The daily sentinel., 1914-02-11
Apples Carry Better.

hppieS curry Better.
1T is also generally understood
that our apples carry better and will
stand up better in cold storage than
apples from any other district.
In fact. to compare the future
with the past, | canot see any reason
why We cannot realize Just as good
prices in future as we have in the
past. With the exception of a very
few seasons, the prices realized by
the growers in the Grand valley for
all kinds of fruit have been profitable
and satisfactory to the growers. Even
poor varieties of apples and pears
have generally brought satisfactory
prices.
Now this would indicate that
there is nothing particularly wrong
with the grade and pack, nor with the
selling end of the business. / must
say that it Is my opinion the fault
lies entirely with the growers. II
one has an orchard on seepy land or
on land that is not adapted to fruit
growing. they cannot expect good re-
suits for fruit grown on such land
and the quicker they pull out such
| orchards and grow something else
the better off they will be. The
same holds good with poor varieties
of apples. These should either be Ia
ken out or worked over. We are
growing entirely toe many small APP
pies. and too many varieties. My OBJ
servation is that the growers who
have the right kind of soil and the
right varieties and who take care of
their orchards. have made money,
and will continue to make money.
Would Plant Pears.
might say to those intending to
plant new orchards, that am inclin-
ed to believe there is more money in
pears than in either apples or peach
es. We have seldom had q failure
of our Bartlett pear crop and our sea-
son commences Just about the time
California Is through shipping. which
generally leaves us good market. l
nave often been told by the trade in
the large cities that we grow the
smoothest and best keeping Bartlett
pears produced anywhere.
81 have always believed and said
that there was money in growing
fruit in the Grand valley and the
prospect looks Just as good to me for
the future as 1t ever has In the past.
The orange and lemon growers in
California have had their troubles In
the past much the same az We have
been having ours for the last five
years. They have had poor seasons
and poor prices to contend with, as
we'll as depression in land values, but
they stuck to it, and even now, while
California orange growers are realiz-
ing less money per acre from their
land than many Grand valley apple
growers are realizing. still their land
has real substantial value and they
are on a sound basis. From my OBJ
seryation and experience. / am con-
WINGED that an apple orchard in the
Grand Valley u better Investment
than an orange or lemon grove in
California.
Only Six Good Varieties.
up to within q few yearn AGO .
considerable percentage OF the oran-
gee grown in California were Seed
lings and Mediterranean Sweet. or
course there were some Navals and
few Valencias. But they found
there was no profit in growing
sweets and seedlings and today one
hardly hears Of these varieties. They
have pushed the better varieties. that
is Navals and Valencias. Now We
must do the same thing. We must
get rid of the poor varieties, espe-
cially of apples. There are not over
six or eight varieties of apples that
can be successfully grown in this
valley; all others should be either
dug out or worked over. II all the
apples being shipped from this val
ley any sesson were good varieties
and off OF good orchards that had
been properly pruned and thinned, |