Los Angeles herald., 1909-11-14
THE BIG RED APPLE
Bv Frederic j. Haskin

orchards or at the railway stations.
Ammoniated air is used as refriger-
atiug agent, and the apples are cooled
to about "a degrees Fahrenheit before
being put In the cars.
The fruit growers at Council Bluffs
will hear an interesting discussion of
the success that has attended the
planting of trees with dynamite. The
seed are not shot into the earth in
bombshell as might be supposed The
dynamite is used to loosen the earth
under the holes wherein the small tree
Is to be set out. The trees grow more
rapidly as a result of the use Of the
explosive.
The third Tuesday in October is cele-
brated as the annual apple Day" in
many states. On that day every per-
son is supposed to eat at least one
apple and to give at least one apple
to someone else. Apple day has been
observed for six years and the custom
is growing.
Horticulturists devote much time and
attention to the production of new
varieties OF apples. The "seedless" APP
pie has arrived, and II is now possible
that the fulfllment of the prophecy
"There amt goin to be no core" is
imminent. The seedless apple halls
from the irrigated orchards of Colo
rado and 1t Is said that 1t possesses
a delicious flavor and no core at all.
1t is one of the star attractions at the
Spokane show.
Two other new varieties which have
been celebrated In print recently must
await the approving seal of some body
of scientists before they are accepted
as being really truly true. 1t Is de-
clared that one famous horticulturist
has SO combined twigs from sweet and
sour apple trees that he has produced
tree bearing apples sweet on one
side and sour on the other. Another
triumph for the nature-wizard or the
nature-faker, as the case may be, is
the chestnut apple. By grating a
twig from a chestnut tree on an apple
bough it Is claimed that an apple was
obtained inside of which there was
three well-grown and well-navored
chestnuts.
There are no less than FIVE hundred
standard varieties Of apples grown in
the United States. Each section has
It's peculiar favorites, and some are
grown to eat and some are grown to
sell. The man from Oregon or WASH
ington will stake his fortune, his life
and his sacred honor upon the propo-
sition that a northwestern Spitzenberg
is the best apple on earth. Any Vir-
ginian viii accept his challenge and
ride forth to battle as the knight of the
Albemarle Pippin. The rural New
Yorker will defend his Baldwins to the
last ditch. The Missourian and Ar
kansaw traveller will join forces In de-
fense of the primacy of the Winesap.
1t is a well known fact to the peo-
pie of the Ozark mountains in Missouri
and Arkansas that the Winesap apple
iG the hast f1.litf m va
Craig, when past the meridian of life,
forsook the primrose path OF dalliance
and. turning his back upon the devil,
enlisted in the army OF the Lord and
the Baptist church. From that day
forth he never tasted red liquor nor
Winesap apples. He knew. as do all
good Qzarkers, that the Winesap was
the best fruit ever grown and he reas-
oned that II therefore was the very
variety OF apple which Mother Eve ate
In the garden.
Perhaps the most popular apple with
growers Is the Ben Davis. A Ben
Davis apple is fair to look upon. 1t IS
big, red and tempting. 1t packs we'll,
keeps well, ships well. 1t grows in
profusion and its trees are hardy frost
resisters. From the sordid money
making point of view the Ben Davis
apple cannot be beat. But pity the
poor foreigners who buy them in ig-
nOrdnce, every apple -eater OF parts
knows that a Ben Davis apple was
designed only to sell. They should
never be eaten.
The Houston Post and the Kansas
City Journal long have labored to
warn the public against the hypocrisy
OF the Ben Davis. 1t looks like an
apple, II smells like an apple, II is an
apple-but II doesn't taste like an
apple. No editor has come to the de-
fense of this snare and delusion, but
much remains to be done before Ben
Davis is driven from the market
places. 1t Is the foundation stone Of
more than one swollen fortune made
in apples.
The big red apple is the king of
fruits. Fifty-five per cent of all the
fruit trees in America are apple trees,
and they yield more than so per cent
of all the orchard fruits produced by
the nation. There are 200,000,000 apple
trees and the average crop per year is
about q bushel for each tree. II all
these trees were to bear a fun crop In
any one year the United States could
feed the whole world with apples
Notwithstanding the decline in the
apple yield the apple still is the best
money-maker In the whole catalogue
of fruits. 1t is King Apple.
NJ. h.