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THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



February, 1910 



the orchardist himself were to grow careless 

 as to this important precaution, government 

 inspectors visit the orchards and see to it that 

 he performs his task, or that it is performed at 

 his expense. 



Thinning is an important method of secur- 

 ing perfection. Not long after the blooms 

 have set to fruit, the orchardist goes carefully 

 over every tree, pinching off many of the sets 

 leaving only as many as may, he judges, come 

 to perfection. From three to five times dur- 

 ing the season he mellows the soil by run- 

 ning a cultivator between his rows of trees. 



He attends systematically to the irrigation. 

 This is a delicate operation, generally mis- 

 understood by those who live in rain-watered 

 country. Irrigated trees are not continually 

 being watered, as many seem to think. On 

 the contrary, it is as much of a problem not 

 to give them too much as it is to give them 

 enough. The thirsty soil is given to drink 

 only three or four times each season. The 

 plugs are drawn from the flumes and ditches, 

 the laterals fill, trickle into the tiny ditches 

 prepared for them between rows. The 

 orchard is kept wet for several days, a 

 longer or shorter time depending on the con- 

 dition of the soil, and then turned off. Water 

 is far too precious to waste. 



There is splendid economy at work, splen- 

 did, because from wisely lavish expenditure 

 are obtained munificent results. The per- 

 ceptive Westerner has learned one big les- 

 son from Nature's methods. He avoids 

 waste, but he scorns the niggard thrift which 

 so often sacrifices the future pound to the 

 present penny. Abundance springs only 

 from abundance. 



The Western apple man has no difficulty 

 in disposing of his crop. Every spring pri- 

 vate buyers and commission men from far 

 and near visit the orchards, estimate the 

 growing crop, bargain for it. With the aid 

 of the Fruit Growers' Association the apples 

 are sent to the big cities of the Middle West 

 and of the Atlantic Seaboard. They go 

 to British Columbia and to Alaska. They 

 are finding a more and more extended mar- 

 ket in the Orient. Nearly all are exported. 

 Often the most impossible place to buy apples 

 is in the heart of the apple country. Here, 

 where their value is understood, you are 

 asked fancy prices. 



The irrigated apple is the product of the 

 most favorable conditions plus intelligence, 

 plus our latest science. The Westerner does 

 not envy the Easterner his uncertain rain- 

 fall. He maintains that never can the 

 Easterner compete with him. The deposit 

 of volcanic ash in the orchards of the West 

 appears inexhaustible. From 2 or 3 to 200 

 feet in depth, it perennially maintains its 

 richness. The intrinsic ingredients of the 

 soil are not carried out of it by seepage as 

 where there is rain. 



Cooperation is the watchword of the Wes- 

 tern apple grower. He cannot obtain suc- 

 cess alone. Irrigation works are costly. 

 No one man can monopolize the water 

 sources. This initial necessity has taught 

 him the benefits of association with others 

 in the same line. Fruitgrowers associa- 

 tions are formed. They help the individual 



members to sell advantageously and in trans- 

 portation arrangements. They also main- 

 tain a .high standard of excellence in their 

 respective localities. These associations have 

 stringent rules. They will not allow apples 

 of inferior quality to be shipped. Thus, 

 instead of elbowing each other out of the way 

 after the prevailing notion that to do so is 

 a law of business life, the apple-growers 

 help themselves in helping each other. 

 Their emulation is the generous one of see- 

 ing who can get the best results. 



The apple grower of the Northwest has 

 learned various useful lessons from the 

 earlier fruit growers of California. He 

 has learned that the biggest fruit is not the 

 best or the most marketable. He has 

 learned that while beauty is important, flavor 

 is more so. He is still suffering from the 

 reputation of much California fruit as taste- 



The apple trees are laden like this even after severe 

 thinning. Ropes of fruit are the rule! 



less. His apples are not tasteless, although 

 they are beautiful. 



At North Yakima, last summer, at a 

 smoker in honor of the senatorial party 

 which visited the Northwest, Winesap apples 

 were served which had been in cold storage 

 for ten months. They were firm, delicious, 

 and fragrant as though freshly gathered. 



A successful orchardist showed me a par- 

 ticularly fine Esopus (Spitzenburg), pointing 

 out its merits from his technical standpoint. 

 He laughed, finally, at his own enthusiasm. 



"You Eastern folks don't feel about fine 

 apples the way we do. You raise them for 

 food same as you do potatoes. We regard 

 them as a luxury. We are proud to be 

 producing the best the world has ever seen in 

 apples." 



The picking is no careless business. Every 

 apple is taken deftly into the palm of the 

 picker; his fingers close gently about it so as 

 not to bruise the glowing surface as he 

 twirls it off its stem. 



Every apple is wrapped in. soft paper. 

 The fruit is placed with care in the boxes. 

 It requires some skill and practice to sort 

 these apples as one packs, choosing those 



of a size. So calculating that each box 

 when packed will weigh about fifty pounds. 

 Uniformity is the aim. Men become extraor- 

 dinarily expert' in such calculation. 



After the fourth year profitable returns 

 may be expected which will increase steadily 

 until the trees are in full bearing, say ten 

 years old, and then continue indefinitely. 

 But while waiting for apples, the orchardist 

 is usually able to secure a fair revenue from 

 his land by cultivating alfalfa, or small fruits 

 or vegetables between his trees. 



The commonest question asked by the 

 prospective orchardist is: "What are the 

 average profits per acre? Don't tell me 

 marvelous tales of fortunes made by the 

 exceptionally lucky, but how much may the 

 ordinary man expect?" 



The profits depend upon the variety of 

 the apples — the age and condition of the 

 orchard. The average number of trees per 

 acre is from 50 to 108. $5 a tree net may be 

 considered a fair profit. It is certainly not 

 an over-estimate. Careful computation 

 shows that most orchardists make from 

 $350 to $500 per acre, and often anywhere 

 up to $2,000 per acre. 



An average yield of apples is from 500 to 

 1,000 boxes per acre. These net from 

 75 cents to $1.50 a box for ordinary grades. 

 From $1.75 to $3.00 a box for those of high- 

 est quality. I visited an orchard last Sep- 

 tember, the owner of which had just shipped 

 700 boxes of fall pippins gathered from 

 twenty trees. He had received $1.50 and 

 $2.00 a box. 



"I have eighty Rome Beauty trees that 

 will bring me in $2,500 this year," said a 

 grower in 1908. 



One rancher with an orchard of forty-three 

 acres, confidently expects in ten years more 

 to be taking in $50,000 a year. Then the 

 whole family are going to take a trip around 

 the world "on our apples," he says joyously. 



An able-bodied man ought to be able to 

 take care of ten acres of apple trees. He 

 cannot do justice to more. 



One of the best-known apple growers 

 in Yakima County, Washington, Mr. Gilbert, 

 in the four years, 1905-1908, took in $18,000 

 gross receipts from a three and a half acre 

 orchard, of Winesap, eight and ten years old. 



The foreboding ask: Is not the market 

 likely to be over-stocked, prices drop below 

 possibility of profit? Those who have stud- 

 ied the matter do not fear this. Methods of 

 transportation are constantly being improved, 

 so that soon we will be able to send apples 

 all over the world. 



Ardent optimism is a noticeable char- 

 acteristic of the Western apple grower. 

 Even if he himself has not yet arrived, he 

 sees from the experience of others that any 

 one who goes to work the right way is sure 

 of creditable results. 



His interest is kept fresh by the experi- 

 mental nature of the work. Everybody is 

 seeking fresh expedients to hurry trees into 

 bearing and to stimulate fruit production. 

 These Western apples shine in the displays 

 of the high-priced fruiterers. Set choicely 

 forth with other delicacies for the rich man's 

 table, they retail at ten or fifteen cents each. 



