The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1909-09-08
IN QUALITY OF YAKIMA APPLES
H. II. James Writes Letter Contradict
ing Claims Made by Nampa
Man.


compare the size, color and quality o.
their products with those of any dis
trict in the world. His letter follows
The article entitled unsurpassed
Fruit Country by Silas Wilson OF
Nampa, Idaho, appearing in a recent
issue of Farm Loans and City Bonds
is both interesting and misleading
Probably unintentionally the writer
has done an injustice to ore of the
leading fruit districts of the Pacific
northwest. Surely the Nampa valley
in southern Idaho, is in no need of ad-
/ vertising by means of the disparage-
ment of other fruit districts. The truth
about Nampa ought to be good enough
Mr.. Wilson claims to be familiar
with all the great fruit sections of the
country. By implication and by di-
rect statement he makes the quality of
fruit produced in different sections de-
pend upon the elevation at which the
fruit is grown. He says:
In North Yakima valley, Washing
| ton, apples are grown in large guam
titles, and have attained quite a repu-
| tation for especially large apples of
fine color, but it has always seemed to
me they got their large size apples at
the expense of quality. Ihe same
trouble is encountered in all low ele-
vations for best apples of highest
quality.,'
What are the facts? The apples of
Nova Scotia, New York and New Eng
land have been for years, until the in
PRODUCTION of fruit from the Pacific
northwest, the standard cf ~~""ilence
in the markets Of Great Britain. The
Nova Scotia apple is raised on a mar
row strip along the sea coast at an
elevation only a few feet above sea
level.
Western New York is the great ap-
pie growing section in that state. The
mean elevation of the state is only
900 feet. The elevation of the apple
sections of the state is less than the
mean. The apple raised in the
Champlain valley in Vermont, for
quality is hard to beat The finest Or
chards in that valley are at an ele-
walton of not more than 100 feet above
Lake Champlain. The elevation of the
lake is SO feet. The famous apple
and peach district OF Michigan is To-
Gated along the eastern shore of Lake
Michigan.
Southern Illinois, the apple district
of that state, has a low altitude. The
Ozark hills have an elevation of $500
feet. the happy medium character
istic of the Nampa valley. according to
Mr. Wilson. But of this section the
writer remarks, 1.-The land seems to me
to be very much overrated for grow
ing choice winter apples"
The justly famous Hood river ap-
pie is raised at practically sea level.
The Wenatchee apple is noted for size,
color and flavor. The elevation at We
natchee is only about 500 feet. The
elevation of the fruit land in the
Yakima valley varies from 400 to $3.50
feet. That the quality or the apple
does not depend primarily upon the
elevation at which it is grown is con-
clusively proved by the foregoing
facts.
In one section of the country, in the
south, elevation is an important fac
tor in apple growing. Owing to the
climate, apples can be successfully
grown at high elevations.
In the Pacific northwest the pre-
vailing cool nights give a happy eli
matte medium, which insures-with
SOIL moisture and sunshine-the
growing of the perfect apple at vary
ing degrees of elevation. At attitudes
above 1000 feet the late spring frosts
are a dangerous possibility to face in
connection with fruit growing.
Spokane. Hood River, Wenatchee
and North Yakima raise large apple.
Size is secured in the usual CONNER
cial varieties, such as Winesaps, Jona-
thans Yellow Newtowns and Spitzen-
bergs, by scientific cultivation, prun-
ing and thinning. The Yakima COM
mercial apple is a four-tier apple. A
three or a three and a half-tier apple
is produced largely by thinning. The
flavor of a three-tier apple is just as
good as that of a four-tier. In fact
in the range between the three and
four-tier apple, size, as opples are
grown in Yakima, has nothing to do
with quality.
Another fact, the reputation of the
Yakima apples has been gained be-
cause of its size and its color, but most
That is the reason why the Yakima APP
York apple in the cities and towns of
New York state.
Yakima grows some extremely large
apples. OF these apples Yakima peo-
pie do not boast. They are not the
apples that have made Yakima fam
GUS. Their size is remarkable; their
quality is not remarkable.
The apple growers of the Yakima
valley will eagerly avail themselves of
every opportunity that offers for a
comparison of the products of their
orchards in respect to size, color and
quality, with the products of any dis
trict in the world, absolutely none
barred. They hope that the Nampa
valley can produce equally as good an
apple. If it can it viii become a fruit
district with a reputation second to
none. Come to the national apple