Albuquerque morning journal., 1922-12-18
APPLE ORCHARD
is MORE THAN
A CENTURY OLD
BY FREDERIC j. MAsKIN

Washington, Dec. 17.--An apple
orchard that is more than a CEN
tury old, that has flourished under
three governments and fed men of
three races and still bears apples
is one of the latest discoveries in
the southwest, made recently by
officers Of the United States forest
service.
That is, the orchard has been
known for n long time, but the
age of the trees was only scien-
tifically determined last summer.
Until experts had cut down one Of
the trees and counted the rings
no one who knew anything about
apple trees would believe that the
orchard had stood for a century.
Now they know that some of the
smallest trees have lived that long,
and ii seems logically certain that
some Of the larger ones must have
lived a great deal longer. Further
more, many of tho trees now
standing In this venerable orchard
look as though they had grown
from the stumps or roots of for
mer generation Of apple trees
which had fallen or been cut down,
The natives living thereabouts say
that tradition gives the age of the
orchard at from $50 to 400 years.
1t seems possible that in a sense
they are right. There is reason to
believe that the ancestors, at least,
of the present trees were planted
in the seventeenth century.
This historic orchard is located
near the little town of Manzano
on the eastern slope of the Man
zano mountains in central New
Mexico. Manzano is the Spanish
word for apple. Both the noun
tain range and tho town have TAX
en- their names from the ancient
trees. The priest in the church at
Manzano, who Is a sort of custo-
dian OF the orchard, tells inquirers
that the trees have been growing
there for 250 years, according to
the tradition which has been hand
ed down from padre to padre
through the generations. The old
est native Inhabitants OF the little
town believe that the orchard has
been there for 400 years. That
date Is improbable, for the Spar
ish exploration of the southwest
had scarcely begun so long ago,
and apple trees were certainly
brought to America by the Euro
peans.
Relics OF Heroic Age
But the priest, when he claims
that the orchard is more than rWC
centuries old, has strong histoi'
cal evidence on his side. For thes,
trees almost certainly are relics
of that heroic age in the history
of the southwest when Spanish
priests and soldiers were there en-
gagged in subduing a great wilder
ness Of savages for the king Of
Spain and tho church OF Rome.
At every one Of the pueblo villag-
es which dot this region the Span
iards built great churches Of stone
and left a. few priests to teach
those savages the fear OF God and
also the culture Of crops and herds
The Pueblos were already farm
ers, raisng corn and cotton ana
melons, but they had no domestic
animals except the turkey and no
fruit trees.
The padres, armed with nothing
but the cross, took their stand IN
a hostile wilderness as the proph-
cts of religion and civilization. III
some instances they were murder
ed by Indians Of their own flocks. !
More often they succeeded In win /
ming the friendship Of the Pueblos,
only to be overwhelmed by the
wild tribes OF the Nayajos and
Apaches which waged an inces-
SAINT warfare upon both the Pueblo |
Indians and the Spaniards. 1nI
some instances these brave Fran
ciscan friars triumphcd over all
and dangers. Some OF
the ancient mission churches still
stand and are still in use. Many
Of the greatest ones are in ruins.
Now one OF these ancient ruined
churches stands not far from the
ancient Manzano orchard, and a
good deal is known OF its history.
In the seventeenth century q large
Indian pueblo. known as Quarai,
stood at this SPOT, and il is record
ed that tie franciscan fathers
built this mission church OF Quarai
In the year 1929. 1t is also known
that in 1876 1t was abandoned for
the reason that the Navajos had
repeatedly raided 1t. killed priests
and friendly Indians and destroy
ed crops. II was an outpost OF
civilization which could not stand
against the savages.
OF Quarai. both pueblos and
nothing now remains but
= heap OF stone, and few massive
walls that show how patiently and J
we'll those old Spaniards built.
Nothing was left alive in the yicin-l