Rocky Ford enterprise., 1894-06-21
ROCKY FORD HORTICULTURE.

kUChI FUhU uVhAAoo0 oAsc'
A Visit to ]. C. Kain's Fine Farm
Near Rocky Ford.
Seven years ago J. G. kain
started to make a farm on l6O
acres of the "Great American
Desert two miles west Of Rocky
Ford. He now has one of the
finest farms in the valley. His
first dwelling ON the ranch was
cave. That soon gave place to an
adobe, which has now been replac-
ed by a handsome brick. We
drove out last Saturday afternoon
to look through his orchard which,
with his vineyard, occupies 2Oacres
of the quarter section, the remain
der Of the we'll cultivated farm
being devoted to alfalfa, corn and
other crops. On one field of alfal-
fla are fifty hogs rapidly growing
into money. just back OF the
house, in the shade of a grove of
Russian apricots, is his apiary of
As stands Of bees, to which were
added during last week nine hives
by natural growth.
A walk through the orchard
proved the Arkansas valley has an
adaptability to fruit growing
which is a surprise to Coloradoans
ma we'll as those eastern people
who look upon every thing west
of the Missouri river as fit only
for the growth of Texas steers.
Mr.. Kain's apples are mainly
Wine Sap, Ben Davis. Willow
Twig and Johnathan. His trees
now bearing apples are from three
to six years old. Some trees only
only the second summer from the
the nursery have a good showing
of fruit. Some of his four-year-
olds are fully as large as can be
grown in the east in eight years.
W. r. Gibson, an experienced nur-
sery man from Missouri, now a
resident of Fowler, who has exam
ined Mr.. Kain's trees, gives the
above estimate of the comparative
growth of the two sections of the
country. But all trees do not
make such progress in the valley.
The growth of Mr.. Kaip's orchard
has been largely promoted by care
full culture. The ground is kept
constantly stirred by cultivation
and there is scarcely weed to be
seen in the 20 acres devoted to
horticulture, which is the secret OF
the prosperous condition of Mr..
Kain's orchard intrests. On one
tree we counted "a apples on a
limb not larger than the little fin
ger. Next year he expects to get
large returns from those trees
bearing the Ben Davis, an apple
popular with the general public,
but why, it is hard to tell.
The Russian apricots have a
small amount of fruit. Mr.. Kain
acknowledges having made q mis-
take in trying to raise apricots.
The trees grow splendidly but they
bloom too early for this climate.
1t would have been many dollars
in his pocket had he planted Craw-
ford peaches instead of apricots.
Standard pear trees, mainly
Flemish Beauty, four years old,
have fair amout of fruit. The
Bartlett pear blooms too early for
this section.
OF cherry trees the orchard
affords good number of choice
varieties. We proved their quail
ity by climbing into a splendid
specimen of the Richmond and
eating from the tree after the fash
ion Of boyhood days back in Hi
nois. Several branches heavily
loaded, which Mr.. K. cut off for
us, were the admiration of travel
ers shown to when en- route to
Pueblo Saturday evening.
Mr.. Kain's vineyard is worthy of
special mention. He has two
acres of Concords, Catawba, Elvira
and Niagara. All are bearing
heavily. The entire vineyard is
supplied with steel wire trellis on
which all the vines are carefully
trained. The vineyard is beau
tiful sight. and while there are
larger areas devoted to grapes on
other farms, nowhere ID the country
will be found as we'll cultivated
and attractive a vineyard as Mr..
Kain has grown on land where the
soap weed and cactus fourished
seven years ago.
In the plum orchard was seen
evidences that the valley is plum
region to perfection. A large
number of the best varieties have
been planted alternately in close
rows, and the result is astonishing.
The advantage of the mixing Of
varieties was shown by the con-
trast between two trees of the
the same kind, one having the