The Mena weekly star., 1917-09-27
BEAT HE H.G. IF 1.
 BY RAISING FRUIT
Every Home in Arkansas Should Have Enough Fruit Trees To Supply
 Family With Preserves.
By J. S. Knox, Extension Division
 University of Arkansas.

There are hundreds of homes in Ar kansas where a real fruit tree cannot be found, and thousands of others where the plantings are confined to the fence corners or terraces. Such should not be the case, but every farm home, whether occupied by land own. CT or tenant, should have well kept orchard of from one-half to one acre Only few trees of each kind of fruit will be needed to supply an abundance of fruit for the family There is nothing nicer than being able to go into your own orchard and gather a basket of nice ripe fruit from your own trees or vines.
 The Best Place for an Orchard.
 The location of the home orchard is of great importance. Since its ob- iect is to supply the bome with fresh fruits, it should be located as conven- tent as possible to the home. It should be remembered, however. that fruit trees will not thrive in cold. wet soils and it may be best to sacrifice near ness to the home for more favorable location Your farm may not have any very favorable places for an or chard but there are very few farms where there isn't a small area that could be made to produce a fair crop Of fruit Wherever possible. a gentle slope should be selected for the or ahard since such places are less like ly to suffer from frosts or excessive water in the soil.
 Buy From Reliable Nurserymen.
 Too much stress cannot be placed on the importance of buying trees from reliable nurserymen. No matter how ideal the soil or the location, one cannot succeed with poor trees. Tn buying fruit trees, by all means avoid the so-called fruit tree agent, unless you know him personally and know that he represents a thoroughly reli- able nursery.
 The time of ripening of the dif- ferent varieties should also be given careful consideration, since by a proper selection of this kind we can have fruits ripening all along from May to November Generally speak ing, one-year-old trees are preferable because they are not so badly dam aged in digging and since they can be shaped more to your liking.
 Plant Properly at Right Time.
 Eafrfff hc ,Io ,k time from the first of December to the first of March, but the early planting is generally considered preferable be- cause it gives the soil time to settle about the roots of the young tree be- fore the growing period sets in. The holes for the trees should be dug large enough to receive the roots of the young trees without crowdng them. Before setting. cut off all broken or mangled roots and cut back the trees to correspond with the root system that is left.
 Must Care for the Trees.
 It is impossible to grow fruit un- less we devote considerable time to tllC NdlC OA NiS tAN1n. utlt dlC bu- merous insects and diseases that are always on hand to destory the trees as soon as they are planted but for tunately we have remedy for most of these. If you do not intend to prune, cultivate and spray your or chard, then it is best not to plant one, because it will serve only as a breed ing place for insects and diseases that will injure your neighbours orchard. A barrel spray pump should be on hand wherever home orchard is planted. These pumps can be pur- chased complete for about $500 to s20.OO, and one pump will be sufIi- cient to take care of several home or chards. Tn order to get results from spraying, the work must be done thor oughly. Spraying is not difficult operation nor is it very expensive compared to the returns which 1t brings.
 If you are figuring on planting a home orchard, write to the Extension Division, University of Arkansas. Fay etteville, Ark, and let us help you in the selection of varieties suited to your section.