150 THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Irrigation is essential, as I have said, in the rainless 

 countries ; where they can, many of the best fruit growers 

 get along- without it. One can easily ruin his crops by the 

 careless use of water. It is a problem how much to use, and 

 growers differ. Certain it is that its excessive use makes a 

 sappy growth of tree and soft textured and poor quality of 

 fruit. 



Flavor of Western Apples. To be perfectly candid, 

 I tasted apples of good quality and apples of poor quality 

 grown in the Northwest. In many cases, as I have stated 

 above, it is ruined by irrigation. While I still believe our 

 Eastern fruit, well grown, is much superior in flavor, I must 

 admit that on this point we must not count too strongly in a 

 commercial way, unless we grow fruit free from blemishes 

 and imperfections. Some Spitzenberg, Yellow Newtown, 

 Winesap, and Winter Banana were found to be exceptionally 

 good. 



Color. If we claim superiority in flavor, we must grant 

 that the Northwestern product has a certain finish which we 

 find hard to get. Notwithstanding this, color and finish are 

 the points we should strive hardest for. When I w^as in Mr. 

 Shepard's office I saw some • Baldwins from Mr. Hale's 

 orchard, which alongside of the Western product, looked 

 equally well. 



Land Values. As the localities where fruit can be 

 grown is limited, the land values in favored sections natural- 

 ly are comparatively high, partly speculative and partly on 

 account of irrigation equipment. Raw land varies anywhere 

 from one hundred to eight hundred per acre, and orchards in 

 bearing anywhere from seven hundred to four thousand per 

 acre. While I heard wonderful stories of their income per 

 acre, and such a reputable man as M. Horan of Wenatchee 

 said his bearing orchard eight to nine years old would pay 

 twenty per cent on a value of two thousand dollars per acre, 

 I believe the values are inflated and that no one can afford to 

 buy at those figures. The trees in many cases being twenty 



