The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1915-02-26
WONDERFUL ORCHARD AT KuNa,

w. H. Wilson, writes Charley Shep-
herd in this weeks Kuna Herald.
Without flattery, the writer was sur
prised at the general appearance Of
the orchards.
Everything has beginning so it
is with these orchards. Perhaps
nothing looks more miserable than
piece of dry sagebrush land, but
when the sagebrush is cleared off it
is not SO bad; pillow it and it looks
better; plant trees and you note fur
Their Improvement; get water into the
soil and in short time you note fur
Their improvement; finally the Guilt
walton period is over and the trees
are large enough to stand cover
crop Of clover or alfalfa, then you
note further Improvement.
Next, neat bungalow-more i'm
provement; ornamental and shade
trees, lawn, climbing vines and roses
more Improvement; you now have
the future picture before you, and,
of course, If you wish to keep busy
those spare moments there is more
improvements. This is not simply
vision, but a picture of what will
come-rlot just one home, there will
be many others on these tracts.
The writer has visited quite num-
Der of orchards in various places and
can say he has never seen a young
orchard that looked any better than
the $40 acres of young trees that join
Kuna on the southwest. No one can
realize the beauty and promise of the
Kuna Orchard tracts until they have
visited them.
One of the first things that attract
ed our attention was the healthy APP
pearance of the trees. Not sign of
scale or pest of any kind could be
detected and we looked close.
The trees show remarkable growth
during the period since they were
planted. There are ninety-two rows
three-fourths of mile long, straight
as string from every angle. Jona-
than, Rome Beauty and Winesap APP
pies are the varieties and they alter
nate two rows of each throughout the
tracts.
This large orchard lays in such
way, with the Kuna butte as back
ground, an air current is assured
which is of great Importance, as it is
natures way of keeping the frosts
from settling. The highest eleva-
ton in the orchard is 2740 feet above
sea level.
There is not a single acre in the
tracts but what beautiful building
site for a home could be selected,
with Kuna and the Boise mountains
visible toward the northeast; Kuna
Butte and the Silver mountains to
the south and west. The silvery
water of Lake Lowell is plainly Wis
ible towards the north, together with
that wonderful agricultural section
which lies tributary to Kuna.
The soil is volcanic ash, rich and
productive, as the growth, and heal
thy color of the trees show, it has
some Objectionable features, but
they are trivial and can gradually be
eliminated. 1t cultivates nicely and
holds moisture we'll. The orchards
show that they have been cared for
by skilled and experienced men.
Orchards in Idaho have sold for
as much as $1,000 per acre and they
have none the best of the Kuna Or
chard tracts, when it comes to real
productive value and convenience to
a good shipping point on main line
railroad.
These orchard tracts, Mr.. Wilson
informs us, are irrigated four times
and cultivated about 16 times each
season. Mr.. Wilson has very sys-
tematic way of irrigation. In the
first place water is secured direct
from the Mora canal which flows
around the upper end of the tracts,
anu Lu0 ultCAC0 d1O ouPPAANA "AN-N
weir gates every short distance. He
simply has to place a small board in
each weir which backs the water up
sufficient so it runs through what we
call "macaronis," the surplus water
runs over the board to the next weir
and so on until the water available
is used. A macaroni is usually made
of two grooyed boards nailed with
grooves together, about two feet
long three inches in diameter with
an inch hole through them. They are
SO placed in the banks of the dttches
that sufficient water passes through
for each run. This system, once ar
ranged, simply necessitates putting
in the boards allow the water to run
about SO hours then take them out.
He runs four small burrows or
bitches to each tree row; two close 70
tba traas and two farther out to wat