Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1910-03-26
AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE Tc
CONDUCT EXPERIMENTS IN
FRUIT CULTURE.
LANDS NEAR COUNCIL BLUFFS
HAVE BEEN SECURED BY LEASE
State Will Pay Rental for Fixed Term
Of Years-Expert. from colIesesWiIl
Take charee-To Solve Many Prob
Iems-Experiments With Grapes to
Be Conducted.

Council Bluffs, March 26.-An ex-
detrimental orchard under the care of
the horticultural department of Iowa
State College at Ames has been Sc
cured, and the men who have the work
in charge will begin their study OF
orchard conditions in this section of
the country this coming week The
final arrangements were made by Prof
Laurenz Greene before he left the city
Wednesday,.
The founding of the experiment sta
ton is one of the results of holding the
National Horticultural Congress IN
Council Bluffs. The men who are In
charge of the extension work OF the
state institution were made aware OF
the fruit raising possibilities OF SOUTH
west Iowa by the exhibits shown last
fall at the fruit show, and determined
to conduct experiments with a view
of lettering conditions in an EFFORT TO
produce better fruit.
: The orchard which has been secured
for the work is the D. L. Roger orchard
lying just outside the city of Council
Bluffs. The plot consists of twenty
three acres, and has growing on 1t not
only apples and other large fruit, but
berries and the smaller varieties as
well. The state agricultural college has
leased the orchard for a long term OF
years, and Professors Bliss, Beach and
Greene will be in charge. The orchard
will be developed along scientific lines.
and when the lease expires will be
turned over to Mr. Roger. In addition
to this the state will pay him a fixed
rental each year, but it is claimed by
the men in charge that they will make
more than enough off the orchard to
pay expenses.
To Solve Many Problems.
All the problems Of the orchardist
in this section will be gone into, and
solutions attempted. The professors
will make study of the pests that are
found here and will attempt to find a
way to exterminate them. Soil expert
ments will be conducted, drainage in
vestigated and the general care an
orchard should be given demonstrated.
The orchard is said to be almost an
ideal one for an experiment station.
The trees in fne physical condition,
and SO situated as to permit a wide
series of experiments. An accurate rec
ord of the results obtained will be pre-
pared by the men in charge, and will
be distributed to the fruit raisers in
this section Of the Missouri river val
ley.
The experiments will start this COM
ing season. The work this year it is
understood will be confined largely to
study Of apple raising and the results
obtained will be on exhibition at the
big fruit show to be held in Council
Bluffs this coming fall. It is not prob
able that all three Of the men will be
stationed here all the time. Professor
Greene will probably be the first man
to come here and start the work, but
both Professors Beach and Bliss will
keep in close touch with the work.
Experiments With Grapes.
One of the phases Of orcharding that
will be of especial interest to the peo-
pie of Pottawattamie county and vi
cinity will be the experiments in grape
growing. That has come to be an inn
portant industry in this section, but the
growers have had many things to con-
tend with. One Of the most destructive
things has been the black rot. They
have been able to check its ravages,
but they have never been able to de-
stroy it. A considerable loss Is ex-
perienced every year by grape growers
from black rot, and one Of the first
series of experiments will be with this
fungus. Professor Beach has had espe-
cial training in vineyard culture, and
has had pretty wide experience. He
will interest himself in the work here,
and it is believed that the black rot in
this section can be eliminated.