The Winslow mail., 1925-07-10
Making Desert Spots
Into Gardens
By MARGI HOPKINS.

ITO MAKE the desert bloom was
Il the object back of many a COW
cred wagon caravan, and because
of this desire of man to convert
waste places into gardens, the great
irrigated districts one by one have
come into being The territory sur
rounding Winslow, however, still
remains a desert, and the almost
impossible situation that con-
fronts those who would develop an
extensive irrigation project here
probably will continue to discour-
age any movements toward this
end for many years to come.
In the meantime, however, ex-
periments are being conducted on a
small scale by many people here
who use water from the city sup
ply to irrigate their gardens, and
in this way they are determining
the kind of crops that are best
adapted to this vicinity. While
these people are finding gardening
in this way a profitable and inter
esting way to use spare ground and
time, probably the greatest profit
from these gardens will be realized
when water finally is brought to
the vast acreage surrounding Wins
low. At any rate they are discov-
ering, though there have been
many reports to the contrary, that
this part of the desert will bloom,
and that plants respond to water
and care in this soil the same as
in other desert lands that have
been reclaimed
Two men who are carrying on
experiments from year to year in
gardening are w. c. Everett and
T. N. Carter, Jr. 1t may be said
also that Mrs. Everett and Mrs.
Carter as we'll as Mr.. Radell, father
of Mrs. Carter, contribute also In
working out the experiments.
Raises Fruit Trees.
! Although the garden of Mr. Ev-
erett is a profusion of flowers,
vegetables, vines and berry plants,
in fact just a typical old-fashioned
garden with gay hollyhocks pop
ping up in unexpected places along
side rows of beets and carrots and
with sunflowers claiming equal
rank with cabbage and tomato
plants, still Mr.. Everett's chief
experimenting is done with fruit
trees. Since he began this work
nine years ago he is just reaching
the point where definite conclu-
sions can be drawn
] E1e has found in selecting fruit
trees that it is almost imperative to
choose late boomers Bartlett
pears, Elberta peaches, late bloom
ing plums, apples and ounces bear
well in his orchard, while apricots
and mulberries make beautiful
trees for shade and bloom prolifi-
cally, but early frosts spoil the
fruit except on exceptional years
unless the trees are protected. AS
to cherry trees, however, Mr.. Ev-
erett has come to the conclusion
that they just naturally won't
grow. During the nine years he
has planted three or four trees of
different varieties each year, yet
there is but one cherry tree in his
orchard today and it is beginning
to turn yellow as the others did be-
fore they died. Mr. Everett succeed
ed in raising one tree until it bore
fruit two years, but it died on it's
third bearing year. The soil is too
heavy here, Mr. Everett says, as
cherries thrive Sbest in sandy
ground Gooseberry and currant
bushes in the Everett yard are
making splendid growth and keep
their table supplied with jellies
and preserves.
Mr.. Everett says in regard, to the
vegetables that it is his experience
that the long-rooted plants do best,
as they are not affected so much
by the baking of the soil as the
plants with short ones.
AS to flowers, Mrs. Everett has
beautiful showing of hybiscus
and .dahlias in addition to the hol-
lyhocks, and she says that these
flowers are very easy to raise here.
In the spring she had a lovely bor-
der of tulips and some lilac bios
SONS, but lilacs, like apricots and
mulberries, are apt to be caught
by the frost
All of the soil in the Everett gar
den has been built up and in the
places where vegetables are not
planted, alfalfa and sweet clover
are growing for two purposes-to
supply green feed for Mrs. Ever
ett's chickens and to add richness
to the soil.
The Carter Garden.
The garden of Mr.. and Mrs. T. N.
Carter, Jr., is devoted entirely to
vegetables and included in the crop
are beans, peas, corn, cantalOupes,
carrots, beets, turnips, radishes,
lettuce, onions and potatoes. AL
though most gardeners of Winslow
find it hard to raise potatoes, Mr..
Carter has had splendid success
the last two years by using a Flag
staff variety. The hills have borne
well and the potatoes have been
of good form and size.
Mr.. Carter plants his beans and
corn at the same time in the same
rows. Kentucky Wonder is the va
riety of bean he uses and Golden
Bantam the variety of corn. By
planting the beans with the corn,
the beans are soon shaded by the
faStnr-orOwinp corn and accOrding Q