The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1907-06-15

Y
[ have said before in these columns
that if the Spencer seedless apple and
the Waters seedless are so nearly iden-
teal that good judges can not tell the
difference, then if one is worthless so
must the other be. The Spencer Seed
less Apple company say that the Waters
apple is worthless, and many of our
best judges say they can see no differ
ence between them. If these good
judges are not mistaken then the seed
less apple company have pronounced
| their own apple worthless.
Y
All horticulturists in the northwest
either personally know E. L. Smith, of
Hood River, Ore, or know Of him. He
is president of the Northwest Fruit
Growers association. was long presi-
dent of the Oregon state board of horti-
culture and refused to serve longer, and
is unquestionably one of the best judges
of fruits in the Pacific northwest. In
a recent letter to the writer dated March
81, 1907, he says: "I saw the Waters
seedless apples and tasted them some
fifteen years ago and pronounced them
off in color and decidedly off in quality
of taste. I saw them again in the fall
of 1905, and have also seen the Spencer
Seedless and I am sure it would take
a keener vision than my own to detect
the difference Personally, so far as
my judgment goes, it has no value and
would not cucumber my land if the
trees were given to me, planted and
cultivated without cost to myself" I
have much more matter of this kind
before me and some time may publish
some of it.
Y
In the last issue of The Ranch I
promised to give H. E. Van Deman's
estimate of the beauty of the apples
grown on the Pacific slope. We have
learned to regard Prof. Van Deman as
the friend of this section of our great
commonwealth, not because he is par
tial to us but rather owing to his cos
mopolitan character and his wide &C
quaintance with fruit growing in all
parts of America, he is not sectional in
his decisions. In Green's Fruit Grower
for April, 1907, appears the following
question: What will give better color
to our fruits? Some of them do not
color up as they should, and especially
some seasons that are rather wet. Will
iron do it? Tell what it is" H. E.
Van Deman, who is associate editor of
Green's Fruit Grower, in which we find
this inquiry, makes the following an
swer: Mature usually provides the
elements in the soil and the conditions
suitable to the co1oring of fruits. There
are differences of coloring in brilliancy
and intensity of the same varieties in
different sections of the country, which
usually come from the state of the air
and sunshine rather than that Of the
soil. For instance, the apples and pears
that are commonly grown in the eastern
and central states are much more
beautiful in their coloring and are
more free from imperfections of the
skin where grown in the Rocky noun
tains and futher west. This Is so not
iceable that many good judges of fruit
do not recognize the varieties there
that they have long been familiar with
in the east The altitude has much to
do with the purity of the air; for the
germs of many plant diseases are COM
mon in the great valleys and plains
where the temperature and humidity
of the air are very much greater. The
most highly colored apples I ever saw
were in the orchards Of western Colo
rado some of which were over 1000
feet above the sea. In Utah, Idaho and
the eastern parts of Oregon and Wash
ington, the air is so pure and dry, and
the sunshine so clear that the most
perfect coloring of fruits is a natural
result.
+
"Of the soil constituents that enter
into the coloring of vegetation, iron
is one Of the most important Some
people have the notion that putting iron
filings or even scrap iron in the soil
that 1t will add to the hrieht cnlnrine |