The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1909-02-15

| trees in the summer time than in tn
winter. Some of the sap in trees evaI
crates through the bark in the fal
aud winter, but not all of it. Get
good book on plant physiology AM
study up the functions of the sap. Yol
will learn something never dreamed
of in the old grandmother notions tina
are prevalent in the world.
Perhaps while considering this mat
] ter of the killing of peach buds /
may be said that the prunus family
peaches, apricots, plums and cherrie:
may kill in the bud, but the pyru!
| family-apples and pears-rarely ever
apples kill only in the buds when Il
| is cold enough to kill the limbs.
The readers of The Ranch know that
have constantly urged growers tC
be very careful how they put up their
fruit for market | have seen ap-
Piles on Western Avenue, Seattle, in a
horrible condition, if fruit is ever in
that condition, and when it was sold
for a very low price, the shippers got
mad and blamed the commission men
as thieves and robbers. Well, l am
not set for the defense of all com.
mission men, but l do know from ex
perience running over good many
years that there are men on that row
that are as clean as can be found in
any of the walks of life. A good deal
of the complaint from growers can be
traced to bad packing. 1t is somewhat
like the story of an old lady once
who found she was not getting but
about half price for her butter and
she spoke to her store keeper about
it. He frankly told her what was the
matter. She went home and told her
daughter that they must clean up. A
day or two after in stepping down
off a chair she put her foot down into
the cream jar and as she pulled it out
she said: "Jane, this butter will have
to go at half price again." The fol-
lowing clipping from the Daily Pr. of
Seattle carries it's own lesson:
One car of good quality apples
grown near Olympia arrived yester-
day, but the apples were poorly packed
and sold at about half the market
price. The commission houses refused
to handle the shipment and the entire
not been wiped and was merely
dumped into apple boxes, without any
effort at conforming to regulation
packs The shipper was a former
Eastern farmer-and this was his first
shipment to the Seattle market. War
rem G. Pendleton, deputy state COM
missioner of horticulture, inspected the
entire shipment and reports the fruit
to be of good quality and of salable
varieties. The shipment netted the
farmer rs cents on the box, whereas
commission men are paying from $1.25
to $1.75 on similar fruit properly
packed.
The conference in Washington, d.
Co. on January 27, on the Porter bill
now pending before Congress-, was well
attended. Prof. ]. l.. Dumas, the pres
ident of the Washington Horticultural
Society, and M. o. Tibbits, one of the
vice presidents, were in attendance, II
is reported that compromise was
agreed upon on the size of the apple
box with President Dumas protesting
and Tibbits consenting. l am moi
sufficiently informed to say just what
was done or to say what we as grow
ers should do. The box agreed upor
| is to contain 2342 cubic inches or 16!
cubic inches more than the box we
are now using and 222 cubic inches
less than the contents of box of the
Porter bill as first introduced. The
bill has not yet passed Congress.
AS l have often said, it is hard tt
make the people East understand oul
reasons for the box we use. | vii
now make no comments on the bill
should it be amended and pass Con
gress in the form said to have beer
decided on at the conference in Wash
ington, d. c., want to hear from Prof
Dumas and also Mr.. Tibbits before
L COZ no ic 10 do h.