PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-THIRD FRUIT-GROWERS ' CONVENTION. 29 



ists. The extreme care necessary to produce Spitzenbergs, for instance, 

 running 72 and larger to the Oregon box, all of high color and without 

 blemish, fruit that brings from $2 to $5 per box, makes orcharding an 

 operation of delicate exactness and of constant watchfulness. The 

 cheaper grades of apples, like Baldwins, Ben Davis, Rome Beauties, 

 etc., do not require such close attention and do not need to command 

 such extreme prices to be profitable. Yet the best orchardist is he who 

 tries to approach as nearly as possible the standard in everything he 

 grows, and so there is great rivalry in the specialty work of apple- 

 growing in Oregon. 



We of the Willamette Valley claim to produce the highest type of 

 Spitzenbergs grown on the Coast (which means in the world). The 

 true Esopus Spitzenberg is an elongated apple, brilliant in color, musky 

 in flavor, and rich in the spicy oils and juices that taught our youthful 

 palates an ecstasy to be remembered until we pass to our graves. Such 

 is the Spitzenberg of the Willamette Valley. 



But this exquisite fruit is as shy as many a dainty maid, and must 

 be sought by a persistent wooer if he would win her in all her volup- 

 tuousness. The kiss of a lover upon the lips of a bloom often leaves 

 an unsightly blotch of scab upon her cheek. Her perfumes are so seduc- 

 tive, her color so brilliant, that codling-moths, ever haunting where 

 beauty lies, hover in hordes about her to fondle— but ah, with stings 

 of death. Loyally must we serve if we would protect her from the de- 

 voirs of these lovers who bring disease in their train and scars in their 

 every touch. 



To bring the radiant Spitzenberg to her greatest perfection, a moist 

 atmosphere is desirable, an abundance of moisture in the soil im- 

 perative, and a valiant sweep of a temperate sun to soften the asperity 

 of autumnal frosts necessary. Dry climates or soils that lose their moist- 

 ure rapidly are not to be trusted with the bringing up of a Spitzenberg 

 family. Trees of this variety are Jiard drinkers, and also lose more 

 moisture by transpiration than almost any of the standard varieties 

 of apples. They require double the cultivation that would suffice for 

 Baldwins, and varieties should be so interplanted as to allow of this 

 extra cultivation of the thirstier trees. 



I would think there are many situations in California along the coast 

 or water levels, along the bays and rivers, or on foothills, where there is 

 plenty of moisture in the air, that could produce these fancy grades of 

 apples, if close attention be given to the constitutional demands of these 

 varieties. But the hot, dry valleys of the interior would never do for 

 Spitzenbergs, and probably other varieties could never succeed quite 

 so well in those sections as in our moist er climate. 



The worst enemy of the apple-grower in the Willamette Valley is 

 apple-scab, as the very condition that produces the high flavor and 



