The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-11-26
PEACH GROWING IN NEBRASKA


 by the planting of varieties suiaed tothe mild climate of California, or better suited to the southern states than tC our own peculiar and very trying eli mate, In the past twenty years there has been a very great advance in all of the processes of agriculture. New va rieties of vegetables, grains and grasses have been developed, each better suited
 to it's proper use and our climate than
 many of the varieties in use long ago.
 The horticulturists likewise have not
 been idle. Our experiment stations, in
 the hands of skillful men, by hybridi-
 zing have developed many new varie-
 ties of fruit. Their effort has been to
 develop varieties which should have
 vigor and hardihood to withstand the
 trying climate, and such quality as to
 make the fruit desirable Added to the
 work of those who have been laboring,
 guided by scientific study, are the thou
 sands of chance, accidental seedlings
 which are being produced, and of
 which possibly one in a thousand may
 have considerable and even superior
 merit In this way a new race of
 peaches has been developed Varie-
 ties fitted to endure our trying winters
 and at the same time having such
 quality as would make them commer- cially attractive have been developed.
 Twenty years ago MI. J. M. Russell
 planted a commercial peach orchard at Wymore. Forty-five varieties of
 trees were selected for this orchard of
 the most highly recommended sorts
 grown in New Jersey and Delaware.
 During the first ten years MT. Russell
 was often disappointed. Most of the
 varieties were not hardy enough to
 withstand without injury our severest winters. As successive blocks of peach orchard were planted effort was made to eleminate the weaker varieties, and to plant only such as promised a hard CT and safer list. Mir. Russell thought it safe to plant new orchard nearer town. This should be free from the weaker and less desirable varieties of the older orchard On breezy hilltop three and half miles from town forty acres were planted seven years ago. Experience had shown that there were some definite advantages in planting a commercial peach orchard on the high est obtainable ground The thermome- ter does not run as low during the cold nights of winter on the highest hiltops as in the valleys, and trees bloom later in the spring on breezy heights than in sheltered locations Elevated locations are less likely to suffer from late spring freezes than the lower val leys In the planting of this forty acre orchard less than one-fourth the num- Der of varieties were used than in the older orchard. This orchard has proved to be commercially very profitable. Five years ago the J. M. Russell com pany began planting the Lincoln peach orchard of one hundred and fifty acres. Desiring to crowd the trees to the most rapid growth, that they might quickly come into bearing, cultivation during the peculiar season of 1898 was kept up until September-too late for safety. The warm, wet fall of 1898 and the very severe winter of 1S9S-'99 destroyed more than twelve thousand trees. In selecting varieties for this orchard ex- perience gained in the preceding fif- teen years led to the elimination of all the weaker varieties and the planting )f those of known hardihood and value. Six or seven varieties comprised four hfths of this orchard. The remaining fifth includes varieties kept for varie- tvs sake. Among the varieties now planted are Alexander, valuable as one ,f the earliest; Early Rivers, fair sized, put soft suited to a near market; Hales Early Triumph, Russell, Wy more, Champion, Crosby, Elberta and Wright. Where an abundance of mois- .ure can be secured and a late season g assured MT. Russell thinks favorably ,f the Salway. The Wright has shown peculiar and superior hardness by be- ng the only one that endured with lit- lie injury the very trying winter of
 S9S-'99 The J, M. Russell company now has in its commercial peach or ,hards 23.700 trees; in the Lincoln or ,hard 19500 trees, planted from two to Our years, the older making the fifth summers growth; In the forty acre or- hard near Wymore, six thousand trees tight years planted; remnants in the oldest orchard, down on the old farm,
 hirty-two hundred trees. A large pro- portion of the trees in the Lincoln or ,hard have been planted only two or .hree years, and are only just begn ling to bear. The largest number picked from any one tree in this or ,hard was from tree making it's fifth summers growth, which yielded nine baskets, worth at wholesale about three lolars and a half. Trees making the hird seasons growth are showing a CIV specimens of choice fruit. The Lin oln orchard, although young, will more han pay expenses this season, and promises in the near future to pay a ,ery handsome profit. The output from III the orchards is estimated for this eason at forty thousand baskets, sell ng at retail at from forty to sixty ents a basket. The baskets run from i've to six to the bushel
 MT J. M. Russell, though sixty-nine ears old, Is yet active in the supervi- lon of his share of the work, feeling hat activity in suitable work is con- Iucive to long life and usefulness. Having had fifty years observation of 1 'each growing in the west, he states hat he has known only one year in all | hat period when peach trees had been otally destroyed by winter Mr. Rus | ell regards commercial peach growing | n Nebraska as now on such sure | as to be safer and more rofitable than the growing of any oth-