Semi-weekly herald., 1912-12-23

son. If this be true, 1t is time for is
to begin to consider the growing Of
later crops that may be held and put
upon the market at later dates than
we can now do under present condi-
tions.
The same conditions apply to the
production of the Bartlett pear. IF
cur Bartletts are forced upon the
market at the same time that other
large crops are competing, we cannot
hope to obtain the prices that can be
procured later in the season when the
market is less congested.
If we can prolong these seasons, we
can prevent flooding of the market and
afford the consumer longer and
more satisfactory season to enjoy the
best of fruits in prime condition.
If all the Strawberries in the United
States were grown in the same month,
the growers would receive very
meager remuneration for their efforts
and investments, and the consumers
would enjoy very little of this delicious
fruit, but, owing to the fact that there
are many climatic conditions in the
United States, this crop is grown and
placed on the market from February
to November, thus preventing con-
gested market and affording the
grower better returns and the con-
sumner a longer and continual use of
the strawberry.
In Colorado we have great di-
versity of climatic conditions. We
are today growing the most of our
apples and pears under practically the
same climatic conditions. In other
words, we have narrowed our range of
climate as to these fruits and have not
availed ourselves of the wide range of
climate that nature has bestowed upon
Colorado in greater measure than can
be found in any other part of the
United States.
If it can be made to appear that
there is now in Colorado as large an
area capable of producing fruits of the
finest quality, flavor and keeping quail
tiles, in the higher attitudes as is
known to exist in the lower, it can
readily be seen how vastly the fruit
products can be increased and, at the
same time, distribute. them over a
longer period of time as to market
ing and consumption. Such conditions
| would add very materially to the
wealth of the state and the convent
ence and comforts of its inhabitants
and the consumers in outside markets.
have been engaged in growing
fruits at Hermosa in La Plata county
for number of years, at an altitude
of 500 feet. This is considered N
La Plata county high altitude. There
have been no failures of fruit IN The
Animas valley for twenty-five years,
and we have raised a great many
different varieties of fruits, including
such tender fruits as peaches, Satsum-
ma plums and Royal Ann cherries.
There are extensive areas in Cello
redo where similar conditions to ours
exist, and where fruits of numerous
kinds can be produced of very de-
sirable quality.
Let us now consider some of the
advantages of high attitudes. The
first and most important is frost iu-
munity. This is question of vital
| Importance to every horticulturist. in
as much as in many localities great
losses are sustained nearly every year
from the frosts occurring in the laJA
spring. In many localities the great
expense attending the smudge pot
must be incurred, and the results are
rot always satisfactory.
In the higher attitudes the fruit
buds are delayed in the spring until
many Of the severe cold snaps have
| passed by. 1t seems to be very
general rule that killing frosts do not
occur later in the higher attitudes than
they do in the lower. The cold wave
sweeps down from the mountains and
frequently does its damage in the
lower places while the higher alti-
tudes escape injury,
So far as we have produced fruits
in Colorado in the higher attitudes,
it has been pretty generally demon
strated that this delay in the bios
soming period is of vital Importance
and, very frequently, crops are pro-
duced when failure occurs elsewhere
There is another point involved in
| this question of frost immunity, and
that is, as rule, fruits will stand a
lower temperature at the higher alti-
tudes than they will in the lower.
The atmosphere contains less moisture
during all seasons of the year, and
we know that, as rule, dry freeze
is less destructive than damp freeze.
A frost that occurs where heavy dews
prevail is more destructive than it il
where the moisture in the atmosphere
is carried away and dews are pre-
vented.
We frequently find the wild fruits
growing in the mountains all the way