The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1908-10-15
HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT



come true when their seed is planted
is owing to the fact that cross fer
tilization is constantly taking place
and the seedlings in most cases are
hybrids Nectarines and peaches half
nectarine and half peach are not n.y.
birds, but simply freaks or sports, as
Gray. calls them, and we do not know
how they are brought about.
Louis Erb, a prominent fruit grower
of Cedar Gap, Mo-, under date of Sept.
Is, writes the Chicago Packer as fol-
lows relative to the Porter Bill now
pending in Congress: Congressman
Porter having been defeated at the re-
cent primaries for denomination in the
great apple growing state of New
York, his bill, like himself, will likely
be laid on the shelf for while and
will therefore not 'cuss' or discuss it
further. But it may not be inappro-
pirate in this connection to remind
my good friend, Herbert Moore, anent
his sprightly letter in last weeks
Packer, that 'hades' to which he says,
| wanted to consign some of the apple
growers in the days of yore, is decid
eddy preferable to the penitentiary
where he wants to land them by the
aid of the Porter bill. 'Hades' isn't
such a bad place as Mr.. Moore mag
ines. According to Greek mythology
'hades' means the invisible, lower or
subteranean world, in which dwelt the
spirits of all the dead; the world of
shades; the abode of the departed;
the good as we'll as the bad" I do not
make this quotation to join in any Of
the fun between Messrs. Moore and Erb
nor to Unfortunately condemn the
Porter bill, but to show that this bill
which originated with the National APP
pie Shippers Association, is not by
any means favorite among the apple
growers. While such a bill if prop
erly trimmed and made to fit condi-
tons in all sections of our country
may do much good, yet it must not be
forgotten that it is an apple shippers
bill and has not met the approval of
apple growers in only one state and
not all of them. That diseased or in
fected fruit should not be allowed to
be shipped from one state to another
is not a debatable question, but when
a law says what size the apples must
be and in what size and shape the
packages containing these apples must
be- and when it sets up new stand
ard for the cubic contents of bushel,
and one never before known in any
government on the face of the earth,
and that cubic contents for apples
alone, then the matter has gone too
far and such bill should never be
passed till it is well pruned of these
defects. l think it is unfortunate that
a farmer should be defeated for re-
nomination for Congress in a farming
community, but l am not informed as
to the cause or causes that led to
this.
I make the following clipping from
the Yakima Democrat of a recent
date: "There is general complaint
among the fruit growers against the
prevailing low prices for their pro-
duce. Some say that the low prices
are due to considerable extent to an
understanding that exists among the
local dealers which binds them to pay
only the scheduled price fixed by a
committee from day to day. 1t is
said that inquiries made in certain
Eastern cities, where Yakima fruit
has been going in large quantities, re-
veals the fact that wide discrepancies
exist between the price of peaches, for
instance, there as compared with the
prices paid here, after allowing LIBERAL
ly for all fixed charges. Fruitvale grow
ers, particularly, are dissatisfied and
say that they will not submit to such
conditions another season, but will
open warehouses of their own and
manage their own sales If such condi-
tons continue. They hope, 1t is said,
to have a spur built from the North