386 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



SO intimately connected with taste as to almost be a part of it. The 

 senses of taste and sight remain. We grow fruit to eat and it would, 

 therefore, seem that taste should set the seal and symbol on a good 

 fruit. But somehow a great number of people imagine that size 

 and color are of moie importance than quality and judge fruit by 

 the eye rather than by the mouth. A misunderstanding, it might be 

 said a quarrel, has thus arisen between the advocates of taste and 

 sight. Extremeness of view, misapprehension of purpose, and not 

 a little intolerance, is shoAvn on both sides. Let us discuss fairly 

 and without prejudice the properties of fruits which give them 

 value. 



When the nurseryman sets his net, in shape of an illustrated 

 catalogue, for the fruit grower, he bails it with gorgeous illustra- 

 tions showing fruits of heroic proportions. Thei most frequent 

 descriptive phrase accompanying this alluring bait is, "of largest 

 size." In his turn the fruit-grower usually makes an exhibit, or a 

 sale, or a present of his wares, with the apologetic yarn that he kept 

 the largest for his ow^n use, or he had larger last year; or, if you 

 catch him in his orchard he lets you know that he could grow larger 

 fruits if he were only so disposed. All this shows a craving after 

 size — a craving that has been bred and is now stimulated by com- 

 petitive exhibitions in which size is usually given first place. This 

 has gone on for so long that now in the eyes of the "average per- 

 son," personification of what we call the public, size is esteemed 

 about the highest quality a fruit may possess. This feeling finds ex- 

 pression many times at every fruit exhibit when onlookers remark 

 in a deprecatory tone, "I've seen lots of apples larger than those." 

 What are the true merits of size in fruit? The question need 

 careful consideration. We cannot make advance in horticulture 

 until we know what we want. 



In tree fruits for the kitchen, fair or large size is distinctly 

 meritorious, saving waste in paring and coring or pitting though 

 even here there are exceptions for one does not want a huge baked 

 apple, a mammoth peach for canning, nor large plums for preserv- 

 ing. But for all dessert purposes the medium sized fiuit should be 

 preferred and the Fameuse or a little Lady apple, a Seckel or 

 Doyenne pear, a Crawford peach and a Green Gage or Jefferson 

 plum are, or should be, as acceptable as any varieties of their kinds. 

 Certainly no one wants to make two bites at a cherry, strawberry, or 

 any of the small fruits. Size in fruit is often j)Oor economy whether 

 en the fruit stand, in the hotel or for the home, for a small or 

 medium fruit frequently answers the same pui'j>ose that a larger 

 one would. It is true that some of the varieties of our tree-fruits 

 might be increased in size to advantage and the value of many grapes 

 and small fruits woirld be enhanced by greater size. 



Not always, but often, undue size in any variety is accompanied 

 by inferior quality. This is especially ti'ue if size has been brought 

 about by irrigation on rich land in which case the fruit may actually 

 be said to be "bloated." The water and food are not properly as- 

 similated, and the highly flavored solids of the normally grown fruit 

 are diluted or adulterated with water. This is the condition of 

 much of the western fruit which, because of size and color, is elbow- 

 ing the less showy and less bulky eastern product to the rear. So 



