The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1908-10-01
Edited by r. Walden

NOW, how am l to find out what tt
call them? Would it not be a good
plan to have some one, say the State
Horticultural Commissioner, whose
duty it should be to settle such ques
tons? tits easy for the nurserymer
to make mistakes. If he had come tt
my orchard to get buds, would have
honestly told him they were the Won
derful, and he would so mark his trees
but if he had gone to Mr.. LaughliI
he would have marked them Fitzger
add"
This letter forcibly sets forth the
difficulties in the way of keeping fruit
correctly named. The suggestion tc
empower the State Horticultural Com
missioner to settle the names of fruits
would not always work well. We haC
one State Horticultural Commissioner
whose naming was the sport of al
well-informed fruit men. He would
name any apple shown him, and if he
could not name it Immediately, he
would toss it to one side and call 1t
Seeding" All apples were once
seedlings, and some valuable seed
lings should be named. If that com
missioner had "settled" the names Of
fruit in this state, we would have ha6
the most unsettled mess ever known
in the fruit world. If the State Horti
cultural Commissioner was the best
informed man in the state on nomen
clature he could not name all fruits
During the Lewis and Clark Fair al
Portland I saw again and again H. E
Van Deman, whom I regard as the
best informed man on fruits in the
United States, puzzled to name some
apples. Sometimes after careful ex
animation he would say, 81 can't name
it," | honored him the more for moi
naming a fruit unless he could be sure
The man who pretends to know every
thing is generally one who knows but
little correctly. We have raised the
Wonderful peach for years and now
have it growing in our new peach orch
ard. My son, Smiley, knows it well
His judgment in this case, and in
many others, is just as good as mine
One of the things that cause con
fusion in the names of fruits is the
fact that many varieties have loca
names. Let me illustrates: The Other
day I was out at the Western Wash
ington Fair, held in Seattle. There
were fine exhibits from Yakima Coun
ty and from Wenatchee. Among the
Yakima apples 1 found as fine sam
pie of the Chenango strawberry as
ever saw, but it was marked Sher
woods Favorite. I told the young
man in charge that the box of apples
was misnamed. He said they had the
Chenango on exhibition and showed
me small striped apple about as
unlike the true Chenango as the lit
tie red Romantic (Gilpin) is to the
Esopus Spitzenburg. The young mar
said some one had named what
called the Chenango Strawberry Sher
woods Favorite. When l reached
home that evening consulted my au
thorities on the names of apples, ant
l believe I have as good as can be
found in America. The only mention
I could find of Sherwood's Favorite
was that the Chenango is sometimes
known locally as Sherwood's Favorite
Now, the rule among reliable nursery
men is never to catalogue a fruit un
der a local name, but under the name
recognized throughout the whole coun
try. Here is where the beneficial
work of the American Pathological So
ciety comes in.
No one is to blame for marking hi:
fruit wrong when he has done what
he could to get the name right. A
person makes mistake that may cos
him money if he fails to mark well
known fruit correctly. For instance
the Winesap, Jonathan, Rome Beauty
Spitzenburg and Newtown will sell bet
ter under their own names than under
any other. Any well-known apple will
sell better under it's own name. 1t II
serious mistake to try to fool buyers
by giving an inferior apple a new
name. They will soon catch on to thu