The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1913-02-07

grape. A certain Nr. Hull
bought a house in Concord,
Mass. In the yard had been
thrown native grape seeds. and
of the resulting plants one
seemed to show remarkable
thriftiness and excellent fruit
qualities. This Mr.. Hull pro-
pogated. and we have the fa-
nous Concord grape from
which have sprung 'Moore's
Early the Wonder etc.
The gooseberries that are in
popular favor in this country
are descended from native
stock. The same can be said
of the plums and raspberries.
The work Of improving fruits,
grains and root crops will
never cease. , In the past it
has been practically a matter
of chance. In the future it
will be scientific development.
Chace has given US the ANIMALS
and the quick return crops and
the most attention has been
given to cereals and roots.
Other more permanent and
lasting Improvements have
been neglected. This is the
work for governments rather
than for individuals on account
of the expenditure of time and
labor.
The hickory tree has not
been improved because it re-
quires too much time to get
decided results. Yet since it is
a natixe it is perfectly hardy in
nearly all parts of the United
States. Scientists are working
to develop a hickory with the
flavor of the shell bark, the
thin shell of the Kentucky nut
and the size of the Indiana
giant. When this is accom-
plished we will probably have
large hickory orchards in our
country. The same is true for
the improvement of acorns,
and various native nut trees.
The object of the work is to
get trees which IRE profitable
for their fruits as compared
with the grain crops. TO
prove that this can be done we
need only to turn to the records
of Spain. Germany, Italy and
France, which have immense
orchards OF English Walnuts,
pecans and almonds. These
orchards are producing acre for
acre far more than our cultivat-
ed crops and require practical
ly no cultivation. 1t is to be
hoped that in the near future
native nut bearing trees will
be produced that can compete
successfully with those of
foreign countries. This will
be of vast importance to the
United States. For example
an acre of poor land in Italy
yields as much financially as
an acre of the best wheat land
in the United States. If the
waste land in Europe can be
used for perennials that require
practically no cultivation, we
can rebuild some of our New
England farms. There is no
reason why we can not utilize
many pieces of waste land by
securing hardy trees and
shrubs. If trees are planted
on this waste land, practically
no cultivation will be neces-
sary and if the trees are of the
right kind, there will be no un-
profitable land. We do not ex-
pect to cease improving our
cereals and quick return crops,
but improving the more per-
manent vegetation is the work
of the future.
W. have no reason to doubt
sbAoI Wis Ndu NC OOllO, plONlOCu
that the native species are
used. We are all familiar with
the improvements in oranges,
apples, peaches, etc. We even
hope in the near future to have
a thornless cactus growing in
our American desert through
the efforts of Luther Burbank.
We have good reason to believe
that we will have a variety of
corn which will develop in
North Dakota in rs or 80 days
and be hardy enough to endure
the climate. If, as ]. Russell
Smith of the university of
Pennsylvania puts it, the
twentieth century got it's agri-
culture from New England,
New England from Old Eng
land, Old England from the
Rnu,ons tho Romans frora <ha