The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1909-09-15

things Mr.. Burbank does not show
himself we'll informed. However, for
whatever he has done and is doing in
creating new forms of plant life, even
though he is decidedly in error in his
postulates, | am willing to give him
due credit. l may take up this mat
ter again when | can have more time
and space u *
The one problem that is uppermost
in the minds of the fruit-growers is
the condition of the apple crop. There
are conflicting reports about the size
and condition of the crop. 1t is to the
interest of the buyers to make it out
that the crop is large; it is to the
interest of the growers to show the
reverse. l could publish reports from
both these sources and in great num-
bers. One thing should never be for
gotten in such a controversy, and
that is, that the growers know better
in their own neighborhoods than the
men who live in cities. Each grower
can make a better report for his own
surroundings than any buyer can. If
we could gather these individual re-
ports into one whole, then we would
have practically reliable report on the
condition of the apple crop. The near
est approach to such gathering of
local reports that l know anything
about is made by The Fruit-Grower of
st. Joseph, Mo. In my judgment, there
is no near approach to the complete
ness of reports from the whole coun-
try to be found in that paper. 1t
would fill columns of our space to
give these individual reports to be
found in The Fruit-GrOwer, so | will
not undertake to do that, but will give
the summing up to be found in the
August issue of that paper. | know
| the editor, James M. Irvine, personally
and believe him to be perfectly honest
and reliable. Here is his summing
up of the reports:
The Apple Crop for 1909
This month The Fruit Growers crop
reports are given over almost entirely
to discussing the apple crop, for this
is the one crop in which everyone is
now interested.
Since our last report the crop, TAX
ing the country as whole, has de-
Perforated Throughout the Middle
West apple scab and other forms of
fungi have injured the growing ap-
pies, and in parts of the southern
| limits of the apple belt an outbreak of
bitter rot is reported just as this issue
of The Fruit Grower goes to press. In
New York and New England the crop
has certainly lost ground. All our re-
ports this month indicate this. That
part of the country has had a severe
drouth and at the same time a severe
outbreak of green aphis has helped to
in i11ra DrOSnpotS for 6OnI6S
Kansas seems to be practically out
of business, with the exception of a
few counties in the northeastern cor
ner of the state. The great orchards
in the Arkansas Valley, according to
our reports, have so little fruit that it
is not worth considering. Iowa has a
better report than a year ago, and Mis-
souri's yield will perhaps be larger.
Illinois seems not to have anything
like the quantity of fruit harvested
last season.
Washington, Oregon and Idaho all
have much shorter crops than last
year, although the fruit from those
states promises to be fine quality.
Colorado occupies the center of the
stage with the northwestern part or
New Mexico, for those districts have
the best crops reported from any
part of the United States. Fruit
promises to be of fine quality. These
districts were short of fruit last
season.
From the trade papers of commits
sion merchants and apple handlers it
would appear that the crop is being
estimated by many persons. Ger
tainly the reports which some of these
papers publish do not agree with The
Fruit-Growers' reports and as our re-
ports are from the growers direct, we
incline to the belief that our reports
are in every way reliable. Certainly
The Fruit-Grower's reports for the