The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1909-06-01
HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT

Edited by F. Walden

ment is that these cut back trees will
soon grow good tops and will bear
well. Some persons l heard of have
dug out their damaged peach trees
This in my mind is a mistake. II
there are any cases where the peach
trees are killed root and branch
do not know of it.
One of the questions that is agitat
ing some of the peach growers in
Yakima County is about the value OF
delayed buds" l know that delayed
buds on apple trees sometimes help
out the crop in case of bad spring
frosts. But apples do not kill in the
bud unless the weather is so severe
as to kill the limbs. | have never
yet known delayed buds to help out
peach crop, for the very simple reason
that there are none. Weather that is
cold enough to kill the fruit buds on
peach trees in January before the
buds have swollen any will kill all
of them. The leaf buds may not be
killed That is the case on our trees
but every fruit bud was destroyed
Where the leaf buds were destroyed
the limbs were destroyed, which Will
invariably be the case. The man who
is building his hopes of peach crop
on the hope of delayed fruit buds not
being injured will very likely find him
self holding an empty sack at picking
time.
But the most unreasonable assump
ton I have heard of in many day
is the statement that the leaf buds on
peach trees may be changed by the
warm invigorating weather of the
spring into fruit buds. One of our col
lege professors is quoted as making
this statement. 1 am confident that
this professor was misunderstood OF
somebody drew on his Imagination fo1
his facts. Any we'll informed person
whether college professor or not
knows better Fruit buds are formed
the preceding summer, and the process
of forming them is not affected by IN
vigorating the growth, but by retard1ne
it. The fruit buds may be changed to
leaf buds in October by stimulating the
soil with water. But to imagine that
a leaf bud that has gone through the
winter can be turned into hover
bud with all the parts essential 10
fruitfulness is absurd. Let anyone
interested in such question reao
some of the standard works on plant
physiology, such as Sorauer's great
work, and he will speedily change
his mind. | will not discuss this
matter further now, but should the oc
casion require it, l will take it up
again and quote the highest authorl'
L in Gil
position.
1t is reported that in some sec
lions a studied effort is being made
to suppress reports as to the condl'
ton of the peach crop for fear they
will hurt the country. The country
may suffer in a certain sense, but
there is nothing that can hurt any
country so badly as to have set OF
stupid liars who are trying to boom
it. One man who is deceived and In
iured by false representations Will do
more harm to the country than tell
ing the truth will ever do. The fact
is that the Yakima Valley, the We
natchee Valley and many other local
tiles in Washington, Oregon and other
states are such fine fruit regions that
we need to do nothing but tell the
truth, and ludicrous eXaggerations
and falsehoods will only do harm.
The apple crop was not hurt by the
winter freeze, but some damage was
done by hard frost on the morning
of April IS. Fortunately for us and
some of our neighbors, some of our
best apples were not out enough to
be damaged much. Winesaps, Black
Twigs (Arkansas), Rome Beauties and
Arkansas Blacks promise fine crop
Some of our early blooming varieties