Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1897-09-07
what RnOw About an Orchard.


human beings, is to be congratulated if
he confines his remarks to that which he
actually knows and does not, like Andree
and his balloon, wander off into the
realms of unknown space. The assembly
also will have small ground for complaint,
if the courageous individual deals only
with what he has acquired from expert
ence and does not draw upon his
Imagination or, what is infinitely worse,
upon the imaginatious of others
VINO have gone before him, This is
peculiarly true from horticultural
point of view. The fact will become
more pronounced as this paper proceeds.
Were / TO uncover and display the i'm
mense mine aud storehouse of horticul-
tural knowledge which is concealed about
me somewhere, it would be a never ceas.
ing cause of wonderment that the present
secretary of agriculture would for O
single day allow 30 distinguished horti'
c1iturist to continue practicing law for a
livelihood. The government of the Unit
ed States is in such crying need of man,
so we'll equipped, that possibly an open
ing might be forced at Washington in
order to secure the advantage of such
tremendous ability in proper admins
tration of this horticultural bureau. But
we have lately had occasion to under.
stand that republics are uDgrateful, and
the chances are that this paragon of hor-
ticultural greatness will be permitted to
in his chpSnp
timing his remarks and staten ents to ad
dresses usually beginning with, MAY ii
please the court" or Gentlemen of the
jury" SO, for fear of present discovery
linked as well with the possible sugges
ton that in an evil hour there might come
a call to deliver an address before the
New Mexico Agricultural College, as SO
many lawyers have done heretofore, or
to serve as director of some such bucoliC
institution, which also appears to be g
popular place for the disciples of Black
stone and Kent, have concluded to re-
frain from drawing the usual horticul
tural long bow and shall tell you only
what [ really know about an orchard
even though the effort be at the expense
of reputation acquired after many years
devout worship at the shrine of that gol
of prevaricators, Baron Munohausen
But, there is food for thoug ht and sweet
consolation in the idea that the Baron
himself, is worthy of emulation, for who
is there who can Faithfully say that he
was a giolator of the scrlptural injunc-
tion forbidding the bearing of false wit.
ness against our neighbours. The Baron
was cheerful IS well as a monumental
liar. His lies were harmless and amusing
and thus 1t is with many of us
lawyer and statesman orchardists. We
occasionally indulge just TO hear the
sweet music of our voices. We delight in
graphic description of the size of our
trees and the fruit which hangs thereon
and never falter or SHUTTER in pronounc
ing them just a trihe grander, larger
better and finer than anyone else ever
saw, and nobody is injured. We fairly
dazzle with our exaggeration and pardon
Is ours. We are situated similarly to the
Irishman who boosted of tie hustlipg
qualities of certain strain of chickens
which he was raising. Said he-"Hu st
lers-well, l should say-They's birds as
will pick your pocket the moment yes
steps inside the gate" That Hibernian
understood his business. He had chick
ems for sale. He was a firm believer in
the old saying in Poor Richards Almanac
"Blessed is the man who tooteth his own
horn for then it shall be footed" | am
convinced also that this principle APP
plies to Localities as we'll as individuals
An occasional visit to Albuquerque will
demonstrate to a nicely the correctness of
the statemen
But my purpose has been to tell you
what | know about an orchard.
The plain uncalcimined truth ab out to be
announced is that the present is an op.
portunity long have sought and mourned
because / found it not. And why is il
that grief has been my portions? Certain
it is that truth is mighty and will prevail.
The answer is easy. Hope deferred
maketh the heart sick. Long have l
waited FIR the opportunity to see gath.
cred together the fruit product of that
courageous clan of experimenters who
have invested their savings 10 fruit tree
planting. With anxious eye and heart
full of trepidation have I fingered that |
might know the whole truth. Has mine
been the experience of othersY Am |
alone searcher after truth or am | only
an atom. | have cherished the desire to
60 to my vine and peach tree SO
saturated with wisdom and truth that rest
and ease will be my reward, completely
gorged with satisfaction and crying aloud
in an ecstacy of joy-"No, no, 1t is not
so, New Mexico, it's soil and its climate
are not so phenomenal that the tree |
bought as Ben Davis apple bears Whitney
Crabs" Nay, nay, thou boomer, this is
no boomerang. 1t is not true that my
July Alexander peach tree is loaded with
Heath Clings which hardly ripen in Octo-
ber." Yea, verify, veraoity is wonderful
and occupies the topmost top of the tip
most orag and cries aloud n pesns of joy.
There comes time when you are con-
vlDced even against your will that some
body has lied. Nature furnishes the evi.
dence. The proof of the tree is the pcod-
uot thereof. What malignant manner of
speech shall | use to properly describe
the man who would deceive the ambi-
tons lawyer-orchardis when he goes
forth in the pride of his ignorance
and purchases trees? What shall the
wouldbe builder up of country homes and
charming villas, but withal as shy of
knowledge genealogical as the vendor of
trees is of the writ of ne e,redt regno,
say of the man or corporation which
hns thus dallied with his hopes
and fond desires? That man has OBJ
tanned your money under false pretenses;
nay more, he has wasted years of patient
toll and in way has retarded the entire
community. When we buy Missouri Pip.
pin, we fail to recognize much satisfac-
tion in waiting three or four years only
to find out that We have got to market
Yellow Transparent or Red Astrachan.
The young orchardist fails to find delight
in the situation of the old hen who
brought off brood of ducks; scared to
death every time she went near the water
for fear they would drown. We don't