146 FRUIT RANCHING. 



American States of Oregon and Washington find 

 their best markets in New York, London, Glasgow, 

 and Liverpool, and it is not until after Christmas that 

 they begin their long journey. How well these 

 varieties keep is proved by the fact that the shipping 

 season for them lasts from February until the end of 

 May. 



The following facts go to show the exceptional 

 keeping qualities of the Kootenay apples. At the 

 Nelson Fruit Fair, in September, 1907, two plates of 

 Mcintosh Red apples were shown which were plucked 

 eleven months before, and had been kept in an ordi- 

 nary cellar underneath the house of Mr. J. W. 

 Holmes, of Nelson. They were in very fair condi- 

 tion. In April, 1909, Mr. R. W. Hulbert, of Nel- 

 son, reported to me that he had just opened a box 

 of Ribston Pippins, and, with the exception of one 

 single apple, the contents of the box were perfcclly 

 sound and good. In June, 1909, Mr. Alexander 

 Milton, of Crawford Bay (Kootenay Lake), stated in 

 the " Daily News " of Nelson that he had kept until 

 that date Ontario apples gathered in the autumn of 

 1907, and had consequently preserved them nearly 

 twenty months! These apples were kept in an ordi- 

 nary frost-proof root cellar. Mr. Milton has kept 

 Wealthy apples until June and Yellow Transparent 

 apples until January. Northern Spy apples will 

 keep perfectly sound for a full twelvemonth. Now, 

 the Ribston, the Mcintosh Red, and the Wealthy 

 are what would be called in England mid-season 

 varieties, which do not, as a rule, keep much beyond 

 Christmas. Yellow Transparent is the earliest apple 

 to ripen in the Kootenays, and is not ordinarily sup- 



