The Western news. [volume] (Stevensville, Mont.) 1890-1977, 1910-11-29
FRED WH|TES|DE TALKS
FRUIT GROWING
FATHER OF IRRIGATION DISTRICT
LAW VISITED HAMILTON
SATURDAY.

and Stevensville Saturday.
Whilst playing a very prominent
part in shaping the political destiny
of the state during the past dozen
years, Mr.. Whiteside has found time to
ing near Kalispell, having achieved
more than local fame as one of the
most successful and progressive fruit
growers in Montana
Mr.. Whiteside has served several
! terms in the legislature. One of the
results of his activities was the pas
sage of the irrigation district law by
the Tenth assembly. Due to the
blundering of committee clerk the
law proved imperative, the bonding
sections proving faulty. This irriga-
tion district law was repealed and
virtually re-enacted by the passage of
Senate Bill IS by the Eleventh as
sembly. The Whiteside law was
changed only in the method of proceed
ure, jurisdiction being vested in the
district court instead of the board of
county commissioners, and by the ell
limitation of the section of the White
side law which had established the
principle of exchange or substitution
of water The bonding sections were
also carefully revised so that bonds
would find a ready market. 1t is a
curious fact that when objection was
raised to the passage of Senate bill 18
no attempts were made to amend the
new features of the measure, all at
tacks being directed at features of the
old law that had been on the statute
books two years without ever a single
criticism being raised.
Discussing irrigation districts and
fruit growing, his favorite subjects,
since neither may be described as
hobby, Mr.. Whiteside, in conversa-
tion with a representative of The
Western News said:
THE Bitter Root has improved Won
derfully since my last visit and | be-
lieve it is going to improve even more
rapidly in the future Owing to my
name having been printed upon some
of the Bitter Root advertising matter
l receive great many letters of in
quiry from eastern people, and in an
swering such letters I am always glad
to give this section a boost. Some
people think land values are high here
but they will go much higher in the
near future. The district irrigation
law will be big factor in the future
development of this section if the
people will only avail themselves of
it's provisions. One such project has
been completed near Kalispell and
another one is under way in Lincoln
county; others have also been started
in other parts of the state.
'As the area of land that can be
cultivated in this section is not un-
limited, your development must come
through intensified production, rath-
er than from expansion and the grow
ing of orchards is the best means by
which to reach this end To produce a
good orchard requires an infinite
amount of labor and thought and
while a few succeed there are many
who fail. Without intending to criti-
cize | must say that most of the or
| chards | have seen here are deficient
in both pruning and cultivation Gull
tivation is required in order to make
the plant food in the soil available for
the use of the tree and it also induces
growth by warming the soil; this it
does by preventing evaporation of
moisture. When moisture evaporates
it is changed from water to vapor, and
this requires heat. In a field where
evaporation is going on rapidly the
temperature is lower, because the heat
is used in converting the water into
vapor. When l first entered the busi-
ness | cultivated my orchard about IL
times each season, but | found that
more cultivation brought better re-
suits, and l have gradually increased
the work until this season my orchard
was cultivated Al times. Where irri-
cation is practiced less cultivation is
required. This was the dryest season
ever known in Flathead, but the fruit
crop was fine, as those who saw our
exhibits at the state fair can testify.
when l plant an apple tree l like
to cut off all of the limbs but four
leaving them full length, one for each
point of the compass. This puts all
of the growth into the four limbs that
are to make the tree and the result is
a big tree in short time. If the tree
is planted with dozen or more limbs
these must be sawed out later on
! which wastes the growing energy Of