The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-01-31
FARMERS CONVENTION
Second Days Session at the Cap
itol Building.
MEMBERS OF THE AGRICULTU-
RAJ COLLEGE PRESENT.
Problems That Confront the Fruit
Growers of Utah-To Memorial
ize the Legislature.

The second days session of the
farmers convention held at the capitol
building yesterday AFTERNOON was well
attended and interesting. N. D. Jen-
sen of Mill Creek presided and several
members of the faculty of the Agri-
cultural college were present.
Mr.. F. c. Sears, professor of horticul-
ture and botany in the Agricultural
college of Utah, was the first speaker
and gave a highly interesting address
on Some Problems of the Utah Fruit
| Grower"
There are two general lines, he said,
along which the fruit grower should
work in attempting to improve the
fruit growing industry of the state. The
| first of these lines, from which returns
will come most readily, is in improving
! the quality of the fruit which is al
ready produced. At present, we do not
produce nearly enough fruit to supply
! our home markets with marketable
fruit, but are obliged to import apples
| from New York and other states and
| many other fruits from other points.
This condition of affairs ought not to
| exist. To remedy this, the quality
should be improved and the quantity
| increased. TO apply the first remedy
existing orchards must be better cared
! for, cleaned up, pruned and fertilized,
and kept clean of weeds and grass.
If the same care were given the orch
ard as is usually given to the corn crop,
the results would be much more salts
factory than at present and the Gull
ture of fruit would become the most
profitable branch of agriculture.
Weeds, grasses nor crops of any kind
should be allowed to grow in the
orchard, as all foreign growths but rob
the trees of the needed plant food and
moisture. A crop of rye or clover
plowed under annually and applications
of barnyard manure are absolutely
necessary TO the highest success in
fruit growing.
Orchards should also be frequently
cultivated throughout the growing sea-
son.
SPRAYING.
1t has been demonstrated by numer-
Gus experiments that effective spraying
with Paris green in Bordeaux mixture,
will enable the orchardist to produce
better fruit than is possible under any
other conditions. where the Goblin
moth, scab or fungus diseases exist.
The speaker here described the method
of making the various solutions used
for spraying. In spraying with Paris
green care must be taken not to overdo
it, or the virtue Of the arsenical solu-
ton will drop off the leaves-the leaves
should only be thoroughly dampened.
Fruit grown in orchards which are
thoroughly cultivated, fortified and
sprayed, is not only better in APP
pearance and quality but will keep
longer under the same conditions than
will that from orchards not so treated.
Apple scab and other fungous dis
eases can be best combatted by an
early spray, before the buds begin to
swell, with solution of bluestone, one
pound to Is gallons of water, with
which the trees should be thoroughly
drenched.
Pruning, cultivation and spraying
will work wonders in the quality and
quantity of the fruit produced. But
while this is all. true, and while we
may hope TO-. good results from these
methods, still there will no doubt be
occasional cases in which there Will be
no Improvement in crops, in return
for all these improved methods, but
these isolated cases do not prove that
spraying is useless.
The next question, of equal import
ance to the fruit grower, is the manner
of marketing the fruit when grown.
to pack, crate and ship all fruit in the
most attractive manner possible.
Some discussion followed, which was
generally INDUCED in, when the preSi-
dent introduced Professor S. Fortier,
who presented a very important paper
upon water supply.
The Importance Of this question may
be estimated when it is considered that |
an annual rainfall between 20 and 80 |
inches is necessary to mature most |
crops, while the average annual rain |
fall in Utah is a. little less than II |
inches, and it is of the utmost import
ance to prevent as much waste as pos
sible during the entire year.
The growth of mountain forests is
one of the best conservators of water, |
much of the waste that |
otherwise would follow in the entire |
absence of forest growth.
The waste through evaporation can |
be successfully prevented through |
Of leaves, as in the forest; or |
of straw in the garden; or a covering |
of a fine coat of pulverized soil over !
the farmer follows each irrigation with
the harrow or cultivator, much of the |
good effects of the irrigation are lost to
the crop.
Another waste that should be abated
is in permitting noxiouS weeds to rob |
the crop or the necessary moisture Tor
successful growth. Unclean farming is
therefore very expensive farming.
The loss of water through the spring
freshets is annually very great, which
is greatly augmented by the loss in
Cured in conducting water through
canals made in porous soils. These
losses amount all the way from 20 to
40 per cent, and can only be entirely
overcome by piping the water; by
pudding with clay, however, much of
the waste in canals can be prevented.
Much discussion followed the presen-
tation of this paper. In answer to a
question as TO the best method of
pudding the bottom and sides of
canal to minimize the waste through
seepage, the professor stated that the
bottom of the canal should be we'll
with a small flow of water,
which was afterwards drawn off, then
the bottom was well tramDed and
pudding with sheep, and part of the
pudding was put on the sides with
spades and shovels.
A resolution was adopted, memorial
ling the legislature to enact a suitable
law providing for the measurement of
the irrigation waters of the state, and
determine the rights of citizens in the
same.
The convention then adjourned sine
He
Smiles Irradiate the Countenance
When those atrocious bodily troubles,
3hills and fever, dyspepsia, kidney or
rheumatic disorders, yield, as they in
varia blv do to the benign action of