apple there is some diversity of opinion
There is nothing strange about that
The other day I gave a prominent