The Globe-republican., 1900-08-23
Fruit Growing on s.The Great Amer
lean Desert.''

ing
Some few years ago when L scraie ielaed Il
"a few scratches descriptive OF s.Beek's
Orehard-'. detailing tire planting. culti- |
| yation and irrigation (horse- leg with e,ai-
tivator attachmeu of fIuit trees and
| the woud rous growth masie by them
The world just stood by and grinned with
that incredulous expression cn its face,
which is so encouraging to the humble
followers af Truthf"l George.
Well, few days ago L was again at
| Beek's Orchard, three miles fsorth OF
SpearviIIe, and had then and there
abundant OPP ortunity to test the ptsdding.
Fruit. fruitll frui,,M L was surrounded
| by if. and my condition of chronic stup-
ification was thrown into tile acute stage
| by what | saw After partial recovery /
began to take measurements and TO recog-
nize details.
Here trees planted mere twigs-
| yearlings-in 1890. now measure nine
and ten inches in diameter at the ground.
Many twenty five feet high. Recall
previous observations on the growth of
trees in Western kansas-the propensity
being latitude instead of altitude Fer
| instance, here is "A Siberian crab. fifteen
| feet nigh with a lateral spread of twenty
| four feet, tile trunk measuring ten inches
| in diameter.
/ In apples, Mr.. Beck has the Missouri
| Pippin. Maiden Blush, Geniten, and 9TH
ers, the first and last Of these are surest
| bearers. They bore fair crop at three
years old.
| Peaches, Mr. Beck plants each year n
new stock on which to bud the Crawford,
| Elberta, Champion, etc, using old vet
Grams mustered out of service fuel for
house use. these supplying the entire de-
| mand in that line. All trees of late
peaches here require to be propped up to
prevent breaking down.
Apricots last year and the year before
were full crop, but this year only few
specimens.
Pears are reaking the trees to the
ground-total wreckage being prevented
by numerous props.
| Pluins are in fun fruit, latest, ssWolf'-
looking more like artificial ornaments
than like natural fruit. So large,
plump, SO rich purple, Iinnatural1y
perfect all around.
(Please bear in mind that I'm not
| writing OF fruit countries, like New
Jersey, Ohio, Indiana Illinois and
| Missouri, but of the Great American
Desest,'' my first atlas called it, and
where. twelve years ago The ssgrange
While breaking sod accosted by the
eowman with-s-Say, you blank old fool, j,
don't you know that while you are plow-
: ing up that buffalo grass you're turning
under better crop than you'll eyer
raise?.')
Cherries, the May Duke and
Early Richmond have yielded we'll every
year and the fruit has brought good
F prices, right at home
. English walnuts are making a good
9 show of fruit.
The ssKansas Huckleberry,' - is rela-
tive to the s'low-bush'' black variety of
+ eastern bills, but SO overgrown and eN-
p aggerated TO be hardly recognizable by
those who plucked it only when the
n ''high- BUSH was out of the question.
But here the fruit is so abundant and so
. sweet that it is an object of especial in
terest- 1t grows here three feet TO three
. and half feet high, and makes sturdy
!, vigorous growth.
The black cap raspberries are the only
| fruit not yet put upon the market, al
though the yield has been by bushels
;, why don't you sell the raspberries
. same as you do other fruit?',
= ssHumph! Guess work and oul
: care here entities us to a choice of which
, we'd rather have-fresh raspberries and
q cream the year round or money. So far
= we've taken the berries and cream
though we've been offered awful prices
= for the fruit They're too good to SELL
81 Three years ago AIr. Beck arranged te
: water his orchard from the well, but I'm
lii this season has seen no real necessity
. for using the water He has found
however, that the peach utilize more
water than other trees, and turn it tt
!, good account while maturing its fruit.
, The quaiis, larks and other birds fint
. the bitches running through Mr. Beck
= orchard ssrIYers of delight during fhs
. heated portion of the day.
All visitors and all others should re
; member that this year, the April storm
>, of sleet and frost cut short all varieties o
! fruit and entirely killed the apricots ant
: some others-the grapes, especially
though offering tempting punches of pur
= pie fruit, show damage
= JARVIS BLoosTEM-
: August 20, 1900
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