1871 



THE WESTERN POMOLOGIST. 



127 



think tliej- do better as a general rule, though they 

 can be planted any time till the first of May. The 

 Apple crop of 1870 was below the average, as to 

 quantity; in quality as good as usual, and sold for 

 )iriccs above the average of late j'ears. Those sold 

 before Christmas brought about 50 cts. per box. 

 All, or nearly all our Apples are sold ia boxes hold- 

 ing about a liushel. At the present writing, good 

 Apples are worth in Porlland 7.~) cts. to $t per bo.'C. 

 Porincrly immense aninuuls of Applc.'^ wereslii|iped 

 to San Francisco. 



I have known si.\ thousand boxes to be shipped 

 on one steamer. Of lat(! j'ears the trade has fallen 

 off somewhat, and now only the best winter fruit i.s 

 sent to that market. A considerable trade is d(nie 

 to Viclciria, B. C, and the towns on Puget Sound. 

 Large i|uanlitic's of Apples are also shipped to 

 Idaho and Eastern W. 'I\ In the interior <if the 

 State large amounts are dried, lrans|)(n1alion being 

 too expensive to market them in the green state. 



LIST OP APPLES FOR OREGON. 



A list of twelve varieties of fall and winter Ap- 

 ples was agreed upon and recommended by the 

 Oregon State Horticultural Society at their winter 

 meeting, as the best fr)r general cultivation in this 

 State. The kinds agreed upon are llambo, Fall 

 Pippin. Gravenstein, Blue Pearmain, Northern Spy, 

 Roxbury Russet, Winesap, Ortley, Swaar, Esopus 

 Spilzenberg, Red Cheek Pippin, and Yellow New- 

 town Pippin. Of these, the Red Cheek and New- 

 town Pippin received the unanimous vote ol the 

 Society. The Roxbury Russet is one of the best 

 apples we have, but the tree is one of the worst 

 never lasting but a few years. The Winesap is one 

 of the best trees, but the fiuit is rather too small for 

 our market. The Apple tree cannot be considered 

 healthy or long-lived in the Willamette valley. 

 Why, no one has yet been able to tell ; but the trees 

 bear so young and so abundantly, and arc so cheap- 

 ly iiropagated, that apples will always be as cheap 

 and plentiful as anywhere. I have yet to see the 

 first worm in an apple in Oregon. In size, quality 

 and keeping properties, our apples are unexcelled. 



CLIM.VTE AND MARKETS. 



Yearling apple trees sell at the nurseries at from 

 seven to ten cents, but a great many fruit growers 

 raise their own trees. I have never knowu the ap- 

 ple crop to fail entirely in this valley; on the level 

 prairies, however, the crop is more likel}' to be des- 

 troyed by frost than on the rolling and hilly lands, 

 the dry, timbered portions being surer and best 

 adapted in every way for growing the apple. It is 

 astonishing how j'oung the apple tree bears in this 

 country. They frequently bear at four years old. 

 I have an orchard, root grafted four years ago this 

 winter, and many of the trees are full of fruit buds. 

 Probably no country presents a more inviting field 

 to the fruit grower than Oregon. The ease with 



which the trees are propagated and grown, their 

 early and constant bearing, the excellent quality of 

 the fruit, all combine to make the business a pleas- 

 ant one. Our markets will no doubt improve year 

 by year, as the great Norllicru Pacific Rail Rotid 

 approaches completion, and the country through 

 which it pas.ses becomes settled, and when lines ol 

 st(!amers open to us the markets o( Asia. TIh'U 

 our climate is so mild and uniform. Even now, in 

 mid-winter, a grand chorus of frogs greets the ear, 

 and today I noticed pink.s in our garden just com- 

 ing into bloom. Our Fig trees in the open air have 

 needed no protection. True, our winters are not 

 always tluis mild, jnit on an average, they are. I 

 know a bearing Fig tree twelve j'ears old which 

 has never been injured by the winters, nor has it 

 ever been protected in the least. Our lands are 

 new, rich and cheap Facilities for Iranspmtation 

 constantly improving. More anon. 



Osia-go, Onyon, Fth. 4, 1871. 



The above interesting notr's were received too 

 late for ]\I:irch No., and inndvertently ouutt.ed in 

 making up April No. 



"Should Trees be Pruned?" 



BY F. R. R., CLEVELAND, niiro. 



En PoM()LO(iisT: I notice your Associate Edit- 

 or is following Mr. IIovej''s footsteps in the advis- 

 ing of no pruning at transplanting; and if he has 

 iu)t carefully read the discussions between Mr. 

 Downing and Mr. Ilovoy some years since on this 

 point, it may not hurt him to do so. In a practice 

 of thirtj' years, I have experimented some myself, 

 watched others more, and confess that to-day I 

 hnow nothing. I have my impress of what is best, 

 but he who as physician for animal or vegetable 

 life, attempts to assume definite knowledge to suit 

 all cases, I have learned to know has got yet one 

 more lesson to learn. 



Years since, I became satisfied that no line of 

 practice could any more be laid down I)y line and 

 rule in Horticulture than in Medicine; each indi- 

 vidual life needing for its care a distinct and 

 separate prescription ; so that while wc may give a 

 general prescription of how to prune, or how to 

 manure a variety of vine or tree, without seeing 

 the patient we can do nothing reliably, and then 

 not without having a previous knowledge of the 

 same disease, aud general character of the patient. 



I have been with those who claimed knowledge 

 and have learned that not one in fifty did know 

 their subject; and in the matter of pomological 

 nomenclature, I hesitate not to .say that ninety-five 

 per cent, of those who assume knowledge of a 

 variety at first siijht, arc oftener in error than in 

 correctness. 



