TIIE OMATIA SUNDAY BEE: JUNE 11, 1911.
I)
Big Red Apple Means Big Balance in the Bank Nowadays
t IT
-l'y fC '-
V
n
1 ,
W' v. .
w
(Copyright, 1911, by Pr&nk O. Carpenter.)
A8HINOTON, D. C. (Special Correspond
ence of The Bee.' I write of the Big
Red Apple. It is creating almost aa
much trouble for us as did that into
which Mother Eve, at the advice of the
snake, sank her pearly teeth when she
lost us the Garden of Eden. It is more
precious than the three golden apples which grew In
the garden of Hesperides, and for which Hercules up
held the globe on his shoulders when he sent old Atlas
. to get them. That was the second time that the apple
upset the world. A third was when Juno, Venus and
, Jlinerva contended as to their beauty for the golden
1 apple offered by Paris, the grafter, who, being bribed
by Venus with Helen of Troy, thus brought about the.
I long ten-year war which laid that city in ashes.
; Big Money in Apple.
Even the Bible speaks of apples of gold In pitchers
bf silver. Well, that 1b what we are having la some
parts of our country. The apple crop Is revolution
izing whole districts. It has lifted the prices of lands
o the clouds and has made it possible for the clod
hopper to walk upon velvet.
What would you think of a country where nearly
fevery farmer owns his automobile, where his house Is
lighted by electricity and he has water on tap; where
cores of families go every year to southern Califor
nia to get away from the cold, and where you cannot
Jthrow a stone without striking a man who has money
to the bank? That, I am told at the Department of
'Agriculture, is the condition of half a dozen different
districts in the Pacific northwest.
Take the Hood river 'valley in Oregon, where the
apples and pumpkins are of about the same size! Or
chard land there is worth from $500 to $1,000 an.
acre, and orchards already -set out will bring $3,000
and upward an acre. Said one of the department of
ficials to me:
"I was recently talking with an orchardlst who had
ten acres of bearing trees in one of the best districts
of Washington. I asked him what his land was worth.
Ha replied:
" 'It ought to bring me In at least $10,000.'
" 'Well,' said I, after thinking a moment, ' I don't
know that that Is too much. You have ten acres, and
that would be Just $1,000 an acre.'
" 'But I mean $10,000 per acre,' said the man. 'It
will bring me a good income on that and leave a fair
Inking fund.' And thereupon he took out his pencil
iaad showed me that he was making a big percentage
ton his own valuation.
A Farmer's Utopia,
"The Paclflo northwest Is the Utopia of the
farmer," said another of the. agricultural explorers.
"The apple growers are mostly educated men and the
ocial conditions are high. In Hood River, which is
a town of 6,000, there is a University club, to which
belong 150 college graduates. North Yakima looks
tor all the world like a New England city, and its
bouses are more artistic than those of the east The
Wenatchee valley is a great farm town covering thou
sands of acres, divided up Into patches of five and
ten acres of orchards. Each patch has its house,
which is equipped with electricity and lighted by a
common plant. Every home has runnning water and
Ik. telephone, and scores of the farmers own their own
motor cars.
"The bare land in the Wenatchee valley Is worth
500 and upward an acre, and the orchards in bear
ing yield $500 or more to the acre a year.
"Near southern Washington a crop of eight acres
was sold on the trees for $15,000, and the purchaser
did the picking and marketing. They had an apple
ahow at Spokane laBt fall where they gave away prizes
Which aggregated $20,000, the first prize being, a
sweepstake of $1,000. At that show there were dis
plays from thlrty-slj different districts In Washington,
Oregon, California, Idaho and M'ontana, and the ap
ples were shown in all sorts of packages, from the car
load to the box. They sent one trainload of the ex
hibits from there to Chicago. It went by express and
It carried Just 1,000,000 apples.
Our Best Apple Lands.
Where are our best apple lands?
I have asked this question of several of the lead
ing pomologlsts of the Agricultural department, and
w have gone over the country with a map laid be
fore us. Take first the Pacific northwest. The most
famous regions are pockets such as the Wenatchee
Valley and the Hood River country. They have not a
Urge area, but the land has been divided up into
mail patches, ten acres being enough for any one
man to handle. The Yakima region is larger, and
there are other extensive tracts in Idaho, Oregon and
Washington. There is a big apple country in Cali
fornia a little south of San Francisco, from whose
port, Wataonvllle, are shipped more apples than from
i ' 4 A
- -ym
Wr: ' bai SM
M - !...''-
7
.ft Wv
11
4 L
- eeL.
r r-
V
z.a... .....jr. ' a"ss." i; v ' 4 i
I HUH
a-
4- Sir' si-'r-xrik- M)
-mm
UPIMVPZ1,
1
. y "
f-"iW iJ! w5-v mi
VOL
'5
urnmm
the east I have myself shipped 300 barrels in one
car this 100,000 carloads would equal 20,000,000
barrels of apples. This is the potential product ten
years from now of the Pacific northwest, and that
part of the country produces a comparatively small
portion of our total crop.
Now, within the last ten years the apple crop of
the United States has ranged from 22,000,000 to 60,
000,000 barrels. We had 22,000.000 barrels In 1909.
and during the last five years the average has been
about 2 8,000,000 barrels. The big yields were all
during the earlier part of the decennial period, the
statistics of which the Department of Agriculture con
siders unreliable.
At the estimate I have given for the Pacific north
west the crop for that region in 1921 would be almost
equal to the total crop for the United States for 1909.
and If a proportionate increase goes on in the other
known apple regions there may be an enormous glut
in the market. This is a possible situation which the
present investor in apple lands should consider. Even
If the 60,000,000 barrels were correct, the product
ten years from now, supposing the orchards Just
planted come Into bearing, will probably be far in
excess of that figure,
Co-Operation and Advertising.
any ether port la the world. The moat of the north
western appTfes go by rail to Chicago, New York and
New England, and not a few are sent across the con
tinent by rail and thence by steamer to London.
It surprised me to learn that one of the most
profitable apple regions is in Colorado. It lies in the
western part of the state, on the other side of the
Rockies, and quite a distance from Denver. The
climate there is such that it has bad crops when
those of the northwest have failed.
Coming further east, there Is a big apple region
in Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. The Ozark, moun
tain country in many years has led the United States
In the production of the big red apple, and there are
large orchards in Kansas and Nebraska and also in
the statespa the other aide of flhe Mississippi river.
Just now some of the most successful orchards of
the country are in western Michigan. They run up
along the coast of the lake and extend some distance
back into the interior. I know of one agricultural
scientist who has an orchard of 200 trees there. It
was planted by his father some thirty odd years ago.
That orchard brought In $3,500 this year, making a
net profit of about $600 per acre.
V
Apples In New York and New England.
The old reliable apple country of the United States
Is northern New York. It has been producing large
crops of fine fruit for years, and with modern spray
ing and improved cultivation It is now yielding more
than ever. Representative apple buyers of the coun
try have annual meetings at Niagara Falls, where
they arrange . the management of this crop, and
whether it Is big or little largely affects the market
prices all over the country.
New England is raising a great deal of apples.
This Is especially so of southeastern Maine and some
parts of Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire.
The most of the apples from that region are Bald
wins. Among the new movements there Is the reno
vation of the old orchards after methods laid down
by the Department of Agriculture. A large number of
abandoned farms have been made profitable by the
rejuvenation of the old apple orchards through trim
ming and cultivation.
there !s fo Its fcegtnnlng, but t'ner are Betting trat tree
by the hundreds of thousands and lands are Jumping
in value. The country is only about six years bid as
a marketing region. It was in 1905 or 1906 that the
commercial orchards began to bear. Since then the
bank deposits have trebled, and this last fall- that
county alone shipped about 1,000,000 bushels of ap
ples. The apple lands are far cheaper than those of
the west, selling for from $75 to $200 per acre, the
latter price being usually for land on which trees have
been planted.
The same might be said of an extensive region of
apple country In the mountains of West- Virginia,
where large orchards have been set out and from
where annual shipments of many carloads are made.
There are big orchards In western Maryland and in
southern Pennsylvania, regions in which thousands
of trees are now being planted.
Money in Southern Orchards.
The profits of the southern orchards are so far
nothing like those of the far west, but the scientific
fruit men tell me that the lands in many of the east
ern sections are Just as suited to apples and that
proper cultivation, spraying, packing and marketing
should make them pay quite as well. Many of the
western fruit growers realize this, and I know person
ally a number of orchardists who have sold out their
lands In Washington and Idaho and are now buying
southern lands and setting them out. One such
man recently bought over 200 acres, right on the
railroad, within a half mile or so of the fine old town
of Leesburg. He paid something like $50 or $60 an
acre, and he expects to raise as good apples within
about forty miles of the national capital as can be
raised In Colorado or Washington. That man bought
apple lands in Oregon for $3 00 an acre and sold them
for $700, Another young fellow of the Leesburg
neighborhood has bought 360 acres upon which he is
starting with an orchard of 6,000 trees, one-half of
the profits of which he expects to give to foreign mis
sions. Wiat One Girl Did.
There Is an Albemarle pippin orchard on the Fair
fax estate, formerly owned by President Monroe, that
Is paying- exceedingly well, and near there Is a little On the other hand, by co-operation and advertls
. . , . 'fh. -nft t U1 " tag and the proper handling of the crop there is no
a wa vne tu w v v bi ccn w uii.u uau ucuu Du ncu
managed by a young lady farmer that It Is an object
lesson for miles around. In the latter case the trees
were set out in 1890, twenty-one years ago, and it
was sixteen years after that before they began to give
crops commercially profitable. One can plant 600
trees on twelve acres of ground and have room to
spare.' This Is what that girl did with her trees. In
1906 her net profits were $1,612; In 1907, $862; In
1908, $1,227; in 1909, $3,248, and in 1910 she has
gross receipts ofover $5,000, yielding her a net profit
of 13,862. Moreover, her trees have begun to show
what they will do and there is no reason why her
crop should not be greatly increased as the years go
by.
Will the Apple Market Be Glutted
Stories similar to these are known to all who
have any acquaintance with the apple regions of the
United States. They are founded on present condi
tions and are the cause of the enormous extent to
which new orcharrds are being planted all over the
country. Many of the government clerks at Wash
ington are Investing la orchard schemes. Some of the
fruit experts of the Agricultural department have
their independent orchards, and not a few of Uncle
Sam's employes have bone into the business and are
making good.
At the same time apple lands are being exploited
as orange lands were some years ago, and syndicates
are formed to manage orchards at a fixed price per
acre or tree. The planting is very extensive and this
is especially so in the Pacific northwest and In Vir
ginia, West Virginia and Maryland. It is also true of
the other apple regions, although to a minor extent.
Last year, I am told, the shipments of apples from
the Washington, Oregon and Idaho regions amounted
to 10,000 carloads, and moreover when the trees that
are now being planted come Into bearing, say ten
years from now, there will' be from that region more
than 100,000 carloads. The most of these shipments
go in boxes, but I venture a carload of barrels would
contain about the same number of apples. At 200
barrels to the car, which is an average shipment in
Apple Pie Ridge.
There is a region la Virginia known as Apple Pie
Ridge. It Is in the Appalachian mountains, and I
shall dignify the whole of that system by that name.
Apples can be raised in selected spots through that
whole range, running from New England as far south
as Georgia There are fine apple lands in the Alle
ghenles, and thousands of acres of trees are now being
sot out in different parts of the Blue Ridge. In Albe
marie county, about Charlottesville,, where Thomas
Jefferson lived, they raise the famous Albemarle pip
pins, which bring from $5 to $10 a barrel, the greater
part of them being shipped to England. That was
the favorite apple of Queen Victoria. King Edward
ate it before going to bed, and King George haa been
brought up upon it. They are now using Albemarle
pippins In Windsor palace, and I have bought them
in Covent Garden market at something like a shilling
a pound.' This apple is fastidious as to soil and
climate. It grows best in the coves of the moun
tains, and of, late it has been thriving in the Shenan
doah valley. I know of men there who are netting
from $10,000 to $20,000 a year from their pippin
trees, and there 'are numerous farmers who make
more out of their orchards than from wheat, corn or
live stock.
In the Valley of Virginia.
Another favorite apple la the York Imperial, and
others are tSe Grimes' Golden, winesaps and mam
moth black twigs. Take Frederick county, Virginia, of
which Winchester Is the capital. The ax pie Industry
Mystery of Four Vanished Fortunes
W
'D'-fr
a huge inheritance
syndicate has been
ITH view to tracing
lost for centuries, a
formed in Cologne and has retained soma
prominent German lawyers. Several
members of the Retxhstag are connected
with the scheme, according to a recent dispatch to
the Philadelphia Inquirer, which is built up around
the vanished estate of Baron von Oruhohn, a field
marshal in the Dutch army, who died 234 years ago.
which is built up around the vanished estate of
Zaron von Oruhohn, a field marshal in the Dutch
army, who died 234 years ago.
This search has its counterpart in a series of
Bavarian mysteries dating still further back, and
curiously enough also dealing with Dutch fortunes
left to German relatives. In the latter case the de
scendants of four separate families have Joined bands
in an effort to acquire the fortunes left to them.
Here are the main facta upon which the various claim
ants hope to establish their right to the vanished
$17,600,000.
In 1636 George Schleded, a German emigrant
from the Moselle country, died, leaving about one and
three-quarter million dollars to his family. In 1664
Andreas Joas, Schleder's son-in-law, died leaving
$3,600,000 te relatives in Bavaria. Ia 1707 Johana
Joas, a nephew of Andreas, died bequeathing nearly
a million dollars
year previous. y a
to the same Bavarian family. A
Spanish governor named Jais died
at Antwerp, leaving five millions to relatives in
Bavaria.
Finally Joseph Pongrats who, like the two Joases
and Schleder, lived and died at Amsterdam, left
$7,500,000 to descendants at Schausen, Germany.
These fortunes have gone astray. That they, once
existed is beyond all doubt The heirs of Johann
Joas are ready to show that an Aosburg lawyer
testified to the arrival of the million on May 2, 1785.
The hopeful ones in the case of Jais hold a docu
ment registering the banking of their ancestor's
fortune in an Augsburg house In 1786. The benefici
aries under the Pongrantz will have even received
mall cash advances from this fortune during the
centuries which have lapsed. Once, for instance, a
lucky descendant actually succeeded In obtaining a
quarter of a million dofars. This was in 1791. As
recently as 1865 in Augsburg banker named Haider
contested on his deathbed that he had made his for
tune out of the missing Pongrats millions that the
money was in fact lying in his safes. The would-be
benefiolaries put forth every effort to obtain their
due, but In vain. The Haider business has lately
been amalgamated with the Bank of Dresden, and
the descendants are now suing the latter concern.
doubt that the United States will consume or export
all the apples that are now being planted. This is one
of the big works which Uncle Sam is doing. One
branch of the bureau of pomology Is devoted to it. It
has its agents at home and abroad, and its inspectors
are instructing the people. Our export of apples haa
already reached 1,000,000 barrels, and at reduced
prices and with more care in packing it can be greatly
Increased. What we need Is the same kind of work
that has been done by southern California as to the
orange crop. The organizations there have so sys
tematized the shipping and marketing that oranges
are cheaper than apples in most parts of the United
States. I dropped Into the Center market, here in
Washington, yestercay and asked the price of some
No. 1 Wenatchee apples. I was told that they were
75 cents a dozen, or more than 6 cents apiece. I
then picked up a navel orange which was larger than
any of the apples and was told that it was selling for
35 cents a dozen, or less than 8 cents apiece. One can
by oranges and bananas in any town and in almost
every grocery store in the country, and there are many
regions where oranges are sold and apples are not.
This is merely a matter of prices, handling and mar
keting. The apple will keep longer than the orange,
the latter being a perishable fruit. Nevertheless, the
apple Is the dearer and the harder to get.
' Said one of Uncle Sam's fruit experts:
"When every family In the United States classes
the baked apples as one of its breakfast dishes, and
lets it crowd out some of the cereals, there will be
no trouble about the consumption of the apple crop."
Grading and Foreign Competition,
"If our apple Industry is to be permanently suc
cessful," continued this man, "we muBt have rigid in
spection and absolute honesty as to grading and mar-)
keting. As it Is now there are too many tricks in the
trade. In the northwest this is prevented largely by
co-operation and state Inspection. If a man ships poor
apples or grades poor ones as good ones, his apples
are thrown out by the shippers and he may lose a
whole carload by a bad box or so. In Canada the
government Inspects all the fruit, not only that which
goes abroad, but that sold in the local markets, and
the man" who sells No. 2s aa No. Is, or culls as
good apples is liable to a fine. There are fixed ways
of packing and grading, and the inspectors go from
orchard to orchard and report.
Stovepipe Packing.
"Have you ever heard of stopepipe packing?"
this man went on. "That has been done with some
of our apples which have been shipped te England
and Germany, and has greatly Injured the trade. It
has also hurt the sale of our apples at home."
"What do you mean by that?" I asked.
"I mean the laying three or four rows of fine
red or yellow apples on the bottom of the barrel,
fitting them in so that they look like fancy No. Is,
and then placing inside the barrel a pasteboard cyl
inder, which would hold about a bushel or one-third
of the barrel. This Is so set that good apples can be
fitted In around It and when that is done the cylinder
is filled with culls. It does not come within five or
six Inches of the top of the barrel. After filling, the
pasteboard is pulled out and the top is faced up with
fine apples. In other words yon have a barrel of
what corresponds to the quotation.
"A goodly apple rotten at the core."
And moreover the rot cannot be discovered with
out emptying the barrel. I would say that there la
no use In attempting to play such tricks upon the
London market aa It is now constituted, for the
British pour out a sample .barrel from every shipment
before any bids are made."
"RANK a CARPENTER.
