Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1911-01-10
The First Apple Congress.
GREELEY, Colo, Dec. 10, l9

GREELEY, Colo, Dec. 10, 1910.
agricultural Editor Democrat
Some weeks ago the Denver Audtori
um was the scene of a magnificent ap
pie show. Carloads were there exhibi,
ed that the people of Colorado nigh
know the extent and value Of one of tn,
states newer industries.
Then came The First Annual Ameri
can Apple Congress in Denver the las
three days of last week. Some 200 dele
gates were present, eight of them wo
men. The congress was composed o
people of marked intelligence, people
who have accomplished wonders a,
fruit-growers. Naturally most of tn,
delegates were from the new west.
Governor Shafroth addressed the
convention on behalf of the state, say
ing that it was fitting that the frs
apple congress should be held in Colo
RADIO which stands at the head of the
apple growing states. Ex-Governor
Adams of Colorado, felicitous speak
er, noted for saying things worth hear
ing whenever he opens his mouth in
public, took for his subject: "Apples
as an asset" Apples he said mean the
maximum of production and the mini
mum of waste. Small holdings devoted
to high production make ideal com,
munities and raise the standard of citi-
zenship. "A little land and a living" il
the modern slogan of the tillers of the
soil. Where the best apples are grown,
there are raised the best people. A man
with an acre and liking for work has
no time for anarchy; and an apple or
chard is better place for discipline
than the deck of a battleship. Knowl-
edge in an apple orchard is power as
elsewhere. He said that the apple crop
of 1896 was 69,000,000 barrels when
there were 69,COO, 900 people in the coun-
try. Last year the output was only
%, ,000, 600 barrels, only one barrel to
each four persons. The twentieth CEN
tury, he said, will be the age of the
apple and Colorado will be the center Of
the apple universe. Then he went on to
say that the apple should be an article
of every day diet and humorously CLASH
fed the Frenchified bills of fare gotten
up by American chefs as barbaric.
One of the speakers pointed out the
fact that there is not grocery in the
most obscure portion of the United
States that does not have on exhibition
its bunch of bananas, while multitudes
of people scarcely ever taste an apple.
All this is to be changed and it is to be
hoped that the time will come when
every man, woman and child in the ma
ton will eat at least one apple daily.
Ii was conten6ed that in the long run the
apple is the best fruit we have; for like
bread it is always welcome and never
permanently clogs, while one soon tires
of bananas and oranges.
Edgar Buchanan of Durango, Colo,
told his experience in raising apples at
an elevation of 600 feet, where for years
he had not suffered from frosts and his
apples were of the finest in flavor and
keeping qualities.
TO head off damage by frosts when
fruit trees are in bloom the smudge-p pot
has been invented. At a considerable
expense the orchsrdist provides hun
dreds or thousands of perforated sheet
iron basins, the Troutman smudge-pot
having a central fiue, very efhcacious,
aud when there is prospect of killing
frost, coal fires are kindled in these
smudge- pots and kept smudging as long
aa the mercury runs low. About one
smudge is started for each four trees,
thus keeping the Frost King in the back
ground. A visitor to the fruit belt OF
southwestern Colorado states that the
spring of the present year was one of
peculiar hardship TO the orchardists, as
the smudge-pots were in use at times
for about six weeks.
- nf
yearly apple crop must be put in cold
storage to meet the needs Of the COM
munity. 1t seemed to be the general
opinion that only good apples should
ever be put upon the market assorted in
three grades: extra fancy, fancy and
choice. The state OF Idaho has a law
placing penalty of $500 on the shipper
Who sends a carload of wormy apples
out of the state. This congress discuss
ed the matter of similar law for other
states.
There seemed TO be some fear that the
railroads would not always grant proper
transportation privileges, and an in
stance was given where one shipper
could not obtain cars for shipping his
holding and thereby lost $4,000. 1t
was declared as case of "pure cussed-
ness" A multitude of interesting facts
were given by the various speakers,
dealing with location of orchards, quail
ity and slope of orchard sites, varieties
suited for the various markets and sea-
sons and manner of handling, packing
and marketing. Women are the best
fruit-packers because they are more
gentle. Cold storage plants in transit
are necessity.
A dollars worth of apples is better
than a dollars worth of beefsteak.
There should be more direct buying and
selling, and the middleman must be cut
out. Mr.. Richardson stated that he
considered the following the best apples
for commercial purposes: Black Ben
Davis, Winesap, Jonathan, Delicious
Apple, and Grimes Golden. Mr.. Bu-
chsnsn suggested that orchardists should
raise more Bartlett pears as they give
much better returns than apples. His
suggestion of better list of apples than
the one mentioned would be: Wagner,
Northern Spy, Northwest Greening and
Mcintosh Red.
William II. Barnes of the Kansas
Oldtc OOO'Oty
a paper entitled: american apples for
all creation" II was An enthusiastic
hummer. He said that one hundred
years ago only 22 varieties OF apples
were cultivated in the United States,
mostly brought from France; now we
have 2200 varieties. The old Seeding is
thing of the past. The area upon
which apples may be grown is almost as
wide as the temperate zone.
Orchardists do not love their fruit
trees when not in fruit, forgetting that
the fruit buds are formed in June and
July for the following years crop.
The same is true of the strawberry, and
still some people allow their fowls to
pasture their strawberry beds all winter,
and then wonder that they have no fruit
the next year. The man to grow apples