The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-12-30
FRUIT GROWERS HAVE
MOST PROSPEROUS YEAR
Crop of Almost Every Variety Largest
Ever Known While Prices Have
in Main Been Good.
BY JOSEPH H. PARRY.

char6ists of Ain entire district should
select the fruit and the varieties-two
or four at most-which they can grow
to perfection, and then grow them in
quantity, and do it so well and per-
sistently that they will create a repu-
tation. Demand will naturally follow,
accompanied with good prices.
To sum UP in brief, what the Utah
horticultural industry needs most to
insure prosperity to all engaged in it,
is the application of up-to-date business
principles, from the planting of the
trees to the selling of the fruit.
UndeveIoped Horticultural Fields.
OF the undeveloped horticultural
fields in this state the two most prom
Inent are nut growing and grape grow
ing, both having been carried on to
some extent all over the state, partic-
ularly the latter. The larger cities of
the state furnish splendid market for
grapes, yet the homegrown product of
Inc vineyard is an unrecognized guam
uty in the local market. During the
entire grape season three or more cars
a week are received in Salt Lake City
| alone, from California, and some from
states east of us. A great part of this
supply could just as well be grown
in Utah as in California, or Iowa or
OifiO. t0IldIllly Tue CIllRdlG ana Ott161
conditions requisite to the successful
growing of hardy American grapes are
! as favorable in Utah as anywhere cast
/, of u.s. and there is no more need of i'm
| porting grapes from the east than of
| getting our coal supplies from PennSyl-
vania. And while it is true that the
average growing season in Utah is not
long enough to mature all va
| rieties of European grapes grown
| IN California ma Of ho
ly varieties, among which are
some of the very best, will mature
to perfection here. comparing i'm flavor
with those imported, and preferred by
! many because they are ripened on the
vine and can be had in fresh condition.
Among those varieties which mature
fully in the ordinary season in the Salt
Lake valley are the Black Prince, Pur-
| PIE Damascus, Sweetwater (Chasselas
de FontainebleU. Zinfandel. Muscat of
Alexandria, Sultana, Thompson's Seed
less, Black Hamburg. Black Malvoise,
Black Ferrara. Flame Tokay will ripen
/ in most seasons, especially on warm
gravelly soil, where all grapes do best,
ripening earlier and attaining the high
est flavor and sweetness in such situ-
| atoms.
Were Utah horticulturists awake to
their opportunities grape growing
should be a striking feature of the ag-
ricultural industries of the state. In
stead of a vineyard here and there at
wide intervals, they would form a part
of every landscape, adding untold
wealth 10 the producers, as the entire
mountain region would furnish an al
most unlimited market, with no COM
petition nearer than California.
Grape Growing.
A specially favorable characteristic of
grape growing, which makes it singu-
/ larly valuable as a Utah industry, and
which appeals with much force to the
| farmer who depends upon irrigation
water to grow his crops, is the ability of
/ the vine to Withstand drouth and ma
ture good crop with less than a third
of the water required by other crops of
equal value. In an ordinary season and
on average farm soil, after the vines
have become established, two irriga-
! lions are sufficient TO mature the crop.
and grow vines for next seasons fruit.
/ Where conditions favor autumn and
early spring irrigation. summer irriga-
ton could be dispensed with entirely
if the vineyard were carefully cult
waited during the summer. On some of
the foothills of the Wasatch mountains
in Davis county grapes have been
| grown successfully without irrigation
| the vines making great annual growths
and the only moisture they ever receive
was what came in rain or winter snow.
/ 1t is not too much TO expect that
when the possibilities of grape growing
are understood. all the foothills skirt
| ing the beautiful valleys of Utah will
be covered with vineyards. the fruitage
from which will make the state ia
nous.
The above observations have refer
| ence specially to grape growing in the
central valleys of the state, and not
to Utah's Dixie country, lying i'm the
county of Washington. the southwest
corner of the state. There the condi-
tions are as favorable for growing all
the European grapes as i'm the most ia
vOred sections of the Golden State. The
industry there is growing rapidly and
promises soon TO become of greatest
/ Importance in that section of the state
and every farmer may share in the gem
eral prosperity which it is sure to
bring.
Aside from the commercial import
ance of grape growing, every farmer
should grow grapes to supply his own
! family with the most nutritious and
wholesome fruit the earth produces.
and one of the cheapest food products
grown. The amount of grapes that can
'be grown upon an acre is surprising,
and the small expense at which they
| can be grown Is equally surprising
Eight tons to the acre is no more than
should be expected from a mature vine
yard, which at l cent pound is worth
| $3.50. while the cost of growing is no
greater than corn or potato growing.
A Neglected Industry.
Another industry of very great COM
merciaI possibilities in this state, one
almost entirely overlooked in the past,
| is that of nut growing. From a dainty
luxury nuts have become an important
article of diet. used in one form or an
other in every family as an article of
! food. and great quantities are used in
every civilized country. America uses
immense quantities. depending in great
measure upon foreign countries for her
supply, Spain, France and Italy fur
nishing large quantities, especially of
English walnuts and almonds. Califor-
mia grows great quantities of these, de-
irving a great income therefrom. This
industry has grown to vast proportions
since the first walnuts were planted
there forty wears ago. Land then I'M