THE RANCH
VOL. XXIX. No. 3.
Annual Meeting of State Hotticultunsts
' The annual meeting of the State
Horticultural Society was held at
Prosser, January 17. It was attended!
by f>oo delegates, the largest number
which ever attended, thus showing
the great interest in fruit growing in i
the State of Washington.
THE PKESIDUNT'S ADDRESS
President Benson give a strong ad
dress with timely advice to fruit
growers. He said in part:
"Orcharding today is essentially a
business proposition and not merely
an agricultural pursuit. Judgment
A FOOT OF CHERRIES FROM THE CHAS. GALBRAITH
RANCH, LYNDEN, WASH., 1910.
as to proper varieties of .fruits most
profitable for the soil and climate of
the particular district, skill in de-
veloping the orchard or vineyard and
combatting fruit pests, care in pro
#tectins? against an unseasonably frosty
night by using smudge pots or orchard
heaters, then the pioper thinning,
picking, packing and last and most
important of all, marketing the crop,
make orcbardingboth a scientific and
a business enterprise, vastly more
interesting and certainly more profi
table than the old systems of agri
culture which consisted principally
of "sowing and reaping." Hence it
is we find men of large affairs engag
ing in the business of orcharding and
looking forward to making that
business their principal work.
"BACK TO THE ORCHARD."
"The popular call, 'Back to the
soil,' applies more particularly to the
orchard districts and the mixed farm
ing necessary and incidental to
orcharding,. Don't let us overlook
the dairying, the pigs aud chickens,
the small fruits and gardens. Don't
advise the new orchardist to put all
his ground into trees except enough
space tor a house and a barn 'because
he can grow enough fruit on one acre
to buy more alfalfa than he can raise
on five or ten acres.' &uch advice
has too frequently been given.
"With the rapidly increasing popu
KENT and SEATTLE, WASH, FEBRUARY i, 1911.
lation of the United States and with
the era of the public domain practi
! cally at an end the tendency in all
j districts where intensive farming is
j possible is to subdivide the farms
I This makes the rural population more
■ dense aud brings about better schools,
better social conditions, better roads,
I better mail service and many other
' betterments, but best of all the
I electrical railway and electrical cur
: rent for lights, power and heat.
"We still hope that within the next
I generation or two the peope of this
country will have learned something
about varieties and will know the
difference between a Jonathan and a
Wolf River, or, what is more difficult,
between a Jonathan and a Gano, and
be able to know the Spitzenburg, the
Winesap, the Yellow Newtown and
other good apples from the Ben Davis,
Lawyer, Arkansas Black aud other
good looking and good keeping apples
that do not please the taste.
YOUNG APPLE TREE IN IRRIGATED SECTION OF WASHINGTON
FRUIT SCENE IN WENATCHEE VALLEY, WASHINGTON
50c Per Year, 5c the Copy
"Not only is the time coming when
they won't sell well but tnese beauti
ful looking, tasteless varieties spoils
the market for the truly delicious
apples that grow so well here in the
northwest.
"With 'fruitgrowing made easy' by
this general development and the in
creasing uuinber of trees to be planted
it behooves us to look out for our
markets now, so that we will avoid
the otherwise possible penalty of
over-production and unprofitable
prices. Our principal fruit (apples)
can be marketed all over the world,
but we must raise such varieties as
the wcrld wants.
"It seems such a simple thing to
learn and know a few of the leally
good varieties, and yet there is no
denying the fact that the great
majority of consumers buy an apple
on its looks. An apple is an apple,
(Continued on page 13.)