The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1908-12-01

"The prune grown here is much larg-
er than that grown east of the Cas-
cades, the fruit absorbing a great deal
of water from our moist atmosphere,
and when fully ripe is soft!" No fruit
of any kind ever absorbs any moisture
from the atmospheric must all
come through the roots.
Many inquiries are coming to me
about orchard planting-what varie-
ties to plant-how far apart and wheth-
er it is advisable to use fillers-what
is the best location as it relates to
frost drainage, etc. Some of these in
quiries come by letters with the re
quest not to publish the writer's
names, some are made by personal
calls and some come to me over the
telephone. l have broken my rule not
to answer such questions by mail and
answered few personal friends in
that way, but l must call halt. |
have treated all these matters in for
mer issue of The Ranch, but know
we have many new subscribers, anu
then no doubt there are many old sub
scribers that did not heed what l said
because they were not then thinking
dOUuC uSW OlCuol u NihOJ
are in much the same condition |
was forty years ago, when l did not
notice painted wagons till was paint
ing one myself. Well, shall not COM
plain if l have to answer the same
questions again and again. But please
do not expect answers by mail
Between now and next spring l will
again go over the usual questions that
of
scribers may think that the constant
answering of the same questions will
become monotonous. That may be
true, but the persons who do not
need these answers can well afford to
be generous in this direction for the
good of new beginners. One thing |
promise, and that is I will not get
out of patience and scold.
I have learned a lesson with Keifer
pears that I believe is worth giving
to our readers. This pear has not
been in high favor in the Northwest.
It never gets mellow till it begins to
rot. AS an eating pear it may be put
down as failure. We have raised
some Keifers for a number of years,
but have never been able to sell them
to good advantage. This year we had
perhaps a dozen boxes. My sons said
tnat they could get no offer for them
that would justify packing them, so
they were allowed to fall off and 70,
or were fed to the hogs. When hav'
ing my apples and pears put up to
be sent to Seattle for my own use
this winter, had an apple box filled
with these Keifers. I knew that this
pear is grown quite extensively in
the neighborhood of New York City,
and that they find ready sale in the
cities of the East. There it is not
used as a dessert pear, but for cook
ing. So I had my wife cook some OF
these Keifers. First she tried bak
ing them, but they were not good;
then she tried stewing them, and they
proved to be very acceptable. They
do not cook so as to be in mushy
condition-each piece retains its
shape Cooked in this way and left
with a good deal of water so the pieces
would float, they proved to be splen-
did dish. We were pleased with the
experiment. Hereafter we shall lay
in a supply of Keifers to be cooked
during the fall and early winter. Per-
haps we may discover other ways OF
cooking them and some one else may
De able to tell us how to serve them.
At the same time I was shipping
over my Keifers I sent along some
Beaurre Easter pears and now, the
last of November, they are splendid
eating. This is one of my favorite
pears for early winter. They are
large and fine and luscious. What is
better than a good well-ripened pear?
don't know, unless it is another pear
Then we have our Winter Nellis to