The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-02-05
Agricultural Department
ooNpucrEp RY EUlToM s. WHITE.

, en delicious oranges brought all the way from Florida for good deal less than you could get the same number of ap- pies, and if quality was compared for really half the sum?
 Ought apples to sell in Nashville year after year for cents apiece? If so, had not our people better go to raising them ? Where do the apples sold in Nashville come from anyhow2 Do you find any Tennessee apples sold here, or do nearly all come from Michigan, New York and this year from far-away Colorado? And don't forget-5 cents apiece-or 50 cents a dozen. Ought this to be? Was it so a generation ago?
 There used to be soils in Tennessee suitable for producing good apples. We used to have good trees. The seasons have not greatly changed. With this steady demand at these prices, taken in l connection with the scarcity and high price of farm labor for other crops, will l l. not pay our people more to engage in fruit growing and give the business 1 that scientific attention to which any 1 business is entitled? Magnificent apples used to be grown in many counties around
 Nashville. They can be grown again. Protected hillsides, with good soil, can easily be found. Purchasers are always ready to buy the crop on the trees-care- fully pick and classify the fruit. Some summer apples can be made to pay. Oth- CTS, like the Paargon will keep in stor- l age. Is this not a neglected industry Won't some one of your correspondents, properly qualified, say what the trouble Is and throw light on the subject? All know about 1t is that l like apples and feel better after eating them, but at l the present price find them too rich for l my blood. FRUIT EATER" ! What Fruit Eater has to say for his I state, Tennessee. applies equally well to North Alabama, for this section Is in the 1 apple belt. Yet the people of Birming- l ham. like the people of Nashville, are paying high prices for apples grown in other states. and nearly all coming from the north and west Why not grow them at home? l think that I know what am talking abotu when I say that fine : apples can and should be grown in all the hilly countries of Alabama. Think l of the pleasure of eating fine apples grown on our own trees ever since last June, and have plenty yet. But in order 1 to have apples 1 must prune, cultivate, i spray and fertilize my trees. This win 1 ter I am putting around all my fruit 1 trees a mixture of ground lime and wood ashes, using one peck to every bearing i tree and one quart to each young tree set last spring.
 Plant Trees.
 If the reader neglected to plant an l apple orchard last fall he can yet do i so. Secure some good trees, prepare your soil and plant an orchard at once. cannot understand how any farmer 0ln ] feel who is neglectng to provide his wife and children with an abundance of l fine fruit of all kinds in their l season, and especially apples, to use
 throughout the entire season. 1 know 1 taht there are many farms in the hilly i sections where fine winter apples can i be grown. All that is needed is to first prepare these lands for receiving the ] trees and then take care of the trees after they are planted. Here is where
 u, trouble comes in. So few farmers are willing to do work enough on their soils in preparing them for apple growing. | Then, after the trees are set out, they l take no care of them.
 i l am going to plant another apple or
 chard this spring. I did not plant last i fall because I could not get the soil in i the condition to suit me. But I have a little book on Apple and Peach Grow
 ing" In this book the reader can find
 a guide to successful fruit growing and
 if you are going to plant fruit trees, 1t
 will pay you to send and get this book
 read 1t, follow the instructions and sue
 ceed as I am doing This book will be
 mailed free to any of our readers. This
 is no advertising scheme I have nc
 trees to sell, nor am I interested in any
 nursery. This little bulletin is simply a
 guide to successful fruit growing and Is given free to our readers.
 1 Plant fruit trees and thus make the home both attractive and profitable. visited home in Texas where the father l said that he had lived thirty-two years and yet he had never planted a fruit tree of any kind. How could we expect our boys and girls to be contented in such homes and how could we blame them for wanting to leave?