Delta chief., 1883-04-04
lnelc lesse E-nxer

a correspondent Of the Greeley Tribune has been
visiting Uncle Jesse Frazer, who lives in Fremont
county and owns the largest fruit farm in Colo
rado. and has written description Of his visit
which ought TO prove of general interest:
A. We started for the orchard / saw on one side
OF little rise OF ground dense mas Of native
plum trees. which sprang up there. They bear
well: further on was large out-ofdoors cellar,
whose double doom my guide threw open and
showed me great pile Of rcd apples in bin,
more than large wagon load. He said he had
just been making cider. and drew some from n
barrel for me- fresh from the prcss. Being made
In cold weather Il was only apple juice yet
Further on wer more apples. and I'm a long pit ia
another place Mr.. franer told me he had two
hundred bushels more. The apples he said are
apt TO shriyei in the open cellar but piied. come
out very fne in appearance sound and plump.
Then we talked fast ssw that the orchard
had no special protection, and was told It needed
none. At the east end the trees had been allowed
10 stand in the original nursery rows, and were
very thick. A. they grow some arc removed.
Efforts made 10 train the trees nthcr low.
The ffrs, trees lad been planted In the bottom.
but did no, do we'll; the second bottom is best
Some Of the trees look nnihrifty, for various
reasons. Sometimes the soil was too low, or agaiu
too gravelly and porous, but such land. aftcr
heavy enrichment, and the loss Of three or four
plantings OF trees at length did real well. One
invoice Of trees having been sent from Hooming
ton, Illinois. and carried across the country from
Denver, encountered great cold storm and froEe,
and only few OF these lived. But through all
discOuagements 'our hero" had kept his faith
and proved II by his works, and planted trees now
nearly twenty year., until twenty acres COW
ercd. and he has about 2 500 apple trees In good
condition. Sometimes the ground dries ou,
sooner ,iinn other times. and IL mus, be watch
ed and watered accordingly. Uncle Jesse said he
did no, expcc, To plant any trees this year.
Last year the nrst loss from hail and the
yield was reduced to / 800 bushels aud the fruit
was ncked but for the three preceding year. the
yield has been 2,ono bushels per year The great
coal mining camps of Coal Greek and Oak Creek
ncar, and there the fruit finds ready sale.
Many OF the trees arc the Ben Davis. The En-
glish golden russo, does not prove profitable
Some years the trees have been bowed 10 the
ground with their weight Of apples, and the ropes
are still bound around them that kept them from
splitting down. by this time hnd observed the
beautifully smooth bark Of the tnecs, with no
great cracks and scales such as one sees in some
eastern orchards. l exclaimed Mt their smooth
ness and bright color Uncle Jessie said he bought
concentrated lye by the case, and put can Of 1T
in two and n half gallons OF water. and making
nunny sack mop, mopped all his trees each season
II possibis, and this smoothed the bark, removed
the scales, destroyed the eggs of insects and also
len the trees In such condition that the apple
moth could hnd no place To hide its rggs. This
wash also sofIeAs the bark 30 that II can quickly
expand without cnckinr; and running down
about the roots It IS fine s,imuant to the trees.
Gmsshoppcrs have done great deal of mischief
in years gone by. and killed some trees. Peach
trees have thrivcn, and the only drawback has
been the persistent peach borcr, which has been
harder TO destroy than the apple borer.
Some 800 trees are the Ben Davis. An old man
who had been In Ohio. Missouri and New York
said he had never seen trees bear full. Several
trees were broken In spite of every care. The
general plan is TO plant trees thirty feet apart.
Mr.. Frazer has no faith in dwarf trees. They
break when they grated. He oflcn repeated
that he found the standards best on this place
are two hundred gmpc vines. also cherries. plums
and pears. The Wild Goose plums excellent
and ripe the last OF June and first OF July. !
saw one apple tree that measured nearly three
feet in circumference near the ground, and most
of the trees were thrifty and good as any l ever
saw. The fruit that is the best, has largely been
sold at six cents per pound. Many peach trees
bore for two or three years and then died by the
nvagcs Of the borcr, the bark being cut of quite
near the ground Uncle Jesse has great many
colonies of bees.