Western Carolina Democrat and French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1913-1915, 1915-11-04
lBy Noah n. HonowelA

Culture.
The name of a man and that OF
a business though somewhat syn
onymous by the law of concurrence
as the memory training course
would put it tor the reason that
fruit culture on an extensive scale
could not be mentioned In Hen
derson county without Identifying
Capt. Toms with this interesting
and important occupation, be.
cause he can without controversy
1be termed the county's king fruit
grower
For years the writer had heard
and written In a small way Of the
Captains enterprise on Jump-Of
mountain but he never had a COM
prehensive knowledge of this big
undertaking far up on the noun
tain top 5000 feet above sea
level and In sight of an observer
Fin Hendersonville, until last We'd
nesday, when the fruit grower
took him up to the Essewah orch
! ard three miles distant and showed
lhim thoroughly over the place and
igave him many ideas as well as
the Captains ideals in fruit
growing.
The Captains Hobby.
TheCaptain is verse to publicity
or exploitation for fear some one
will get the impression that he has
a "white elephant" or something
CT the kind he would like to CON
vert into dollars, therefore out of
Justice to him will endeavor to
set the reader straight on this
point. The Captain does not wish
to sell his orchard and he has@dis-
posed of the most of his fruit
therefore he has nothing to adver-
tise. He doesn't want to sell the
orchard for the reason that it is his
pet darling. Nearly ali prominent
men and many who are not prom
inent have their ideals, idols, pets,
hobbies, etc., and so the Captain
has his, and despite the fact that
he has engaged in many things
during his life of about seventy
three years, ranging from fruit
growing in Florida to mining gold
In North Carolina, investing in
mountain lands, growing ginseng,
digging for radium and investing
in business and residential proper
ties In Hendersonville and Ashe-
vile, nothing has c rom him
I such careful and almost undivided
attention as his fruit growing bus
mess on Jump-Of, the English
name for Essewah and the name
Of his big orchard Of ver 5000
fruit trees on the mountain rich In
! Indian legend. This orchard is no
doubt the Captain's hobby and he
doesn't mind saying so but he
doesn't want to leave the impress
sion that he is getting rich as a re.
suit Of this enterprise for so far
he has made no money. But his
great desire is to conclusively
demonstrate to the world his
strong conviction that fruit grow
ing in Western Carolina is a COOL
paying business. While the Cap
tain has not proved this, it is not
too late. The time has just come
and as he stood on the upper story
of his new storage house, which is
said to be the best In the State,
and gave personal supervision to.
the packing of some choice boxes
of fruit for parties in distant
states, he said: eff they would
just hit then a pause as he in
structed the packer to remove a
detected apple from the box.
"Wnat do you mean by 'hits9'
inquired the writer.
Waiting for Favorable Year.
The fruit grower with eyes near
" closed with a grin squinted one
a. the writer and one at the fruit
on the floor and thought of those
5000 trees all around him, some
bearing as much as II bushels of
the best fruit, then explained. He
took his thumbs from the arm holes
Of his vest and jammed them we'll
down into his trousers pockets and
said that with all things favorable
for one n year with a big crop
like he had last year and and a
good price such as he is getting
this wear he would gather about
10000 bushels of apples, and the
result would be that he would just
make his pockets full of money.
$1,000 Annually in Up-keep.
o~0nplo+a