New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-08-04

formed the lIatch-Armstrong Fruit and Nut Company
He retained only small part Of the stock In the new
company, the heaviest shareholder being L. b. Arm
strong president of the Mutual Insurance Companies
New-York Mr.. Armstrong has great faith In tho NJ
ture of the fruit industry of California and he has
added largely to the area planted by Hatch, so that
now the Armstrong RANCH as 1t IS generally Known
comprises 1o15 and includes the largest almond
orchard in the world The old settlers who have always
raised wheat predicted that ii wOuld prove failure
but they have revised this opinion and are proud
Of the ranch. 1t is certainly of the finest spcci
mems In California of what careful cultivation VIII do
for all kinds of fruits and 1t is doubtful whether any
other frr-farm in the State can show better results
visit to the ranch Is liberal education in California
fruit-growng conducted the most improved system,
and short description of the place will be Of interest,
for 1t may be taken as type OF what the California
orchard should be In its best estate
The farm is one and one-half miles long by half
mile wide, with broad avenue directly through the
centre, lined with fan palms. row of olive and two
rows of fig trees When these trees five years old
this road will be beautiful the famous OF
magnoias, palms and pepper trees at Riverside. A
side avenue leads TO the main ranch house. which with
garden barn and stables covers thrty-fve acres. All
the rest Of this imperial domain IS devoted to fruit.
one gets the best idea of the extent of the place in
bird'seye view from the tower top OF the barn. At
height Of forty feet Is able TO overlook not only
the Armstrong ranch, but most Of the other fruit
ranches In the vicinity He sees the slnuous course OF
the Mokelumne River marked by the heavy growth of
cottonwood and willow, but between him and the
river is solid Of frut-trees looking, with
their regular rows precisely like a toy German gar
den. No orchard view In the State surpasses TIL,
prospect from the tower. In every direction one
the rows OF fruitrees extending straight
row fight to the borders of the ranch. If the neigh
bOrs had planted In uniform lines the would have
been carried without a break to the river. Near at
N
delicate that of the olive; then the darker
green of the apricot and then the dense rich green Of
the peach orchards, while the other side may be seen
the svery foliage Of the olive and the deep green OF the
prune and the orange relieved by the long of To-
kay and Muscat grapes. The eye delights in these
varying shades of green these Of awess regu
latF these stretches of cultivated ground free from
weed or grassblade a carefully kept garden. u
seem beyond conception that this great ranch only
four years ago was a wheat field, for such a transfer
nation as has been wrought here could not be
plscd In any Eastern State In less than decade The
frult-trces this ranch number 60O0O while within
reach Of the eye about 100000 others. On the
borders OF the great ranch the trees look like mere
dots and adjoining farms the ranchhouse IS marked
out by clumps of shrubbery with the inevitable wind
mill rising from eachan index to the presence of the
lifc-gving water.
Any one used to the view Of Delaware or South
ern New-Jersey peach orchards would be sur
prised we're he told that he Is looking down on 154
acres of the choicest varieties of peaches yet there
1O7OO in body. Adjoining this is the largest
almond orchard in the world-34 900 trees in group
and nearly all three trees with fair crop Of
nuts. OF apricot trees there are $1,000, Of prunes
are several thousand cherry, pear plum, lemon and
1000, of figs 5000 and of oranges 900 trees. There
other trees, swelling the total TO the imposing number
Of sc 900 frut-rees. The acreage of each OF these
fruits may be readily when 1t said that seventy
tree the This is the iDVaTaDle
rule throughout the farm, the being twenty-five
feet apart and the trees twenty-five feet apart in the
rows. The result of this Is great beauty and
regularity of the orchards and make the cultivation
far easier change Is needed In the size OF cultiva
tors harows. The cultivation is carried out on the
plan that the soil must be kept very loose and en-
trely free from weeds grass 1t IS only in this way
that the frutree Is able to get the full advantage OF
the moisture In the atmosphere. In any OF the or
chards the Armstrong ranch may stir up the soil
with ones heel to depth of three inches and find the
ground very moist, while In an adjoining field, which
has not been cultivated, the ground will be found
baked ms hard as a brick TO depth of from twelve
inches to two feet,
This is the secret of the wonderful growth Of fruit In
this region The orchard is plOughed well in February
March and from that time Till the middle OF June the
heavy fourhorse cultivators run through the or
chard both ways at regular intervals keep the ground
well stirred and TO kill the weeds. DIR. A. Arm
strong. the superintendent Of this big ranch, who re-
ceived his education in irutgrowng in Ncw-York
state, was laughed at when he devised number of
new inventions for puiverzng the soil One of these
is very heavy drag which Is nearly the width Of the
After it passes over the ground not clod Is
and the who pOked fun at 1t are now eager to
borrow 1t for their own ranches. As specimen
Of perfect cultivation the Armstrong ranch is worth
VISIT for 1t doubtful whether the orange groves
of the southern counties furnish so large body
of land with absolutely no weeds other signs of
careless cultivation. When the trees all come into
bearing the yield Will be enormous and II Will take eX
ecutive ability of high order 10 market and dry all
the fruit without waste To provide against this. the
owner has secured TO aid his efficient superintendent
business manager in the person of f. V. NJ. Hudson,
recently Of NewY York, who is making special study OF
the means Of marketing fruit.
To merely mention the growth attained by the young
trees in this orchard is 10 lay ones self open TO the
charge Of drawing the long bow. Here may be seen
three year-od peach trees measuring twelve inches
around the trunk and standing twelve and fourteen feet
high, loaded with fruit This is not the exception but
the rule in orchard of 100 acres. In the neiglbor
ing almond orchard trees only sixteen months old may
be found from six to nine inches In circumference,
while the apricot and prune trees Of the same age show
whips from to nine feet long The greater part Of
the apricot and prine trees only two and one-haf
years old yet they full Of fruit and the young fruit
on these trees the peach trees had to be thnDed
out fully onchalf to save them from breaking down.
The fruit obtained from these young and lusty trees is
part Gjarly large and fine At this ranchhouse may
be seen four peaches picked from two and Onehayear
Did trees that fill gallon jar For shipment TO the |
East these large cling peaches are unexceed as they
endure transportation better than any Others. feat
are this district Is the high color Of the peach and the
IIOme-Tohay grape. Probably there is other sec
ion of the state where the growth may be OBJ |
aimed without Irrigation while the fruit produced
he few orchards that have COME into partial bearing
,qual the best fruit grown in Kern County, with
United water. Oranges and grapes need irrigation 10 |
each the best results but many fine TOkay gaeps
aised last season without water.
The district look upon the Armstrong ranch a
hazardous and costly experiment but this demonstra-
ion of the capabilities Of soil and climate has led
everal other large fritgrowcrs start similar enter
,riscs on adjoining lands. The W. II. Strong Company
ave 400 acres in fruit; Senator Buck, of vacave,
manager Of the California Fruit UnlOn and his son-in-