The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1911-12-22

nlnO an irrigated 0rcnard IN It's pro
ducing power. On the other hand
in our peach experiments, we hav
found that the rows that had tn
greatest amount of water and mad
the largest wood growth. Then whel
it came time to mature the fruit tn
immense amount of foliage took u
so much of the water that it wa
, impossible to develop the fruit to tn
, proper size. The happy medium
therefore, is a sufficient amount o
water to develop normal size ire,
not an excess that develops waite
sprouts and sappy wood, rathel
light application of water in the ear
lier part of the season so as not tt
stimulate too much wood growth, bu
an abundance at the time when the
fruit is ripening and the fruit bud:
are developing.
saw an orchard this year II
which everything that | have de
scribed to you so far had been done
and apparently we'll done-the or
chard was bearing from nine tC
twelve hundred bushels of apples pei
acre and yet the crop was practically
worthless. There is, therefore, one
more 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 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-
OPP fruit buds for another year and
everybody would have been happy.
AS it is, this orchardist got an i'm
mense crop of unstable fruit and
next year his orchard will not bear
at all, since it is impossible for
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 | think of
It, let me suggest to you that you be-
gin thinning as soon as young trees
first begin to bear. The. first year
Or SO that a young orchard begins
bearing the crop is not worth the ex-
pense of spraying and handling, the
trees need all of their energy to de-
Velop a framework for carrying the
Dads of the future years and in ev-
cry way it is better to pull off the
'ew apples that appear here and
here; and yet to the man that is de-
yeloping the young orchard it is too
much like pulling a tooth to pull one
If these apples. For this reason it
S good discipline. If you begin at
hat time and learn to pull apples
IF in order to make greater profits
n the futre, it will not be hard to
leep it up and properly thin your
ruit when the orchard reaches the
earring age.
And even after this is done, the
i oblem of fruit growing has not yet
een solved. With a fine crop of
tandard sized, sound fruit on his
rees, the orchardist faces the prob
EN- of picking, packing and market
ng and right here there have been
lore failures in the past than in any
Their part of the work, except posi-
ly spraying. l know two neighbors
nth orchards side by side where one
f them received " cents per bushel
or his apples more than they cost,
lille the other man received 60, and
light at this point, let me tell you,
ONES the parting of the ways. 1t is
ne business to handle ground, to
ultivate, to irrigate, to prune and
} spray, and it is another business
} grade and market fruit, and in my
'avels through the fruit sections of
Re western part of America, | have
ecome more and more satisfied that
lose valleys which have been most
successful in the market
lg of their fruits are the ones that
ave placed this part of the work in
le hands of the business man re-
ardless of his knowledge of the Or
1ards and soils. One of the best
'uit handlers that l have ever come
| contact with is as helpless as a
ably when you get him away from
Is warehouse and into the orchard,
I'D on the other hand, some of the
orst failures in the marketing end ..
ave been made by previously sue
'ssful fruit growers.
The western orchardist has a won
,rful opportunity, the choicest soils,
e never-ending sunshine and an
of irrigation water are his.
ature has been lavish in her boun-
es. Everything that goes to make !
lccess is before him. What he must
rnish is intelligent supervision, en-
getic prosecutions, and love of his
Hing, tempered by conservative
lsiness sense. These are the essen d
ais of success in any line but in no
ne of human endeavor will they give
eater return in liberty, prosperity
Id security than in western orchard
UTY AND MEASUREMENT OF
WATER IL