The Coconino weekly sun., 1894-10-18
A NEW INDUSTRY.
Revelation Regarding the Future of Arid
 Lands in the West

capable of any utility to man, have grown less and less in extentunder the patient, intelligent skill of the farmer. until to-day waving green and evident prosperity reign where once the scorch- ing sand proclaimed only dreary waste. In western Kansas. south western Nebraska and the Cherokee Strip, as well as Colorado, New Mexico ana further west, though by no means adesert waste, the land is still menaced and harassed by protracted drough;s each summer which scorch and burn vegetation and cause the farmer to despair of eking out bare existence To the relief of this existing condition of affairs intel ligent thought and skill have come, not in the shape of revolutionizing the natural conditions but in successful adaptation to those conditions. Where heretofore the farmer has been obliged to struggle along with the discourage ment of seeing his crops in part burn up, he is now promised success and prosperity. The conditions which mean failure to the raising of the GUS tomary crops proclaim life and ma turity to the plum, prune and tart cherries, for these can be grown on plains without irrigation water, sim ply by intense cultivation, and these, it would seem, will be the future crops of the sections named.
 On this point the president of the leading Nursery company of Missouri says:
 After having observed the west for some years and noticing the fruit grown, not only on a commercial scale, but trees here and there, l am con- vinced that there is great future for western Kansas. southwest Nebraska and the Cherokee Strip, as we'll as Col orado, New Mexico and further yves t, in the growing of the stone fruits, chiefly plums, prunes and cherries; of the latter such varieties as Montana. Suda Hardy, Ostheimer, etc, the Lom- bard plum, the gageS, prunes, etc. Some of the advantages are, favorable climate, soil wonderfully rich, fifteen hundred miles nearer the market than the Pacific coast, cheap land, cheap rates, cheap labor, and the greatest ad- vantage of all, in shipping green fruit, is that it may be allowed to come to maturity instead of picking green as they do on the coast; this fruit will for the same reason sell one third high. CT on the Chicago markets, as Colorado peaches for the same reason sell one- third higher on the Denver markets than California sorts.
 "The plum, prune and cherry need little water compara lively; it is too much rain that makes the growth of these finer sorts hazardous and uncer- tain in the east. The country named belongs to the arid region. Sufficient rain falls there during the early spring toinsure crops, and the one thing to do is to plant on commercial scale Sue cess will follow. Halfway work and neglect will not insure success there nor elsewhere. What has been done on the plains of Colorado can be done in western Kansas.
 "The apple and pear may also be grown in the same belt if enough work is done, but not so successfully, for the reason more water is required than for stone fruits which come to perfection in dry seasons. This year the plums and prunes throughout Mis- souri, Nebraska and Kansas, in the rain belts, are coming to maturity. If there had been the usual summer rains the fruit would have routed more or less, unless sprayed. These fruits must have dry climate.
 Struggling farmers of western Kan sas, who are trying to grow corn burnt out with the usual annual drought, should know and realize the possibilities in the culture of these fruits. If they get a crop of corn it may net them ten dollars per acre; the stone fruit will net them several hun dred dollars per acre, and a ten-acre orchard worth more than a quarter section devoted to general farming. Think of it; try it. But start right, cultivate right, and be sure and plant the best trees, the best sorts. The ma jority of the failures are made from planting wrong sorts, a mistake that ought to be avoided. The annual drought that burns out the corn, is just the weather needed for maturing and insuring good crops of plums and prunes, especially for curing the prunes. Some of our friends in these very regions may be surprised to know that some of the finest fruit lands of the Pacific coast, only a few years ago, were considered barren desert"