The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1908-01-01

where there is lack of room for eX-
pansion. | would plant the remainder
of this orchard SO feet apart but just
what | would do about filters I hardly
know. If | could get good varieties
as dwarfs | might plant them as fill
ers under these conditions Dwarfs
come into bearing somewhat earlier
than standards and are said to die
off before attaining great age. Pears
might be used as filters, also some
kinds of plums and peaches but even
tually they would be too thick and
then would come trying time for it
is hard to cut out a profitable tree. |
am afraid l would fail here.
would not go back on what
have said about the Stayman.
have said it has but one
drawback and that is lack of color.
What has happened the past season
convinces me that apples intended for
the eastern markets must be well col
ored Nearly all the buyers the past
fall required even the old Winesap to
be culled and the pale ones thrown out
and these were taken at much less
price. We received $2.10 per box for
our four tier winesapS but had to
sort out all that did not show fully
three-fourths solid red and these
brought us but $1.25 per box regard
less of size. Not half the Stayman
Winesaps would pass as first class un-
der this ruling. I see a good many
Staymans in the Seattle markets now
and very few old Winesaps. I may
be mistaken, but my opinion in this
is because the eastern buyers would
not take the Staymans. If / were
planting that orchard I would use at
least one-half old winesaps. You could
not do better for cross fertilizing.
AS to the question about the Stay
man being a complete Self-fertilizer |
would say that from all | can learn, |
do not believe any apple is. | believe
that cross fertilizers are beneficial in
| all cases but much more so in some
cases than in others. I believe that it
| is better to have different trees of the
| same variety than to have a tree en-
| tiely alone. There are some strange
things brought out in experiments
along this line but I will not dip into
them further now While I have not
gone back on the Stayman yet l am
convinced that it will not be the best
|
| things considered I would rather trust
the old Winesap than any other apple
1t will not sell as high as the Spitzen
burg or the Yellow Newton, but as it
| is a much better bearer taking one
year with another, it will make the
| grower more money. Neither the ap
pie that bears the best nor the one
| that sells the highest will make the
| grower the most money. If we had an
| apple as large as the Ben Davis that
would bear as well and sell as well
| as the Spitz then we would have the
acme.
| What strange ideas sometimes get
into peoples. minds. AS an illustra
ton of this l wish to mention the fact
that one of the leading journals of our
country recently sent out an inquiry
as to the best time to prune fruit
trees. Some fifteen or twenty replies
were published coming in all cases
from practical fruit growers. About
| two-thirds favored pruning in winter
or early spring. I have no fault to
| find with this view but in nearly every
| case the reason assigned for this view
was that 'the sap was gone to the
| roots" Here is where we meet the
| strange idea referred to. Is it not re-
markable that among a class of men
more than ordinarily intelligent the
idea should prevail SO generally that
the sap goes to the roots in the win.
ter and the bodies of trees in the sum
mer There is no foundation for such
a conception except the one that was
| long since founded in ignorance. If
a tree had no sap in its body in the
winter time it would be as dead as
dried herring" But some one may
ASK is there. not more sap in the body