Turner County herald. (Hurley, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1883-05-10
Written Tor the Tu+,ts CountyHcrnld.
Ff>s,t culture In Turner County. Dakota.

tiudPS uoC. ENeTyDOug, aimOSt mas
heard of our wonderful gold hills, of
our magnificent wheat fields and # our
ineXhaustable acres of rich, nutritious
grasses. The nextgrcat wonder will be
fruit culture, which is rapidly coming
to the front and is destined at no dis
tant day to rank side by side with
either of the above marvellous things.
Not everybody can possees De Smet
gold mine, or own . Dalrymple farm,
or even purchase cattle enough to con-
sume the grass grown on quarter sec
tion of land. But strange and wonder
full as it may seem to many, every one
owning a small "chunk of Dakota dirt"
has bonanza at his very door, If he
only knew it, and was not too indolent
to set about lsarling It, This "rich
find is to be found by raising fruit.
We often hear people who don't know
any bett9r, exclaim, 20, yeu can't raise
fruit in Dakota. It's no use trying.
This is all Il mistake. All the small
kinds can be, and now are raised here
to perfection, and many OF the large
and standard varieties can be raised by
Il little more care and some protector.
This is not mere idle talk or guess work.
The writer has raised on his Fountain
Farm" three miles west Of Swan Lake,
all the following varieties, viz: peaches,
apples, plums, cherries, mulberries,,
blackberries, gooseberries, Strawberries,
raspberries, buffaloberries, elderberrics,
currants and grapes. OF this bakers
dozen, nine varieties are natives of Da-
kota, and all but one are worthy of the
careful attention of every lover of
choice fruit. The plum, cherry, rasp-
berry and gooscbcrry deserve extra
care and attention. The writer has an
acre and Il iasdf of the plum and cherry.
THE PLUM.
OF the plum thcreare many varieties.
While some are almost worthless, many
of then, for size, richness of color and
and delicacy of taste rival their more
fortunate ancestors that have received
careful cultivation for century or
more. To make sure of getting the
best kinds they should be sought out
when the plums are ripe, the trees
marked and then transplanted the next
| spring. These trees are found every
where in the gulches and along the
streams and may be had without as
much as, "by your leave" or "thank'e>"
And yet many, especially the new
comcrs, prefer 1.-The dear bought and
far-fetched," which are always to be
had of the oily-tongued, ubiquitous
trce-pedler. This tree is very hardy, q
great bearer und the fruit is never
troubled by the curculio.
THE CHERRY,
We have two kinds of cherries. One
is the choke-cherry, found everywhere
from Maine to California. OF this it is
only necessary to say, they are greatly
improved by cultivation. They grow
larger, are more juicy and lose much of
! their choke"
The other sort is real iron-clad Da-
kotaian. II is sometimes known w the
willow cherry and is also called the
sand cherry. The pits were Fl rst
brought to Turner county, it is said,
nine years ago by L. B, Buchanan, Esq,
from northern Dakota. 1t is not n tree
but bush very similar to the currant.
1t begins to bear the second year from
planting. The cherries are black and
some larger than the Early Richmond.
Eaten from the bush our first cherries
were not as piatable as might be, but
on being cooked they made superior
sauce and q most toothsome pie. The
second picking, raised from pits of our
own raising, were much better. BY
following up this process from year to
year they have been greatly improved.
Some writer's have spoken of these
cherries asa fraud and a humbug. Such
they may seem to be in wild state
Had they practiced the Darwinian sys.
TEN, by judicious selection and the
Z" survival of the fittcst for few
years, they would probably be as en-.
thusiastic in their praise rs they now
are vehement in their denunciation.
A poor, sandy soil suits them best
They are wonderful bearers, the bushes
being often loaded to the ground. They
are never troubled by insects, even the
omniverous grasshopper when here
last, in 1875, passing them untouched
though they devoured every other liv.
ing thing in the garden. There is
another thing about them worthy OF
notice. Though jet black at first, they
are of various shades of color now
some are almost white, and the lighter
they are the better they get.
TIE RASPBERRY.
The raspberry is of the common
blackcap variety. 1t is hardy and pro-
life, and has no enemies except the
proverbial "early bird" which will ap
propriate the lions share of this charm
ing fruit unless the vigilant gardener
forestalls him by prcoccupying Tho
ground.
THE GOOSEBERRY.
The gooscberry comes next in order
This hardy, generous shrub richly ant
literally repays all the labor bestowed
upon it. Of these there are number
of distinct end separate families us |,
apparent from the foliage and the Der
ry. Some of the bushes arc four ant
; six feet high, straight US an arrow ant
: nearly thornless. Neither blight mol
mildew troubles them. They abount
in the gulches and may be obtained OF
the same liberal terms Us the plum