238 FRUIT-GROWING 



orchards they have not produced fruit so early 

 as we expected, but after they once start they 

 are as reliable as Ben Davis in this respect. 

 We have a neighbor who has harvested large 

 crops from a small group of Delicious trees 

 since they were ten years old. In seven years 

 they have not missed a crop, bearing more than 

 most sorts even in 1919 when the apple crop 

 was badly damaged by an April freeze. On the 

 market the variety always brings the top price, 

 as is readily shown in the government price 

 reports. Some growers have made the mis- 

 take of allowing the apples of this variety to 

 hang too long on the tree in an effort to secure 

 high color. This is always a mistake for it 

 develops its best quality when harvested just 

 before its best color is attained. For this rea- 

 son some growers have reported unfavorably 

 on the variety, but where it is properly han- 

 dled it has met with universal approval. 



The variety originated on the farm of Jesse 

 Hiatt, near Peru, Iowa. It was a chance seed- 

 ling. (Notice how often those two words will 

 be used together in these pages.) When first 

 noticed it was a sprout growing from the stock 

 of a Yellow Belleflower tree that had been 

 broken off. What a fortunate thing it was for 

 American horticulture when that Belleflower 

 suffered an accident ; otherwise the root of the 

 Delicious tree misrht never have had a chance 



