The news boy., 1894-10-20
A NEW INDUSTRY.
6sveiation Regarding the Future NJ Arid
Lands In the West.


Lands In the West.
The portions of the west which years
hg5 were considered desert land, in
capable of any utility to man, have
grown less and less in extent under 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
and further west, though by no means
desert waste. the land is still menaced
and harasscd by protracted droughts
each summer which scorch and |
burn vegetation and cause the |
farmer TO despair Of cking out |
a 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
inent 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 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 west,
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 cages, 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.
er 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 comparatively; 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 NAV also be
grown in the same belt ii 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 soming to maturity. II
there had been the usual summer rains
the fruit would have rot ed more OF
less, unless sprayed. These fruits must
!, have dry climate.
y "Struggling farmers of western Kan
sas, who are trying to grow corr
burnt out with the usual annua
/. drought, should know and realize tht
n possibilities in the culture of thest
II fruits. If they get a crop of corn i
n may net them ten dollars per acre: thu
stone fruit will net them several hun
dred dollars per acre, and ter-acrt
. orchard worth more than n quartc
:: section devoted to general farming
9, Think of it; try it. But start right
cultivate right. and be sure and plan
# the best trees, the best sorts The ma
q iority of the failures are made from
Y planting wrong sorts. a mistake tina
p ought to be avoided. The annua
t. drought that burns out the corn, i
o lust the weather needed for maturin:
2. and insuring good crops OF plums auC
10 prunes, especially for curing tn
,e prunes. Some of our friends in thes
ID very regions may be surprised to know
d that some of the finest fruit lands o
% the Pacific coast, only Il few years ago
" were considered a barren desert"