The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1907-07-15

! ago this summer, my fatner and MS
family lived on Bluff Creek, five miles
northwest of Eddyville, near where
Henry Gray has his large orchard.
went to school that summer with Mr..
Gray's order brothers and sisters, my
own dear father being the teacher.
What Mr.. Phillips says about the
shortness of the apple crop is borne
out by other letters recently received.
My brother-in-law, Gen. B. A. Beeson,
treasurer of the National Soldiers
Home, Hampton, Virginia, just across
the bay from jamestown, where the
Tricentennial Exposition is being
held, in a recent letter says that there
will be no fruit in that part of the
country, all having been killed by the
late spring frosts. Another brother
in-law, G. M. Beeson, Dodge City,
Kansas, wrote me on May 26 that
their fruit was all killed. A sister of
these brothers and of my wife wrote
| the other day from Marshalltown,
Iowa, that their apples were all killed.
Thus it appears that all over the coun-
| try there is a great shortage in the
apple and peach crop. This does not
mean that there is an entire failure,
for there will be cases like Mr.. Gray's
where some late varieties will fur
nish some fruit. Then there are Sec
lions like Arkansas, Oklahoma and
western New York, where the crop
will be good But taking the country
all over and striking an average, it is
doubtful if, for a quarter of century,
there has been such shortage. 1t
is about time now for the fruit dealers
in certain sections to gather up the
favorable reports from the fortunate
parts of our great country and try
to bear the market by reporting phe-
nomenal yields This is trick often
resorted to and may be attempted
even this year. The fruit growers are
getting so we'll organized that this
trick can not be successfully worked.
Y
When | stated in The Ranch some
few weeks since, that wheat never
turns to cheat and gave my reasons
| for this view, expected that someone
would dispute my conclusions. This
| is a privilege that we all have. NO
one is obliged to accept my conclu-
sions unless he wants to. 1t is our
intention to treat every one fairly and
let our readers hear both sides, and
then let the matter rest. The follow
ing letter presents the other side:
sherwood Ore. June FL, 1907
"In The Ranch of June 1, page 3,
this question is asked: Will wheat
turn to chess or cheat?' Now, will
try and answer the question by ask
| ing another one. In the spring Oh
1853. in Lee county, Iowa, l sowed
two acres of spring wheat quite early
on new ground. 1t was what is termed
a. chips-of-the-woods pasture which had
been fall plowed. In about a week
after sowing, the weather turned real
cold and about "a inches of snow fell.
When warm weather came the wheat,
as supposed, came also and grew
finely, but when it should have headed
out we looked at the stuff and 1t did
not look like wheat and there was
not one single head of wheat in the
entire patch. 1t was as fine a two
acre patch of chess as "a man could
find in a life time. The land never
had a crop of any kind on 1t before.
Now, where did the wheat go to, and
where did the chess come from?
have farmed all my life and have
always found that whenever there is
any cheat it is after hard winter.
81 w BAKER"
4
do not attempt to answer Mr..
Bakers question. A scientific investi-
CATION can not be made after 81 years
with but one witness living. No doubt
but friend Baker is perfectly honest
and truthful in his statement, but
have not a doubt but there is mis-
take somewhere If wheat by chance
GAL. THREE-RANCH
turns into cheat then our scientists
| could hiring about the same results,