Cañon City record., 1911-01-05
RAGSDALE & SON
ACQUIRE VALUABLE
ORCHARD PROPERTY

In recent issue of The Daily Rec
ord mention was made of the sale of
the Stearns fruit ranch in East Canon
to a Mr.. Baird of Prowers county,
who. later. traded 1t to J. NJ Ragsdale
& Son of this city. This orchard de-
serves more than passing notice. be-
Ing considered one of the best in Ere
mont county. indeed. in the entire Up
per Arkansas valley for that matter.
Mr.. Stearns, a wealthy chemist and
Wholesale drug manufacturer and
dealer of Detroit. Michigan, bought
the property in question several years
ago. and. under the direction OF very
compstsst and ihteiiigent- advice. Sc
lected the very best varieties and
classes of fruit trees In order that he
might surround himself with an or
chard of the very highest character as
he intended TO make his home here.
He also. of course, was desirous of
obtaining the best possible returns in
a financial way from HIS investment.
but. subsequently, Mr.. Stearns decided
to sell the property and remove to a
lower altitude on account Of the
health of himself and family and
placed It on the market
A. s Taylor. one OF the most sue
cessful and practical fruit tree and
ranch authorities in the Canon City
district, and now horticultural in
spector. who had charge OF the
Stearns ranch for several years, In
forms us that in selecting trees for
his orchard. Mr. Stearns never hesita-
ted at the price of trees. or anything
else. that would help make his or
chard a model and profitable one;
many of the trees he had set out hay-
ing cost several dollars each.
We were unable TO learn the exact
value placed on the ranch by Mr..
Stearns and those who succeeded him
in its ownership, but understand the
price recently paid for It was between
twenty and twenty-five thousand dol
lars for the twenty-five acres II con-
tains. Ragsdale q Son. who have had
considerable experience In the hand
ling OF such properties. say they in
tend to manage II in such way as
tO obtain the best results from II. In
fact. II is their Intention to still
further improve II and render II still
more attractive and profitable ranch
than II has heretofore been.
1t was in the Stearns orchard that
fifteen-year old Paragon tree during
the past year yielded one ton Of mar
ketable apples. or more than forty
boxes Of fruit. and. while II was. pro-
badly, the heaviest bearer in the or
chard, there we're a great many trees
that were not far behind 1t in produc-
tion. and this brings us to the point
OF questioning a government horticul-
turist. who. at a recent convention OF
fruit growers at Deeque. Colorado,
criticised our high prices for produc-
ing orchards and orchard lands.
II we cut the yield of the Stearns
orchard down to twenty boxes OF fruit
to the tree and figure fifty trees to the
acre we get one thousand boxes OF
fruit to the acre. and then, for addi-
tional allowance. cut that result In
two again, and call It FIVE hundred
boxes OF fruit to the acre at one dol
lar a box. we get revenue OF five
hundred dollars to the acre. A great
many orchardists in this valley do
much better than that; 80. we ask.
why is not good orchard in Fremont
county hrst-class investment at one
| thousand dollars an acre. or oven