Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1897-09-07

| lar most needed IL this frult-gro wing
section. The bringing mere of apples
known in Colfsx county as Gano or
York Imperial and Ben Davis at Espa-
nola, Is very apt to settle the proposition
of proper nomenclature. 1t is reason
ably certain that there are among us here
those who can determine these weighty
questions, for have we not member Of
the American Pathological society in our
midsty Aud | am filled with gratfi ga
tion when / know that | can go hence and
tx up my ranch register and know that
my French prunes are not Hungarian,
and my Yellow Spanish cherries are not
| Napoleon Bigarreau.
But here | have diverged again. | was
going to tell you what | knew about an
orchard. But this is not unnatural
mans mind will wander occasionally. We
are bound to take up that which is upper
most, and even as | read, have won
dered at the prospects of Il country which
when Bradshaw plums are planted the
product is Wild Goose. 1t will not do
just now to allow these remarkable fes-
lures of soil and climate to become too
widely known.
But, the orchard! What do | know
about an orchard?
Many years agone, when the fruit in
dustry in New Mexico had not arrived at
its present stage of perfection, l believe
it was either Josh Billings or Artemus
Ward, who, when asked his views as to
the success or failure of matrimony, curt
ly answered, don't"
Now there are more "don'ts" in the
orchard business than in any occupation
| ~ nh T Mt oil foy h5 u
lawyer orchardist | propose to iptlict a
few of these ''don'ts" upon you. My ex-
, perence is equally as pronounced in the
negative as was the humorist's on the
subject of matrimony, except under GER
J tain conditions.
Above all things don't even contem-
plate going into the orchard business
unless you intend to make it specific
occupation.
Don't think of it unless you have the
money IN hand to buy the land outright,
!. pay for the trees and their placing.
, Don't attempt to grow an orchard IN,
/ less you possess those peculiar qualifica-
= tions which insure success.
What are those qualifications? They
are natural aptitude for the business
and disposition which compels renewed
, effort in the face of many discourage
) ments.
In other words, if you once embark in
/ the business, stay with it and success will
eventually reward your efforts.
! But there are multitudinous other
don is" which rise before me as l wan
der back over seven years of anxiety and
hopeful trust.
Don't begin to count the expense by
an examination of comparative cost
tables sent out by nurservmen anxious
to sell trees. Pay no attention to any
such information whatever. You will
J ascertain to certainty by the time your
, first trees, be they peaches, pears or ap'
J pies, come into bearing, that every tree
you have planted, including cost of land,
has cost not less than two dollars,
Don't think for single moment that
you can grow small orchard and raise
fruit with big profit in Tesuque or
!, Espanola and live in Santa Fe or Las
Vegas. You cannot hire man to at
tend to an orchard properly except at a
price which consumes the bulk of your
profits. An orchard demands your per-
sonal attention.
When you have purchased your land,
have to do is to scoop out holes so many
feet apart each way and put in trees.
Such conduct brands you as statesman
orohardlst in moment.
!, Don't tickle the soil with a burro pillow.
Piow your land and pillow it long and
plow it deep. There are as yet no plows
invented which will cradle you to rectify
a mistake cf. this Kind after you have
planted your trees. Pillow the land in the
fall and pillow it again In the spring when
you place your trees. Dig your tree
holes deep and broad and put 25 or 80
pounds of old bones in the bottom of
each excavation. The tree won't show
any benefit from this deposit of bones
for year or two, but later on you will
ascertain what the bones are doing in the
growth of your trees.
When you purchase trees be as certain
as you possibly can be of their quality.
DON'T set out ten or fifteen different vari-
cites OF one kind of fruit on two or three
acres of land. Select one or two varieties
of apples that have been proven to do we'll
in the Rocky mountain country and let
some one else grow varieties for the pur-
pose of taking premiums for "largest col
lections" at horticultural fairs. Let this
rule apply to every other class of fruit
which you propose growing for the mar
ket.
Don't cultivate the acquaintance of
travelling fruit tree vendors. In the pro-
cess of general evolution they are the
natural outcome of the ancient lightning
rod agent and street corner magic soap
faklr. Most of them at one time sold St.
Jacobs oil on the street corners at dol
lar bottle and rubbed it in while you
waited. Having become SO accustomed
to the rubbing 10" process they now
devote their time to rubbing 1t into the
guiless lawyer orchardist with the assist
ance of charming photographs and glass
jars filled with fruit a size larger than the
opening in the jar. There are others.
Nearly every nurseryman is fair ex
ponent of the Munchaussn. theory, but
occasionally you tiud one in whom some
reliance may be placed My advice is to
purchase trees from nurserymen who have
their plants in the Rocky mountain coun-
try. They are easier to get at ii the trees
don't come up to the standard.
Don't plant any kind of tree which is
over two years old Peach and kindred
stone fruit should never be purchased or
planted if over one year of age.
Above all things, don't buy trees just
because some one sends you catalogue
announcing q price cheaper than anyone
else. The chances are that the catalogue
is "fake" and the nursery as we'll, and
the trees are lot of cast away culls and
job lots bought up for speculative pur-
poses and for sale to people who start an
orchard as fad. This is the particular