Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1914-01-29
Dakota Should
Raise More Fruit
by 9. q, Tracy



By {. a Tracy
Yes. raise more Fruit This county
and all Of northeastern Soath DakotaI
could raise ten times All much fruit al
IL now raised and would not have to
ship any out of Its immediate vicinity
in order to find q market.
Nov, this IL not guess work.
have been raising fruit here for the
past twenty-five years, but only on 4
small scale | brings In many anick
d and dollar for what We have to dis!
pose Of. During the past summer We
sold two hundred and seventy-six
quarts Of currants at 10 cents q quart;
and about 4 hundred bushels of i
pies and crahapples at from dol
lar to one thirty per bushel. And
nearly all this was sold at the farm;
We did not have to haul them To mar
.ket. Then we have plnms, gooseber,
ries. raspberries and strawberries Tor
our own use, and usually some to
spare. And then, what pleasure II Is,
especially to q family of children, TO
gather and use the fruit of their own
raising.
a Dozen Trees Years Ago.
met a man d short time ago to
whom ! sold a dozen apple trees some
few years age. He said he had four
teen bushels Of apples from them last
summer. He now wants to plant an
orchard. He wanted to know what Is
the best nursery to get them from,
and what varieties to get. At the
time | sold that dozen trees to him ]
tried to get him to take more. told
him that 1t would take Just as long for
that dozen to get into bearing as II
would fifty Or q hundred. And then
when they got to bearing It would
amount to something and make his
farm more valuable. But no., he only
took the twelve trees and IL they
lived and bore fruit he would then
plant IN orchard.
This reminds me on the man who
commenced in the poultry business.
The first hen he set on two eggs. A
neighbor told him he ought to put at
least a dozen under her. no; !
would not risk that a n But If
she matches the two all right then |
will give her a nest full he said.
There is no question but that the
hardy varieties Of fruit will do we'll
here. There are enough growing in
this county to prove 1T, But TO be
successful In growing the fruit trees
should be of the hardy variety, and
planted rather deep, cultivated for a
few years, until the roots get well
down into the ground. Then they
will stand drought as well nj II not
better than the cottonwood or box
elder.
Concerning Piufas.
Plums were nearly a failure all
over the state. Our plum trees were
perfectly white with blossoms last
spring. but when they were in full
bloom in May we had six or eight
days OF cold weather. think that
caused them to blight. Some of
the old trees, such as the DeSota.
Forest Garden and others had a few
scattering plums, but not enough to
pay for gathering. But the new
varieties of plums originated by Prof.
N, T.. Hansen did better and fruited
heavily. The Utica and Zekanta had
to be propped up to keep them from
breaking down. The Wastea bore q
few plums, the Hanska bore a few
while the Opata, Sapa and Egyptian
bore heavily. A number of other va
rieties bore but few or zone at all.
The Compass Cherry fruited heavily.
Seven Varieties Commended.
From the twenty-five differentSYarie
ties OF the Hansen plums that have
growing, | will name the seven that
! think the most Of. The Wastea, ze-
kanta and Uteca r all large plums.
1t takes from two to three years Off
them to get to bearing. Hanska, q
1t takes from two to three years for
plum, Opata, Sapa and Ezaptan are
a cross of sand cherry and the large
California plum. They will bear the
year after they are set out; that Is,
III they live and do well.
The different varieties ripen at diff
ferent times. The Opata, the earliest,
ripens about August LIST; Desota, the
latest, about September 18th. So by
having SO many different varieties we
have ripe plums for six weeks.
Sunbeam Raspberry Very Fine.
The Sunbeam raspberry. originated
by Prof. Hansen at the state expert
mental farm, is a wonderful fruit.
The longer ! grow it the better | like
IT. It doesn't winter kill; and is d
prolific bearer every year; is medi-
'um sized and good quality. Il is In
bearing about three weeks. The first
/, ,nIy{rn n,-oa T,J,x ~ W. nsn1vo1