Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1913-07-06
Herman Aardt IS The Man
| Who Knows How to Bring
| Things to Maturity
Makes Ones Mouth Water
as He Reads Long List
Of Good THINGS

IdlIy WINCII tic IItut!SlIla t LAI'coilAos
opens at Bismarck. hundreds will paus,
before some exhibit of fruit and veget.
ablcs bearing the tag of Herman Hardt,
Napoleon, n. D.. 1t is safe to say tina
Il majority will pass it up without {
second thought as some product of hot
house conditions, as an exceptional PLAN
or fruit, and not to be grown under
ordinary North Dakota conditions. \
visit to the farm would show the error
in this hasty conclusion too commonly
held.
Herman Hardt grows his fruit trees,
his vegetables and his bushes witho :!
shelter CT cover Of any sort. The sec
ret in the success he has had is in
giving it a chance to grow" He cul.
tivates II waters. He never careless
ly sticks the shoot Of q tree into tho
ground without thoroughly loosening the
earth, and the trees and other plants
have shown by their wonderful growth
that they viii grow and thrive in this
state if started rightly.
Mr.. Hardt has never been troubled by
frost. His fruits are so we'll cultivated
mad watcred that they mature in plenty
of time to escape being nlpped.
Fruit growers are frequently troubled
with insects. In the simplest way i'm
| aginable, Mr.. Hardt protects himself
against the pests-by protecting the
kill all the insects and eat only the
small berries, a large quantity Of which
he grows for no other reason than to
feed the birds and keep them from
leaving. They never touch his larger
fruit. y
Ten years ago Mr.. Hardt filed on his
homestead, which is thrce-uuarters Of a
mile west Of Napoleon. 1t was then a
bare stretch Of prairie, partly on the
hillside and partly low land. Mr.. Hardt
located his home grounds close against
the ridge Of the hill and cut down the
hill in terraces, each five or six feet
wide. This Kept the moisture from
going to the bottom and enriched a pre-
viously bare hill. On one terrace for
its Whole length he planted one kind OF
tree or bush or shrub. There are wood
S't "AN u olClS AS"uiAA6 " tOA
race to terrace, and the descent is
like exploring a natural park. Up on the
hill he has his house and his veget-
ables and smaller fruits. Pipes run-
ming under ground carry water to seven
different places in the garden, from
each Of which a hose with a. nozzle
spurts water to any part desired.
Five kinds Of currants are grown OH
this farm-the Perfection, North Star,
Victoria, Red Dutch and Crandall. The
Perfection and Victoria currants grow
to a considerable size. but the Crandall
is by far the largest, getting as large
as an ordinary cherry. Then the goose
berries-the Pearl, Downing and Kerry
are making a phenomenal growth. The
first is as sweet as sugar. -
Several kinds of plums, five or six
different plums, elderberry, Siberian
dogwood. raspberries, strawberries,
grapes, cherries, Duchess, Wealthy and
Northwestern Greening apples, and the
F%lorencia crabapple, Rocky Mountain
~sandcherries. Russian Ortemesia, corn
sweet and pOp-as well as North
western, yellow and white dent, black
and white and yellow flint. and the
whole range Of garden vegetables, in
Guiding turnips, beets, lettuce, rad
potatoes. carrots, parsnips-and so on.
Mr.. Hardt has a red cherry tree which
is five years old and is ten feet high.
The tree usually grows to twice that
height. His hedge which shelters the
slighter vegetables and fruits from the
wind, is now three years old and five and
q half feet high. He has three hundred
plum trees and a thousand currant and
gooseberry bushes. In the list of trees
he grows which bear no bruit are the
mountain ash. cottonwood, soft maple.
English willow and golden willow. ST.
berian tamaracks, Carolint poplar. sill
Yer poplar and Manitoba maple.
Other plants to be seen growing on
this farm are the following: the hop
plant, buffalo berry. white and blue
blooms. Siberian pea tree-tasting like
roasted peanuts, honeysuckle, choke
cherries, the Virginia creeper and wood.
bine or American ivy.
Mr.. IIardt has been furnishing seeds
and cuttings from his plants to the m
dian school at Bismarck. He plans also
to have a better exhibit ut the Indus
trial Exposition this year than last, and
one thing is sure--his exhibit will be
worth seeing.
Some years ago, Mr.. Hardt Joined a
horticultural society Of the agricultural
college, Brookings, South Dakota. and
1t was there. he says. that he learned
things of untold value in the caring for
plant life.
He is Justly proud Of his place and
delights in showing visitors about it. and
explaining the secrets Of their growth
and the, characteristics Of each. It is
unnecessary to state that every land