The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1907-08-07
Bermuda Grass Fruit.

Under this title the Farm and Ranch
prints the following:
In the Lampasas News of recent
date the following letter appeared writ
ten by Editor Knetzan:
Having bought the "New Horticul-
ture' and put it's principles into prac-
t1ce at Aldine, near Houston, for nine
years with perfect success on the pear
and fig, when [ took charge of the Lam
pasas News several months APO I was
very glad indeed when Mr.. Stringfe1-
low kindly offered to give me an op-
porturity of seeing an application of
those principles to the stone fruits
also. With this view we have made
three trips around the town and STIFF
rounding country and as far as I saw
and heard there is no fruit in any of
the cultivated orchards, except on a
few of Berckman's Everbearing peach
which are quite full, both under cult
walton and in sod Nor have many of
the cataloged kinds on clean ground,
such as back yards and chicken yards,
any fruit, though not cultivated, the
Elberta in such locations being total
failure. But strange to say, saw sew
eral fine liberia trees in grass very
| full, as were Mir. Stringfellow' In
fact, one of his Elbertas was overload
| ed. By actual count, fourteen peaches
were on branch about the size of a
lead pencil and in a circle of about
one foot. His Family Favorite is also
too full while Rogers, ripening with
Mamie Ross, Tarbe1l, Everbearing,
Harris and Thurber, all have good
crops. Of his plums, Burbank, Sui
tan and Lombard have enough, while
Shire, a large yellow Japan plum, and
Gonzales were overloaded I never
saw such cluster of plums, all extra
large, as were massed on several fruit
spurs of the Shire, resembling closely
an immense bunch of grapes as large
as uart cup. Mr.. S. will save this
cluster for Farm and Ranch as an evil
dence of what Bermuda grass plum
tree will do. He has also thirteen vari-
cites Of apricots, but only one reason
lably full, and Montgament, a large Cal
ifornia variety, though Ramsey's Early
Cluster in several yards was also full
But the most remarkable apricot
around Lampasas is a tree standing in
a field, about a quarter Of mile from
farmers house, ten miles distant, It
is said to be fully thirty years old,
bears every year and is now loaded
and ripening. The owner tells me
that the ground has never been brok-
Ell since he bought the place seventeen
years ago and to keep the cattle from
rubbing and tramping around it, the
former owner placed a large pile of
rocks around the body. The fruit re-
sembles the cluster apricot very closely
eve next visited in the edge of
town, the remains of two-acre peach
and plum orchard planted by our post
master, Mr.. Weber, eighteen years
ago, but being appointed postma ster
shortly afterwards he rented the place
out and moved into town. It has been
rented ever since and the. orchard cul-
tivated in crops except a space OF
about IS feet square, just behind the
barn where the ground was too rocky
to pillow About a half dozen scat
tered peach trees remain on the cult
waited ground while all those on the
rocky land are still doing duty, bearing
good crops Of fine fruit with rarely a
failure. Among them is noble old
liberia right in the corner of the lot
with large symmetrical head which
! is now carrvinc f111 crOn of fr1it