HORTICULTURE IN THE NORTHWEST. 115 



Northwest? It is the principal factor in determining their market, for 

 they do get color and uniformity and flavor, too, in their Jonathans. And 

 when you buy them as I did, at a Spokane grocery When I started for 

 home, at the rate of $3.60 per bushel .you begin to wonder what kind of 

 a blessed apple country this is anyhow. Somehow one feels that they are 

 paying rather liberally for color. 



I wandered around the Apple Show one evening in search of some 

 scandalous things that I could tell you folks about the" imperfections of 

 the over-boomed Northwest, and all at once I stumbled on a juicy one: 



A sizable crowd was gathered about my old friend. Prof. C. L. Smith 

 of Kiesling, Washington, one of God's noblemen, a prince among horti- 

 culturists and an honest man. They were interrogating him about the 

 orchard business in general, for Smith is always the center of a crowd of 

 interested people. Some one asked what were the best commercial varie- 

 ties to plant. "Well," says Smith, 'if you want to make money, plant 

 Wagner, Rome Beauty,- Stayraan, Winedap, and Yellow Newton Pippins. 

 If you want to spend your money for looks, get some Winter Banana, 

 some Delicious and Jonathans." 



"What is the matter with the Jonathans?" 



""WTiy," says Smith, "nobody ever saw a Jonathan tree bear over ten 

 boxes of apples in the state of Washington, and everybody who knows 

 anything about them and is honest enough to tell the truth will tell you 

 that after they get to the age of ten or twelve years they deteriorate so 

 fast both in quality and quantity that they are noi longer profitable. If 

 you want to plant them for fillers, they might possibly pay up to the 

 twelfth year, but you may expect to have to cut them out afterward." 



And I had learned something; remember it; it will fit in a little 

 later, before this paper is finished. 



AS TO THE FUTURE PROFITS IN THE NORTHWEST. 



It is safe to assert that the orchardists of the Northwest are not in 

 the business for their health primarily. They expect and should receive 

 large ret^irns, for they assume large expense. I have not found any or- 

 chard land recommended as first-class for less than five hundred dollars 

 an acre when planted to two-year-old trees. It is more likely to run to 

 one, two, or three thousand, if well located and with good water privi- 

 lege. At the great Lewiston orchards, where 20,000 acres are under irri- 

 gation, 5,500 acres planted, and a thousand acres a year being planted, 

 the cheapest land is $525 per acre. This is the largest individual orchard 

 under irrigation so far as my knowledge extends. It is expected that 

 when this reaches its minimum bearing capacity on the basis of the 

 present planting, about four years hence, that ten thousand carloads of 

 apples will be shipped annually from Lewiston. And that's some apples. 



The Horticultural Department of the Washington State Agricultural 

 College made a thorough investigation of orchard capitalization and cost 

 of management, reducing their investigation to as accurate figures as can 



