The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1894-10-19
A NEW INDUSTRY.
Revelation Regarding the Future of Arid
Lands In the West.

Revelation Regarding the Future of Arid
Lands In the West.
The portions of the west which years
ago 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 a 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 harassed by protracted drough.s
| each summer which scorch and
barn 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. | am con-
WINGED that there is great future for
western Kansas, southwest Nebraska
and the Cherokee Strip, as well as Col
orado, New Mexico and further ives I,
in the growing of the stone fruits.
chiefly plums. prunes and cherries; of
the latter such varieties as Montana.
Suda Hardy, Ostheimer, etc. the LON
bard plum, the cages, prunes, etc.
Some of the advantages are. favoTa bic
climate. a soil wonderfully rich. fifteen
hundred miles nearer the market than
the Pacific coast, cheap land. cheap
rates, cheap labor, and the greatest adj
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
e, 81 l.: l..
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 dc
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 DC 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. II
there had been the usual summer rains
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 ii
may net them ten dollars per acre; the
stone fruit will net them several hun
dred dollars per acre, and ten-acre
orchard worth more than 4 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
:he Pacific coast, only fewyears ago,
were considered barren desert