El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-04-20
VALLEY ADAPTED
TO SUCCESSFUL
FRUIT GROWING
Professors Garcia and Hare
Talk to Farmers and
Suggest Methods.

feet and remedies for alkali in the soil
were made Saturday afternoon in the
chamber of commerce building by
Prof Fabian Garcia and Prof. r. F.
Hare, of the New Mexico Agricultural
and Mechanical college, at Mesiua
Park, n. NJ. About 20 farmers We're
present the audience including both
the active farmers and the city land
owning farmers, and included several
George LeBaron, chairman Of the
land and irrigation committee OF the
chamber Of commerce, presided at the
Prof. Garcia. the agricultural and
horticultural expert of the A &, NJ. col
Iege who is in charge of the college
experiment station, commented upon
the water of the Elephant Butte dam
assuring a certainty of successful
CROPS for the farmers Of this section
when heretofore the farmers have
never been sure of crop because
of the water supply giving out. Prof.
Garcia talked principally about fruit
frees and advocated q uniformity of
crou. He said that one of the diff
culties was that there were too many
varieties among the farmers of a sec
ton, and that no one variety stood for
the section.
of we are going to develop into
commercial fruit growing section, we
must have uniformity Of crops, said
Prof Garcia. MANY Orchard1sts are
discouraged on account of the spring
frosts destroying their crops. Ihe
remedy for this is to plant late bloom
2The Alberta peach blooms too ear
" for profit, as it is estimated that
only one crop in four amounts to any
thing on account of frost BY expert
menting, we believe that some time
some orchardist in our own section viii
produce a late blooming peach tree
that will do much to solve the peach
raising problem. I believe this valley
has the requirements Of soil and eli
mate to he one of the best peach grow
ing sections in the country. Another
thing most important for fruit raisers
to bear in mind is the right pollinatlon
of the blossoms.
"'Now for apples. Some people say
that these are not suited to Rio Grande
conditions. I believe that apples are
going to be one Of the fruits OF this
section. The problem is to lind the
variety best suited to our conditions
and this I believe to be the Arkansas
Black. People up north DO not tnlnk
so much of this tree as they say II IS
a light bearer. but It has the advantage
of being a late blOOmer and so is rare
" hurt by frost. Roman Beauty IS
also a sturdy late bIoOmer.
I'm raising apples. I advise farmers
to prospect around their farms for the
soil best adapted to the particular
crops"
Brings Interesting Exhibits.
Prof. Garcia brought with him
number of exhibits from the expert
/ mental station which interested the
farmers very much. He advocated the
use of a one year old graft. on a two
/ year old root, as being the best tree to
plant, the tree having more roofs DelnS
I much harder than the others He par
ticularly advocated good tilliage IN the
fall to cultivate deep rooted trees,
even If cultivation to within four feet
Of the tree does cut the surface roots.
If this is done in the fall, the root has
time to develop a bunch of feeders
which really do the tree more good.
Prof. Garcia advocates the planting
of apple trees grated onto a pear tree
/ root, as the pear tree root IS one or
the hardest Of fruit trees, and seems
to be free from insects, while the ap-
pie tree root is often infected me
''WOOlv Aphis." that is so often re-
spOnsibIe for the death of apple trees,
do not bother the pear tree at all FroI-
Garcia said. He said that the expert
ment had been tried at the experiment
station with very good results. Inc
first crop of apples being grown on
| the near root was gathered last tall
/ and was a success in every way.
Deep Roots the Remedy.
As the woody aphis" works only on
the surface roots OF the apple trees,
the remedy is to encourage deep roots,
/ deep and proper tillaSe, deep p!oWing
I in the fall and heavy irrigation at
/ long intervals, letting the water thor
oughly soak into the ground, VIII en-
courage deep root system. For the
] DESTROYING of the curling worm on the
apples. Prof. Garcia advocated spray
! i1e inst after the petals have fallen
1 for the first spray, and then repeating
! the spray every % days for five times,
\ so that the insect does not have
/ chance to get inside the fruit
IL Hr-na 1HeT
| Garcia advocated the use OF the Euro
! pean-plum. This tree, he said, is bet
! ter than the Japanese plum because 1t
is a much later blooming tree, and does
not need smudging. Prof. Garcia said
/ that his section was very well adapted
to plum culture.
Pears Best Fruit.
Pears are one of the very best fruits
/ Of this valley" said Prof. Garcia. They
! are perfectly adapted 10 our dry con-
I ditions."
| In discussing the improvement of the
) orchards, Prof Garcia commented upon
/ the variation of fruit from the same
variety of tree. Some have heavier
/ crops, some larger sized fruit and some
later blooming. and he urged an en-
I deavor to have uniformity in this re-
! spect. He also spoke of the idea Of a
/ pedigree tree. when the known quail
I ties of the parent tree viii be included
/ in the graft
He closed with a talk on packing
/ and grading fruit, advocating the
! forming Of fruit growers associations
on the order Of those in Colorado,
| California and Oregon, who send eN-
! pert packers and graders to either
{ pack or inspect every bit of fruit sent
! out by any member Of their associa-
/ ton. Following the lecture, Prof. Car
} cha anwered questions from the farm
/ ers present.
Hare Talks Of AIkali.
Prof Garcia was followed by Prof
\ r. T. Hare. the head of the chemistry
/ department of the college, and the
I chemist Of the experiment station. Prof
] Hare talked upon alkali. using a black
! board for illustration, and gave a very
| scientific explanation of the various
] composites of aIkali, its anudOtes and
/ its effect upon crops. For land where
/ the under water is near the surface,
/ draining is the only remedy, he said
I in other lands he advocated heavy
! irrigation, to wash the al1ali down
I and deep blowing and manuring, TO
/ prevent the alkali from forming in
| crusts on the surface.
The crops Prof Hare recommended
/ as resistant to alkan are milo maize
| sorghum. kaffir corn and barley. These