Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-11-16
THE POMOLOGICAL
MEETING. )
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De worked over into y poultry 1dfiil
or a game preserve. For / never saw
before and may never see again such
beautiful fruit / had expected to
Nee line Newtons and Spitzenburss
hut to see Baldwins and Rhode Is
iahd Greetings, absolutely the most
beautiful things in the apple line, was
rather disconcerting, for l thought
they we're New England specialties.
said to myself. my boy. you had bet
ter go home and apologize to the or
chard men of New England for at
tempting to lead them lastray." This
impression of their beautiful fruit
stayed with me during my entire trip,
and will always stay with me. Their
best fruit is "a glorious sight and 4
Thug 10 be proud of, and | take off
my hat to the men who grew it.
But the longer stayed there and the
moro | studied the matter and in
particular the more | got behind the
scenes and talked with the growers
the more comfortable" / felt and the
moro sure / WAS that should not
need to offer that apology TO the fruit
growers of New England
My second aud most vivid and last
ing impression way that every man,
woman and child OF those sections
was Interested i'll apples. never saw
anything like it, Not only is the
whole county, of such a section as
Wenatcl1ee or Hood River. one vast
orchard, divided up. merely by the
roads which run through it, but every
business in the county is conducted
by aud for the fruit men; the banks
are Differed b. orchard owners; the
souvenir cards represent some kind of
fruit or some phase Of fruit growing.
perhaps two apples taking up the
entire space on top of a Nat car, or
Il man hauling single pear out of
his orchard with n team of horses;
tho hardware stores are full of every
eontrivance for the benefit of the
frult grower. from cement coated
nails for his apple boxes to the latest
type OF box press; every orchard Sec
ton and every railroad has it's adver-
Using booklet, ornamented with APP
pies in eolors; and even the ladies'
hats, instead of looking like a dish
pan or coal hod. as they do with US
looked like peach basket or an ap-
pie box. l can see in this universal
an advantage and a disadvantage.
hotlr = s-hope and a menace. On the
other land it is bound to push the
industry forward, it has already done
50. and will always do so with any
industry where many men engage In
it in n single section. What one man
does not think of. another man does,
and the business as whole is Won
derfully advanced. On the other hand.
Il the time comes when this industry
fails or is seriously crippled (even for
a single year,, the whole county is
affected, and disaster is almost GER
tain.
Ny third impression was in regard
TO their laws. They are certainly
sweeping, yet everybody believes in
them and supports them. Two ex-
amples will serve TO illustrate them.
At Wenatehes, We We're most royalty
treated by Mr.. Mike Horen Ga Massa-
chusetts boy. by the way) who is
known as the "apple king Of Wen
atcfiee" and who took us all through
the Valley in his automobile As we
were passing a large orchard. no.
ticed u big pile of apples. several hum
oAtd toANot I1tth up 1fdi LIT ptEh-
ing house. They. were close to the
road and looked perfectly good and
said to MFR. Koran. Why don't they
market those apples?" oh" he said,
they are defective ones and we are
not allowed TO. You could buy that
pile of apples, but you couldn't send
them outside of the state, the law
won't allow it. They can be made
into apple butter or vinegar. cham
payne. but cannot be sold in a fresh
state" Think of that,, Fancy what
our New England growers would
think, and say. If the state should
step In and not allow them to market
their windfalls and worlny apples,
Why the howl over Tafts reciprocity
proposition would sink into insignifi-
caIiees Another day / was talking
with a commission man in Seattle.
about their inspection laws. He told
me that they We're frequently visited
by the state inspectors who looked
through the apples on sale. and if
they found a box with codling moth
i'll 1t, for example, or with any other
orchard pest, they would put a mark
on the box. and a little later a team
would call for that box, it would be
taken out to some vacant. lot, satur-
ated with kerosene oil, and burned UP.
root and branch, codlng moth and
apples. The owner would not only get
nothing for his apples, but he was
obliged to pay for the cost of taking
them out and burning them, II
every package of New England apples
in the Boston markets today which
contained apples affected with codling
moth or railroad worm were taken
out and burned, how many do you
suppose would be left?
My fourth impression was of their
climate. and L want to say right here
that while we sometimes growl about
the weather We get in New England,
1t is good enough for me. / was in
Hood River for most of three days
and 1t rained practically all the time
] was there. We took Il drive of Is
miles through the Valley one after
noon in spite of the rain, and We
asked the driver whether it always
rained there Yes he said, at this
time of the year, 1t begins about
Nov. 'rsand rains all the time up to