Arizona weekly citizen., 1883-05-12
HermOSIilo Letter.
HEaNns1LIo. Arril l5. lss3.

Al the tuu or suAEb haAf n4iAf "t aA-
 rived at the house of an ltaIan, whose
 name has escaped me He, or rather
 his wife, Mexican lady. the sister to
 the Bishop of Culiacan, IS the proprietor of an orange orchard containing eight
 thousand trees. some ot which have at
 tained the capacity of producing 2,OOO
 oranges. This Is called the "huerta del
 Frances" (Frenchman's Orchardl, and
 was started about 20 years ago by a
 French gardener. He had hardly gotten
 well under way with his plantation when
 the French invasion and the revolution
 ary troubles arising therefrom f reed
 him [, abandon his work and leave the
 country, giving his property into the charge of a servant. When the conclu-
 sion of the political troubles allowed bis
 retlrn be came back and ro his great joy
 found after or : years absence hIs
 orchard m perfect order; the trees had
 erown beautifully and had been bearing
 for several years already. His faithful
 servant delivered tO him his property and several thousand dollars in cash, the product of the orchard and vegetable
 garden during his absence. The return
 ei emigrant was not ungratetul: He
 made his trusty housekeeper a hand
 some present which enabled bim to pur-
 chus, good property for himself and
 to start an orchard on his own account
 The former exile now went to work
 in earnest; be improved his land by lib-
 eral maturing, he planted different kinds of roses and other flowers, be ! trimmed his trees carefully every year
 and regulated bis irrigaiing ditches, ID
 fact every body says tbat he created | little paradise.
 l At Lis death the property remained in | the hands of the above mentioned lady who married soon after the Italian who ! had been ner late husbands gardener. ! Since that time (about eight years l | think no improvements have been made and the general neglect Is everywhere manifest. Still the last crop of oranges | produced S3,j00, as sold on the trees; at | the time of my visit the golden fruit had all disappear from amongst tine beautiful foliage, but delicious aroma l from the blossoms prevades the whole atmO- phere.
 The gentleman who accompanied me called my attention to the fact, that across the river about three-fourths of d
 mIle west of The Pueblito de Ceres, I
 would find a Frenchman who was known
 to be the most experienced orchard-man
 and gardener in the State and who
 would be well pleased to receive me, es- peclally If l would dead off m his na-
 tive language. 1 started for hls place
 the next day, but failed Co find him lt
 home. l was, however, very heartily re- ceived by hjs son-ln law, Mir. Jacob
 Boncuard and his amiable lady, the daug4ter of the proprietor, Mir. Jean
 Pain. ' hey regaled me with the finest
 and sweetest oranges l ever tasted any
 where and made me promise to return the uext day without faIl and pass the whole day with him. I readily assented to thIs kind invitation and started for home with quite load of oranges on their branches which MT. Boncnard's hospi,able hand placed upon my sh1ul ders.
 When I arrived on the following day found MT. Pain gathering aud prepar- ing vegetables for next days supply of the city of IlermosillG whither be driyes 1 every morning with a cart to provide l his customers. He Is about the | nealthiest looking man of his age 1t has | ever been my good fortune to meet; hIs | jOvial face, his cheery voice, hIs viva | cIOus movements at once betray the | hearty son of Alsace, and were 1t nJt | for hls gray hair and beard, no one | would give him the G years which he | claims for his age. He Is a worker, and | tireless and robust farmer. lie wei | cOmed me most cheerly and showed me | gil over his place. The whole ground | under cultivation embraces about 2Sx3U | acres of which 6 acres are planted iu | grape vIues. They looked very fine and | give promise of a splendid crop; MT. | Pain manufactures wine from his Ms | sion grapes partly for his own Use, partly For sale; the muscatel grapes be sells for table Use. Directly at the entrance to his plantation hIs orange orch rd begins; It embraces about ,O0a bearing orange and sweet lemon trees, and he has through great atten- ton aud care achieved the remarkable feat of O taining two thousand and eight hundred large sweet oranges from one tree. He IS careful to have his trees 2S feet apart because he says fl they are nearer together they "chpke' one an other. At my request Mr. Pain showed me all about grating sweet oranges upon sour orange, lemon or hines trees. He cuts a healthy bad with about half Ot all inch hark on each end over from a sweet orange tree taking care tO cut the bark very thiu So that the inner side of the bud readily receives the juice of the tree to be grafted. He then cuts into
  the latter a figure thus T which he slightly opens at b tO insert the bud; he then carefully covers 1t up and ties it all around with cotton thread, taxing care that the buR ls left free of tread, that nothing may hmpe ie its eg-ess when it begins tn sIrout oIt, which happens generally ID from 10 to E days, all cir cums tances ising favorable. The grafted tree IS allowei to stand for long time in orier to serve as a support to the new branch, which grows with surpris- ing rapidity when the bud has well taken. One thing is to be strictly avoided, to irrigate within two weeks the newly grafted tree, the reason IS that water would sause the latter to grow too fast, and would not give the new bul chance { take we'll to it's new life, for which pur- pose it Is best to retard the growth Of he mother trhe, that the new offspring nav be allowed 10 keep pace and Co im- libe the juice from which It is to receive ts existence Mir. Pam says that m S Tucson We may never hope to produce I ,ataIle oranges, principally on account ,f the late frosts and sudden changes in but he thinks that bv Sc | ectiuy sour orange or lemon trees Of l lardy stock We may, with care, cultivate [ ,eaufiful shade trees, with perhaps a { ew diminutive fruit, and he Is positive hat we might obtain very good results ly grating orange buds upon our quirce q rees. All tbis I shall try according c. r lis lessons, and with graftiugs from his [ orchard next spring West of his or 'haS of fruit bearing trees IS his or ( 'had of nur- ings, of which he has l2, iD0-snme already grafted. some not ' Fms K the main source of hIs income sells his trees to parties all over the [ State The prices vary according to { Ige. size and quality, from Sl to 8 each. f During the past season he sold about s T, zoo worth of these trees, partly for p ruit, partly for shade trees. The sour ruit trees are preferable for shade trees I ,ecause their trunks grow taller before t xteuding its branches and forms bean c iful crown of thick foliage. - immediately adjoining this nursery s bis kitchen garden, wherein J
 found vegetables of all kinds, all of gigantic size, but still tender and If su- \ ,erIor quality. The main crops here F re onions, garlic and Spanish pepper D shile); of this latter MT. Pain realized q ast year nearly S700, selling the ''almu' c t the small figure nf 12l{ cents while s he pepper pods were still green. On he border of tue lrrigating ditch l saw. fl o my great stonishment, two plants of he American aloe or century plant, of uch anorr,ous s5va that by standincr on