Part 75 (1/2)

(Applause.)

Mr. Peterson: I have nothing to add. I have been in the game a good many years. We have systematically kept track of over three hundred varieties since 1888, so that it may be if you have any questions to ask I might be able to answer them, and I would be glad to. The proposition that Mr. Brand has stated is actually within the facts. We have raised thousands of seedlings, and not one of them do we now grow. You see some of the Peterson seedlings listed in other people's catalogues, but I don't have one myself.

A Member: What kind of varieties would you suggest for the ordinary home garden, best dozen varieties?

Mr. Peterson: I would name for the white peonies, the Madam de Verneville, Avalanche, Couronnes d'Or; of the pale pink, Delicatissima, Marie Crousse, Grandiflora; of the red, Monsieur Martin Cohuzac, Monsieur Krelage, Felix Crousse; of the deep pink, Modeste Guerin, M.

Jules Elie and Claire Dubois. I do think that Mr. Brand has some of exceptional merit that will probably be put in the red cla.s.s. I don't know his others, but Felix Crousse is undoubtedly the best of its type in the red.

A Member: Have you tried out the Baroness Schroeder?

Mr. Peterson: I surely have. It is very fine, but it is a little changeable, not only in its habits but in its shade. If you want a perfect white, it isn't that, it is a nearly flesh white. I would say that the Madame Emile Lemoine is finer.

A Member: Do you advise spraying for them?

Mr. Peterson: No, but I tell you what was asked of me today, which is the secret of having no disease in our plants. Any two-year-old plant in our field that doesn't bloom, we dig it up and throw it away, and that will nip any trouble in the bud, and then you will not get any strain that is not blooming. If we see any other defect, any that won't head good, we take it up and throw it away. That one point I think all of you can well follow, and that is, to dig up every two-year-old plant that doesn't bloom and throw it away, that is, during the blooming season.

Mr. Harrison: Some varieties will bloom and some won't. You have got to punish the whole on account of the few?

Mr. Peterson: I do that. If I have a two-year-old plant that is blooming in a section I keep it and follow it up.

Mr. Harrison: Any special rule about multiplying or dividing?

Mr. Peterson: No, except to divide in September, even possibly the last week of August, and the earlier they are divided at that time when the eyes are large, the better it is.

CAN FRUIT WITHOUT SUGAR.--_Canning Specialists Say Boiling Water May Be Used Instead of Sirup._ Fruit for use in pies or salads or as stewed fruit can be put up or canned without the use of any sugar at all, according to the canning specialists of the department. They, therefore, advise those who, because of the high price of sugar, have been thinking of reducing the amount of fruit they put up to can as much of their surplus as possible by the use of boiling water when sugar sirup is beyond their means. Any fruit, they say, may be successfully sterilized and retained in the pack by simply adding boiling water instead of the hot sirup. The use of sugar, of course, is desirable in the canning of all kinds of fruits and makes a better and ready sweetened product. Moreover, most of the fruits when canned in water alone do not retain their natural flavor, texture and color as well as fruit put up in sirup. Fruit canned without sugar to be used for sauces or desserts must be sweetened.

Fruit Retail Methods and Costs.

CLARENCE W. MOOMAW AND M.M. STEWART, FRUIT AND PRODUCE MARKETERS, PORTLAND, OREGON.

On studying the various phases of city apple marketing, special attention was given to retail methods and costs. The purpose of this study was chiefly to learn whether the wholesale supply controls the price. The cost of operation as a factor in determining retail prices also was investigated as far as possible.

Retail apple distributors may be cla.s.sed as follows:

(a) Fruit-stand vendors.

(b) Fancy grocers, fruiterers, etc., catering almost exclusively to high-cla.s.s or fas.h.i.+onable trade and doing a very extensive credit business.

(c) Grocers catering to a cheaper cla.s.s of trade, largely upon a cash basis.

(d) Hucksters or street peddlers.

Relatively high prices were charged for apples purchased at fruit stands. Extra fancy Northwestern and Colorado Jonathans were sold to the dealers during October and November at prices ranging from $1 to $1.25 per box. Apples which grade 150 to the box retailed at two for five cents, or $3.75 per box. This meant a gross profit of about 250 per cent. In the ninety-six size, extra fancy Jonathans sold at three for ten cents, or $3.20 per box, showing a gross profit of about 200 per cent.

In the East Side tenement section of New York City it was learned that by reason of the cheap prices prevailing and the heavy supply of apples arriving the peddlers were operating to the detriment of fruit stands.