The Holly chieftain., 1897-02-26
APPLE GROWING IN THE ARKAM
SAS VALLEY.

- Nr' f"' i'"aS pc'S' hui 4
lh''n the sir. r..wb.rry. but He never
did. And it is my belief that Coo
could have made t,etter place for grow
ing apples than the Arkansas valley ir
Colorado. but ifHe did we have never
found that place.
there is probably no plase in the
United States where larger number %
arieties can be grown more snccessfull, /,
than in the Arkansas ALLEY, bnt onl
nor'icultnris,s are making the mistake
of planting too many varieties.
Downing catalogues over 200 varie
ties of apples and ! believe that 80 pc,
cent of them could be grown succt ssful
IL here, bat ii Is self evident fact thai
10 acre orchard Of 1000 trees and 1000
varieties would not be as profitable IA.
he same MIN ber Of trees all of one va.
fiety.
We must first find the best varieties
md then consider which of them viii
yieli ihe best return for the labor and
capital invested in them. After Il
years experience and observation along
these lines, if 1 was planting 10 acres o,
| 0C0 acres, l would not plant over nv.
varieties. and those would be, Win.
Sap Ben Dayis, Jonathan, York Imper.
ial and Missouri pipin. / would plan,
l5x30 feet, psing the Missouri Pipin 70,
filters; and 1 would plant as many Mis-.
souri, Pipin ss all the other varieties
combined. All these apples are early
and abundant bearers, all are red apples
and fairly good keepers. and none OF
them are injured TO any extent by the
blight.
The Wine Sap has brought higher
prices in the market in the past two
years than any other western apple ex-
c"pt the Jonathan, which always COM
mands high price in IFS season-late
fall or early winter. The York Imper-
ial, although an old variety, is but little
known, but is now coming to the front
as valuable market apple. 1t bears
early and abundanily and is fine
grained. july and very snowy apple.
The Missouri Pipin is the earliest bear
er ofa our winter apples, good keep
er. but inclined to be small when trees
are overloaded This defect can ,kf eas.
ily avoided by proper trimming. The
tree, however. isshort lived owing to its
early and proluse bearing. Another
oint in its favor-it holds Its fruit bet
ter than any other variety, severe
wind having but little effect cn it.
An orchard planted i5xs0 makes e6
trees to the acre. At eight years old
the trees, if properly cared for will have
at least bushels per tree, or $50 bush
els per acre. At tea years they will
double this .s,imste After the third
year the Missouri Pipip will bear enough
fruit to pay all expenses of cultiyuting
the orchard
While this is the home of all varieties
OF hardy plums. prunes, pears and cher
ries. and large assortment OF small
fruits succeed well here, the apple is
destined to be the King of fruit as alfal-
ia is King of farm crops. In fact alfalfa
and its products and winter apples are
destined to be the two great industries
Of the Arkansas valley.
OVER PRODUCTION.
We have il predicted that when all
the trees now being planned come to
bearing, apples will not be worth gath
ering. 1t is probably true we will not
be able to get from 3 to cents per
pound for our apples when that time
comes and, like all other crops, there
will be seasons when perhaps the crop
Will not bring the returns we expected,
but taking the seasons as they come,
am confident We will find no crop that
will yield anywhere near as large re,
turns TOR the labor and capital expended
as apples. When prices are low at gath
ering time we can easily store them
away until the surplus is exhausted, as
our cool, dry winters enable us TO do SO
WIN pub iittiO iOso. VII CApoit tIuue
is increasing every year. besides. our
own population is increasing rapidly.
especially in the cities. so that the de-
mand keeps pace with the supply.
PLANTING.
Spring is undoubtedly the best time
to plant trees of all kinds, but no trees
should be planted later than April 80
My mode of planting is to throw ont
two shallow furrows in the rows where
the trees are to he set and then run wat
er through them until they are well
soaked. TLen as soon as the ground is
dry enough to admit of it. furrnw out
deep as it can be plowed. (have man
ride the beam If necessary throwing II
furrow each way and one in the center
or plow three fl,rrows for each row
This saves vast amount of shoveline
which is slow and expensive. BY
blowing 10 have plenty OF Loose. ,nois,
dirt to put around the trees which
should be firmly tamped around the
roots, after which. follow up with ten
inch plow. filling up the furrow in III,
tree row and leaving a furrow on each
side in which to run water for irrlgating
CULTIVATION.
My advice is to cultivate early ant
often; never let the weeds grow or the
ground bake around the trees; cultivate
after irrigation and as soon as yon can
get on the ground after II is watered