Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1868-07-07
THE HERALD.
Eastern Experience is of Little Avail
to Us"

This remark from the report of the
annual meeting Of the Iowa State
! Horticultural Society is made the
sstext" for an editorial article in the
March number Of the Horticulturist.
The article dissents entirely from
this statement, and says that ''if the
writer thereof lives a few years, and
makes fruit growing his study, he
Will find that be was very far from
the truth when wrote it" and ''lo>
wa is not so much distinct State in
soil or temperature that she can af,
ford to throw away the experience
of New England" etc. If / am not
| mistaken, the author Of your text"
is a friend of nine who passed the
meridian OF life in the noble State OF
New, York, and with ripe experience
in Eastern finit growing, removed to
young Iowa and using that expert
ence here, met with disaster but
now, after long years Of extensive
experiments here, has abandoned
| old notions, he has achieved o sue
cess that is a glory to his old are,
and make the above remark guided
by the light of more than a half cen
tury OF observation and practice in
both the East and the West. Furth.
er: the writer of this, left the old Bay
State fifteen years ago to make a
home in young Iowa, and bore in his
breast that self>sufficient, self satis>
factory feeling of superiority that
nearly all Eastern people feel who
do not know the West. Awaiting
myself of the best eastern knowledge
that / could get from books or men,
| ordered a huge box of trees of
Baldwin, r. |. Greening. Fall Pippin,
Louise Bonno de Jersey, Black Tar
tartan, Crawford's Early, etc. They
were transferred to my new home,
and after the lapse of one Iowa wins
ter they were all dead or hopeleessly
crippled.
Guided by the same light, SINH
lar selection was ordered the next
year, and u similar result followed. -
The third year similar but smaller
iiot Sudi Ou u llhc idtc. OHdSIcLcu,
but not discouraged, a CLEAN of light
from nearer but smaller luminary
arrested my attention. Ii occurred
that perhaps totally different soil
and climate might require different
selection of varieties and different
mode of treatment. Acting on this
thought, | have now an orchard of
5000 vigorous young trees, from one
to twelve years, planted in perfect
health, and promising to yearly in>
crease the amount of beautiful fruit
they are now producing. Among
them all there are not one hundred
trees of varieties that | would select
in New England.
Eastern experience is of very little
avail TO us. 1t taught me that Bald
win and r. [. Greening were just the
thing t. plant. Western experience
has taught me that they will winter
kill like "a fig, Eastern experience
Taught me to prune in winter for
wood, and insummer for fruit
Western experience las taught me
not TO prune in winter at all. Eastern
experience taught me to train trees
with open heads, TO let in sun and air.
Wester experience has Taught me TO
grow trees with compact heads, to
keep out the searching sun and winds
of the prairies. Eastern experience
taught me to manure all kinds of
fruit literally. Western experience
has taught me that it will not do.
In Massachusetts, the soil i, thin and
poor; in Iowa it is rich and deep
In Massachusetts the air is moist in
Iowa it is dry. In Massachusetts
the summer IL cooler than in Iowa !;
and in Iowa the winter is much cold
er than in Massachusetts. In Mas
sachusetts the Baldwin apple is the
most profitable in Town it winter
kills to the ground. In Massachu.
sets the Catawba will never fully
ripen; in hot, arid Iowa, it seldom
fails. Massachusetts is built on grams
ite-Iowa on limestone The soil,
seasons, atmosphere, fola, geology,
and geography are essentially differ
ent, and of course require different
treatment.
My birth, boy hood, and early mans
hood were spent in the dear old Bay
State. My manhood's prime till l
have passed the halfway post of lifes
allotted span has been wholly devo>
ted to fruit growing N young Iowa,
and beg to corroborate the state
ment, that Eastean experience is Of
little avail to us. ! should not have
written these lines, but your article
was so typical of the opinion that per
vades the whole East, that / thought
| would write you the Western view
of the subject. Even the American
Agriculturist with cosmopolitan
claims-advised Minnesota cores
pendent to plant Baldwin, r. I.Green-
ing, Fameuse, Roxbury Russell, or
any variety that succeeds IN the same
latitude East. Every one mentioned
will kill but the Famsuse; and the
principle is wholly wrong, for some
of our hardest sorts are from the
South.
The American Institute Farmers
Club, New York, ridiculed a corres~
pondent from the far Northwest who
inquired for hardy sorts of pears
They replied, with sneer, that all
pears were hardy. They did not
know what they were talking about.
| will give one hundred dollars for
one>half dozen pear.trees of any var.
iety of fair quality that is perfectly
hardy here.
Iowa has often been condemned as
a poor fruit growing county, but it
has been only by those who have
tried it in the light of Eastern expe>
rience. We are slowly, but perse-
veringly working out the problem of
fruit growing on the great rich prair
les of the Northwest. We are al
ready achieving success, and in due
time shall be able to Show results
COMMENSURATE with the fartiIitv of