The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1920-09-17

~ We reached Ire ldlu % Gull VI 80
And all its riches freely mine;
Here shtneSundimmed one b~liSslulday
For all my night has passed away.
The above IS the first verse OF hymn
No. 3Oj in tie old Gospel Hymn DOCK
and it certainly describes conditions
existing in tie Rosebud country, ana
particularly IN this part Of MeIIelte
county. today. We have the most
wonderful prospect OF a bumper corn
erop This year that %e have ever had'
and with only a feN more daysof tins
ideal weather we have had the past
week most Of the corn will be out Of
dlnger from frost. many fields Of the
real early planted corn IS already sale
ly past AN danger of frost.
sunday $50 were out scouting along
some ot Tie creek banks mean Wood
and never have we seen a more pro-
IiHc and abundant crop Of wild grapes
than aelltc IN Tins county ti.i, year
There II, enough oil this fruit for all
.tfthey viI but 70 and gather it.
Nueu ut Thinks Of grapes, he nat
uraII4 tanks III VINE. and If the Wild
grape that ale now ripening in this
counts were all TUNED into vine,
their value would run into thousands
of dollars. Uut since Uncle sam got
on. tie WIfer wagon and adopted that
eighteenth amendment to the consti-
tuition. III is unlawful for any citizen
Of this great Republic to 90 out and
gather the Iucioue grape and turn.th
same into vine. Tie laws Of the land
are very drastic on THIS, and every
good citizen viii Of course obey ;he
laws of tile land. However wild grapes
are very useful in many other ways
and they make most excellent jelly
and lam, and We can see no reason
why they cannot be converted into
unIermented grape juice, which 1t IS
entirely lawful TO make. The high
price Of sugar Will no doubt deter
many from gathering and preserving
this abundant wild fruit crop this
year. but it seems Il shame that when
nature provides 50 abundantly that
any of it should be allowed to 90 TO
waste. Tie choke cherry crop was
also a heavy one, and while much OF
TINS fruit was gathered, yet a consider
able amount of it was allowed to with
Ter on the trees. Buffalo berries were
not SO abundant this year and the
wild plum crop also was somewhat of
a failure this season, but all in all
this has been a wonderfully abuDd-
ant year as regards our wild fruits.
We also visited Orchard Ranch.
Sunday afternoon and saw what Mel
lette county can do in the way of cul.
tiyated fruits. This orchard is Ger
tainly a wonderful sight at this sea-
son Of the year. The trees are loaded
with the finest kind Of fruit. Apples
Of several different yarieties-red APP
pies, yellow apples and striped apples,
and also several varieties Of crab ap
pies, This is the oldest orchard in
the county and has been i'm full bear
ing for a number Of years. 1t demon
s~trates Clearly what can be done in
the way of fruit growing in this coun
ty. This county was only opened to
settlement in 1912, and many Of the
first settlers or homesteaderS were Of
the transient or suitcase variety.
who eve really intended to make
this their permanent home. or improve
the land that they drew" and later
filed on. But there were others who
came to make this fair land their per-
manent home. who came to improve
their land and help build up a new
empire, and while AT first they endur-
ed some HardshipS that are suscepti-
ole TO any new country, have stuck,
and dug, and are now beginning to
realize some Of the comforts of life.
Some have planted orchards and a
few Of these orchards are beginning
to bear fruit. ). A. Hill east of Wood
has a wonderful young orchard, most
~ plumS and cherries, and he has
been marketing his surplus fruit in
Wood the past week. This home
grown fruit is of a much better flavor
than anything that is shipped in from
California or any of the other fruit
growing states. This is no doubt
partially due to the fact That the fruit
is allowed to ripen naturally on the
tree instead Of being picked green
and shipped thousands OF miles i'm cold
storage. Many Of the other young
orchards planted by our homestead
ers are beginning to bear, and it is
not going to be SO many years until
Mellette county will produce all the
STRAW berries, cherries, plums, apples,
pears, etc, that she a consume, and
perhaps will have "a surplus to dispose
of to less favored communities.
But corn and wild and tame fruits
ara not fhp only thinyS NO oa, hnact