The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1921-03-11
IRWIN ADRlCH WRITES
ARTICLE FOR SO. OAK.
lADDS FRUIT RAISING and PREDICTS
GREAT FUTURE; TOO MUCH UN-


EASY MONEY.
We received copy of the Sunday
Huronite. of Huron, in which there is
a lengthy article written by Irwin D.
Aldrich. commissioner of immigration,
regasding the possibilities of the fruit
industry for South Dakota.
Grant county receives splendid
boost sfrom Mr.. Aldrich for the part
the farmers of the county have play
ed in Dfinging this product to the
front in the state. The article gives
q complete and detailed review OF the
work that has been accomplished along
this line and what might be done.
Below we quote some OF the high
lights of the article and feel sure
that if every farmer would act upon
the suggestions made, he would profit
thereby and that it would open up
new field of endeavor for him.
"Many people have mistakenly at
tributed the remarkable success of
apples at Big Stone to the proximity
of Big Stone Lake. Doubtless the
proximity of any body Of water is
helpful in keeping the air moist in
orchards on it's banks, but Big Stone
lake is body of water only about
mile wide at it's widest place, while
some of our best exhibits Of apples
come from orchards from four to
twenty miles away-in various di-
rections. The most noted orchard in
Grant county, the johnson orchard, is
more than twenty miles from the lake
and the Hicks, Stengle and Smith
orchards are from twelve to fifteen
miles from the lake and the Pinkert,
Frewald and Tippet orchards are from
four to eight miles south. None OF
these orchards are comm ercia! orch
ards but are just big family ORCH
ards whose product in most cases has
become so large as to require COM
mercial outlet, quite unexpectedly to
the owners.
"Orchards are not developed in
South Dakota by waving & magic
wand-nor are they produced any
where else in that way. Follow the
Yakima Valley orchardist through
his cultivations-his three to seven
sprayings-his prunings-his thin
nings by hand, his gathering and
packing and you will not wonder that
his apples cost you five cents apiece
here in the fall. Do as many hours
work per acre on your orchards in
South Dakota, with your hardy varie-
ties, and you will get just as much
fruit and you are in the center of a
much better market for it.
''The man who plants an orchard
in South Dakota and brings it to bear
ing age is doing more than raising ap-
plcs-he is changing an abiding place
into home. He is changing the citi
zen who is wondering how long it will
take him to make enough to spend his
declining years in California, to one
who is satisfied to live his life out
right where he is. He is doing that for
which his children and those who
come after him will rise up and call
him blessed. He is making a place
not only for the song birds to sing
their love notes and make their ar
rangements for future domestic &C.
tivities, but for the young folks of
the neighborhood to stroll with his
own sons and daughters on Sunday
afternoon. The shaddy orchard offers
a much better place for arranging
future alliances than the sunny side
of barbed wire fence.
"South Dakota, for many years has
=, produced more wealth per capita than
amy other state in the union, but too
much of our wealth is uneasy" mon
ey, looking for some fairer cline. We
need larger per capita production Of
contentment. We need homes with
orchards around them and we can
have them if we will.
"Nobody knows how much good
South Dakota money has been carried
out of the state by its citizens in their
search for home where they could
smell apple blossms in the spring
time and pick the fruit from their
own trees in the fall, but it has been
more than enough to build the Mis-
souri, River dam.
at wasn't necessary. We can have
these things right here and we now
have the experience.-andt the fruit
to prove it.
'There ought to be fifty-tree or
chard on every farm in the state, and
100 trees, including plums, Hansen
plums and crab apples would be none
too many. This would occupy just
about an acre of land"