The Richfield recorder. (Richfield, Idaho) 1909-1931, 1911-12-14

IL would De three or four years be
/ an irrigated orchard in its pro
ducing power. On the other hand
In u peach experiments, we hav
found that the rows that had tn
greatest amount of water and mad,
tire largest WOOD growth. Then whel
1t came time to mature the fruit tn,
immense mount of foliage took III
so much of the water that it wal
impossible to develop the fruit to tn,
proper size. The happy medium
therefore, is a sufficient amount o
water to develop a normal size tree
not an excess that develops water
sprouts n sappy wood, a rather
light application OF water in the ear
lier part of the season so as not to
stimulate too much wood growth, but
an abundance at the time when the
fruit is ~ripening and the fruit buds
are developing.
| saw an orchard this year in
which everything that have de-
scribed to YOU SO far had been done
and apparently we'll done-the Or
chard vas bearing from nine to
twelve hundred bushels OF apples per
acre and yet the crop was practically
worthless. There is, therefore, one
factor to be considered, and
that is thinning. This orchard was a
Gano, Jonathan, Ben Davis orchard
fifteen years old, and each tree had
three to five thousand little bits of
understood, shrunken apples. The
apples were Of little value and the
trees were breaking down and being
ruined. If half or two-thirds of
those apples had been thinned out in
the beginning of the season, the re-
mainder would have produced a crop
as heavy as the trees could bear of
better developed and standard size
apples. There would have been
enough vitality in the tree to devel-
op fruit buds for another year and
everybody would have been happy.
it is, this orchardist got an inn
mense crop of unstable fruit and
year his orchard will not bear
at all, since it is impossible for a
tree to feed fruit buds under such
an excessive load. Two or three
cents expended in thinning would
have made so cents difference in the
worth of these apples in the fall.
And, by the way, while'I think of
t, let me suggest to you that you be-
gin thinning as soon as young trees
'irst begin to bear. The first year
,r so that a young orchard begins
Fearing the crop is not worth the eX-
)ense of spraying and handling, the
rees need all of their energy to de-
Telop a framework for carrying the
of the future years and in ev-
Try way it is better to pull off the
ew apples that appear here and
here; and yet to the mar that is de-
the young orchard it is too
nuch like pulling a tooth to pull one
f these apples. For this reason it
good discipline. If you begin at
hat time and learn to pull apples
if in order to make greater profits
4 the futre, it will not be hard to
eep it up and properly thin your
when the orchard reaches the
caring age.
And even after this is done, the
of fruit growing has not yet
cen solved. With a fine crop of
sized, sound fruit on his :
'ees, the ~orchardist faces the prob :
IN of picking, packing and market !,
lg and right here there have been :
Iore failures in the past than in any ,
part of the work, except posi- +.
Iy spraying. / know two neighbors
it'll orchards side by side where one
them received 2 u cents per bushel :
" his apples more than they cost, +
lille the other ma received Sc, and !,
ght at this point, let me tell you, :
,mes the parting of the ways 1t is =
ne business to handle ground, to :.
lltivate, to irrigate, to prune and =
spray, and it is another business 7
grade and market fruit, and in my =
avels through the fruit sections of !.
western part of America, / have =
scome more and more satisfied that d
.ose valleys which have been most :
liformly successful in the market y
& of their fruits are the ones that Z
we placed this part of the work in =
hands of the business man re u
of his knowledge of the or 9
ards and soils. One of the best !,
handlers that l have ever come y
contact with is as helpless as a
by when you get him away from d
S warehouse and into the orchard, =
ID on the other hand, some of the
orst failures in the marketing end p
I've been made by previously sue II
ssful fruit growers. =
The western orchardist has a won Z
rful opportunity, the choicest soils,
e n~ever-ending sunshine and an y
'undance of irrigation water are his. =
iture has been lavish in her boun-
IS. Everything that goes to make :,
ccess is before him. What he must Id
rnish is intelligent supervision, en-
getic prosecutions, and a love of his 1
ling, tempered by conservative
siness sense. These are the essen a.
lis of success in any line but in no u
of human endeavor will they give
eater return in liberty, prosperity o.
d security than in western orchard VI
anagement. =.
la
JTY AND MEASUREMENT OF