Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1901-01-31
From Pond, Arkansas.


EDITOR HERALD:-I wrote the HER
AID description the first year l lived
here, but can perhaps give a better
account now than 1 did then, having
been here long enough to know the
country better and the products of
the country.
The general topography of this
country is quite varied. In some parts
it is quite rough and billy and very
stony, while in other parts it is COM
paratively level and free from stone
The stony, rough land is not very pro-
ductive, that is for wheat, corn and
and vegetables make good crops. APP
pie, peach and pear trees do well and
produce abundant crops; likewise
blackberrieS, raSpberrieS, strawberries
and grapes do well and yield abund-
antly. One new to the country would
scarcely believe that some of the ston-
lest of the land could be worked or
would produce anything, but after
nearly five years residence here l find
that it can be cultivated aud that the
stony ground makes the best fruit of
all kind. OF course the stony land is
not as easily cultivated as loan or
clay soil free from rock, yet most, if
not all, who have both stony land and
land that is free from stone, invaria-
bly, put the stony land to fruit of some
lind I lYI0nyy of n OF 20 fol- Of
seven acres that one can scarcely see
any earth at all that the owner cleared
5000 off of last year above all expenses.
And yet he is but one of many who
has done likewise. Some who have
an acre in strawberries have frequent
Iy realized $50 from their single acre
above expenses.
Fruit growing is like corn or wheat
growing. Some OverdO the thing and
fail to give the required amount of at
tentiOn and for that reason do not
realize as great profit as the one who
farms less and more intensely. Good
care and good cultivation gives far
better results than halfway work and
SlipShOd methods. l do not wish to
boast of what I have done in the way
of orchard planting and cultivation,
but will give you some idea if I can Of
the difference between good care and
good culture and that of neglect. The
same spring that planted out over
80 acres of apple trees one of my neigh
bOrS planted six acres. I bought the
best Of yearling trees at So per hun
dred, prepared my ground carefully
and have cultivated and pruned like
wise carefully and in season and I have
an orchard that is highly spoken of by
all who see it. Three or four weeks
ago a gentleman who has 80 acres of
was in mine and remarked
that I had one of the finest young or
chardS in the county and said that ]
was going to have lots of fruit next
year. And the trees were yearlings (
planted three years ago next month. |
While the neighbor bought second
class trees at $3.50 per hundred, set |
them out, took poor care of them, let
his COWS run in the orchard, and I do !;
not think he has 80 trees as high as
my head. My trees are, of course, too
young to be allowed to carry much !
fruit and the fruit will have to be |
picked off to keep from overlooking
and injuring the trees labor that
few attend to and as a result soon lose
their trees.
Pears are almost sure crop here
and the Gosber Keiffer and some 9TH
n standard varieties are almost blight
proof and begin bearing when three
years old, though the trees will cost
about SO per hundred. which makes
it more expensive to begin, but where