MEDEORB PE&K.S BEING SMSTOG1TOIGHRIGE
A. UUU.S. V I j AaSF W UkliaO
By O. Putnm, Editor Mdfofd Tribune.
PEARS trom the Rogue river valley
hold In New York this year at
$9.20 a box, the highest price ever
paid in any market In the world
for, perishable fruit. Southern
Oregon peart are becoming famous ihe
world over, and this year hare captured
all records in all markets for tfigh
prices. California fruit t no longer In
the same class with that of Oregon.
The gnest pears in the world, both as
to flavor and keeping quality, are grown
around Medford. This year pears hve
been veritable nuggets of gold hang
ing on trees. - ..
To show the money that pears will
bring; and the profit there is in growing
them in this section of the country, it is
only necessary to examine the books at
any of the Urge pear orchards. Toke
the Bear Creek orchard, owned by C H.
Lewis, as an example. A carload of
1 -.vtr riu . i uvi wHif si ..t iu m rr:
fjYyri LJl1MTt .-- .. "'...'' ' - - -- - ,m t i-rri-T , -i iyiAfj f '" 1 "' ' 1 " unrnmiMi.KmiTr mriiiiiininiwnmirrwwtMi ; f t
DECLARE MILTON BIBLE IS NOT GENUINE
Experts Pass Judgment on Book for Which $1,225 Was Paid
XPERTS declare "John Milton's BK sy hJ autograph forgeries are ap
'v,7,vlu!k " . ,M in nm York parent from the similarity of the chir
ble,,f which was sold in New ipm graphy 0( the various letters in the
E
recently to uwrgo juuiiuu. autograpns in wnicn inns or sngnw
dealer In rare books, tor $1.2a5, ; Is -different color have been used. ; --..
Mjr th.t ,. ' Alexander Howell. F.R.O.8.. F.R.Iat.-
. " -
natures wf Milton and his wlfe Elisa-
, fought the Bible on tne ondiuon tnai
, If It proved not to be genuine it should
te returned to. its former owner, Mr.:1
; Buckler, secretary of the American le
" gallon at Madrid. . .?." V'
. ? : Alfred Barton, the expert In old books,
ays that the Bible was probably printed.
': In London in 1688, but was rebacked be
: 5tween i860 and 1860 with new papers,
t bearing the alleged autograpns, mseriea
Xl o vxpresses surprise liuik cuuji
exneru. includinr Dr.Aldis' wrignu .
i vloe-master. of , Trinity college. Cam-;
brldae. should have been deceived by a;
dumsr fraud. v v
-r David Carvalho,' handwriting .expert, .
'::'Y-
u ;
Uil B. V Bfa W Akt AU .flk BW resv
Cornice pears grown on this orchard
. sold September JO, 1907, at auction in
New York City for 14,622.80, the high
est price ever received for a carload of
fruit; 406 half-boxes from this car sold
for $410 a half-box, or $8.20 a full box.
The sale was made at publio auction by
Rae & Hatfield.
Seven, cars of Bartlett pears on this
brchard grossed $2,200 per car. The
average yield was seven boxes to the
tree, 102 trees to the acre. One car of
Bartlettg- from this tract netted $3.51
per box, f. o. b. the orchard.
Thirty acres of young pear trees on
this same orchard, none of the trees
over 8 years old, yielded an average of
four boxes to the tree, which were sold
at the orchard for $2. SO" a box, net, or
$1,060.80 per t acre.
Other Examples'.
Other examples: of what pears In th
Rogue river valley will do are shown
8 formerly owned tne uibie, wnion
M fl0ld for him by Messrs. Sotheby
tM at MMSrs. Sotheby's sale-room in
London nearly seven years ago. It is
stated that the- book i was. bought
that thn- book was bought by
Robert Dodd, a member or tne American
publishing, house xt Messrs. Dodd, Mead.
co.,wno,oisposeaer- 'ic to Mr.
Buckler, the present secretary of the
American legation In-Madrid.
-Messrs. Sotheby, on being questioned
about the matter yesterday, did not re
member aelllne- the book.- Their marked
vwimuw, iiuncTv, - n...
jp " 'V'
in a lew minutes tne entry, was lounaw yie.geui
to the effect that the book waa sold to
the firm still known under the name of
the late B. F. Stevens.
. Messrs, Stevens are known the world
.THE OREGON' SUNDAY JOURNAL PORTLAND; SUNDAV.' MORNING JANUARY H5i -
W W Sk kw n fcsVA ISA eVSj
by the receipts In other orchards. The
record price obtained f or Cornice pears
was for the product for the G.. A. Hover
orchard, near , Phoenix, south of Med
ford, who sold part of his fruit for $0.20
a box. O. A. Morse received $8.40 a box
for Cornice pears from his orchard near
Medford. A carload of Cornice from
J. W. Perkins' orchard grossed $4,558.
Cornice pears from the F. L. TouVelle
orchard brought $8.10 a box.
Though the highest price is obtained
for Cornice pears, it does not follow
that this variety is the most profit
able to the grower. There Is more
money in the common Bartlett than in
any of the other varieties, though F. H.
Hopkins' record for Winter Nellis pears
grown on his Central Point ranch shows
the money there Is in this variety. He
received $19,000 from lt acres of
trees; The pears netted $3.50 a box.
f . o; b.-' the orchard. The advantage of
the Bartlett pear is that it is the first
over as the purchasers of a large num
ber of our literary' treasures for the
American market. The head " of the
firm is Mr, Thompson, who was seen
recently by a' representative of ? The
Tribune. ''The book to which you refer
was bought by me," he said, "and I
well remember it It waif imperfect,
and the signature was pasted Inside
the cover; not written upon the flyleaf,
and these facts, of course, greatly di
minished its value. . Messrs. Sotheby
may be presumed to be interested in
ihe subject; as a partner in the firm,
the late S. -L. Sotheby, wrote a. large
book called "Elucidations of the Auto
graphs of John Milton," and described
this one as "undoubtedly genuine.'- That
was my own opinion, and to it I Still
(ihr. I am well acaualnted with
the existing signatures of the poet, and
1 may say I have no doubt at all as
'
genuineness oi mis one. i nave.
never berpi
re even neara it quesuonea.
r; .This ls,howjthe. book was desoribed
in Messrs. Botneoys oataiogue: -
-Milton. Blbla (The). Genevan Version.
VV W W A M w 1 M fcW
to be shipped, as it matures earlier than
any other variety. The entire crop Is
shipped, marketed and the ' money in
the bank before the picking begins on
later varieties. The Bartlett is not a
good keeper, and doea not stand ship
ment as well as other pears, but those
grown in the Rogue river valley have
proved themselves superior in this re
spect to those raised in any other fruit
growing section of America. .
Finest of Flavor.
The Cornice pear is said to be the finest-flavored
pear that grows, and it
commands the highest price. It is a
good keeper, and is not really ready for
the table until after Christmas time.
The tree, however, is not a heavy
bearer, so that while the highest price
is received there are fewer boxes per
acre than of the more common varie
, with Herrey's concordances, black let
ter; title to the Old Testament Inlaid,
last leaf defective, and a few leaves
imperfect and mended; old oak boards,
covered With stamped' leather (re
backed) brass corner and center-pieces
with clasp. a C BARKER, 1688.
ITie Widow's Inscription.
Some further particulars follow. The
Signature "John Milton, ffeb. 24: 1654"
was on a rough piece of paper measur
ing $H inches by 1' inches, pasted
Inside the front cover. Underneath this
were- written the names of "William
Mlhshull, Nantwich" (a relation of Mil
ton's third wife). "Elizabeth Milton.
1664" (Milton'a third wife herself), and
several members 4f the family of the.
name of Matthews. On the flyleaves
at the end was the signature "Elisabeth
MlnshulL" and a note, as follows: ;
December ye . 17, 1714. I gave this
Book to my mother, the widow Math
ews, but if She dyes before me. I de
sire that it shoujd be Retom to me
me againe: William Matthewa."
It is well known that. Milton's wid
ow, formerly ' Elisabeth Minshull, re
tired te Nantwich, where her family
lived. 'and died In 1727. The signature
WjV ------- , . W& M UW hev W W A
ties. The Doy du Cornice pear Is a na
tive of France, and the Rogue river
valley is the only section of America
in which the fruit reaches a perfection
greater than that of the land which first
produced it.
Another profitable variety of pear is
the -Beurre Boso, which is grown in
many parts of the country, but nowhere
does Its flavor excel those that are
grown in southern Oregon. This season
pears of this variety brought over $4.00
a box In New York, in competition with
pears of the same variety grown In the
vicinity of Now York, which sold at
less than half the pnee.
O. H. Hover, in June, 1908, purchased
10 acres of pear trees. He has since
sold two crops of Cornice and Beurre
Bosc neeting $9,600, or $4,000 above the
purchase pride. .
The Rogue River Fruit Growers'
union, which handles the products of
60 small orchards, this year sold Cornice
pears as high an $8.20 a box, d'Anjou
"Ellxabeth Minshull" shows that the
book must havf belonged to her before
she married the poet. '
With regard to the action alleged to
have been taken by the latest pur
chaser in returning the book to the
vendor. It is to be assumed that it was
sold with a guarantee. Such a guaran
tee, however, is never given in England.
In the conditions of sale printed In
Messrs. Sotherby's catalogues, for In
stance. It Is expressly stated that auto-
Jxaphs and manuscripts are not sub
set to return for any-error In the de
scription. The fact is that there can be
no absolute certainty of the genuine
ness of any particular manuscript It
would be strange, indeed, however, if
leading experts in Kngland could have
been mistaken as to this 'particular
signature of John Milton, especially as
there are -eight others in existence for
purposes of comparison.
Aldis Wright's View.
Aldls .Wright of Trinity college,
Cambridge, told The Tribune corres
pondent last night that ne was con
sulted about a book, which he believed
to have been this Bible, six years ago.
He' then declared that the -signature
was not that of John Milton, the poet.
1808.'
& O W UAAUt. JL A. V AlbU
Fears for $4.60 a box, Beurre Bosc pears
or $S.60 a box, all f. o. b. New York,
while their winter Nellis pears sold for
$2.60 a box, and Bartlett pears as high
as $8.26 a box, f. o. b. Medford.
The Burrell orchard this year netted
$1,077 per acre for 2ft acres of pears
from their orchard near Medford.
All Orchards Alike.
Similar figures could be quoted from
nearly all orchards In the vicinity of
Medford and the Rogue River valley,
which is without question destined to
become one of the greatest fruit-raising
sections in the world. All things com
bine to make it an ideal region for pears,'
as well as apples. The climate la about
the same as that of France In its more
sunny sections, and as most pears orig
inated in France, they here find most
nearly the conditions to produce perfect
but that of Major John Milton, who proportion to the amoun? of light Which
was an officer In a City of London train Is permitted to strike it.
band . Signor Baese, therefore, projects the
The signature Mr. Wright added. Was photograph upon sueh a film throurfii
on a piece of paper, pasted in the Bible," two other plates which are necessary
and was dated 1664, or several yea,rs , to secure the proper illumination of iho
after the poet had gone blind.; Major face. y..;- .. , . -
John Milton's signature jws not unlike i i First, . he throws a powerful lUht
that of the poet before his affliction. upon the salient parts of the fare and
There was the signature of Elizabeth, procures a negative..; Then he casts tht
the third wife of John Milton, the poet light upon , the remoter parts of the
on the title page, so that' the Bible countenance and obtains a positive,
most likely had been in Milton's family. - These plates, positive and negative,
- What relationship there was between are placed together and the light pens
Milton, the poet and Major John Milton ing through them strikes tbe senaluitd
he could not say. He wished to deny gelatine plate and th bas-relief s are ttu '
emphatically that he ever said that the-- result . v . v
signature was that of the poet On the :
contrary, he said that it was not.. . ,
Bas-Kellef fad With Camera
wmm the thlladelthla Press. . '
Carlos Baese, an Italian civil engl-
neer, has .onginatea a metnoa oy wnicn
bas-reliefs of the faca may be obtained
through the- camera .which, look as
thoughthey were photographs of sculp-
....... .. . .
The basic Idea behind the photo-sculpt
ture Is that fact well -known to phot og -
raohers that a plate of gelatine: sensl-
tlxed with- bichromate will .'swell In
water ana that it loses this property la
r
UAA - A W0 A W af M UStA A AiJ V VY ilk i
fruit The altitude of the, valley, which
ranges from 1.S00 feet up, gives the
fruit keeping qualities, while the soil
contains those essentials necessary to
perfect flavor. As yet but a small per
centage of the possible acreage in the
valley is planted to fruit. . Each year
sees the acreage increased several hun
dred per cent, and it is estimated by
Southern Pacific officials that within a
few years, 60.000 carloads of fruit will
be shipped annually. , ''W:w-
There Is no danger of over-production
of fancy fruit Only a few sec
tions in the United States can- produce
the quality demanded and only & tew
a good crop every year. These ondiT
tions are furnished by the Rogue RTver
valley, which has probably 10 times the
possible acreage in fruit that the Hood
River or Wjmatchee and other sections
now famous have. , a . ' ? 1 ,
r , .
V. ' - 'A Vagno Men.' 0,
From Judge; ' -T
During his first visit to a farm ltri!
Willie came into the house crying soft.
ly.
"What Is the matter, derr si.l
nls mother.
'l went out to see the cow, i
didn't give nothing but mak.
, er r t
tM rnv
."What did you expect r Inaulrr 1 V. t
jnot her, . . .
"I'm not sure whet I e r ''tl," r
piled WllMe;- "bur, mother. c
the beef tea come Xrutiir
. L
'ft'-
,,,.-.-.v-