Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-09-22
By JOHN +. MOUTOUx

III you nave room Tor a nome
orchard, you can grow your own.
fruit and have the best--or the
worst-in the State. 1t all de-
Ponds on you.
First of you should know
that 1t isn't as easy to grow good
fruit as the nursery ads in the
nursery catalogues themselves
might lead you to believe. 1t
takes time and work-a lot of
both-but it's worth the price if
you want peaches or apples at
their flavor best and If you take
on the job in the nature Of a
hobby.
AS a hobby, it is better than
most because 1t provides plenty
of outdoor exercise and the
satisfaction of helping nature to
bring to perfection the most
beautiful Of all food, at much
less cost than it takes to equip
a darkroom or sail boat.
But if you think you might
want to grow your own fruit in
order to save money, then I
think you will be disappointed. /
The editor of this section Of
The Star knows Of my fruit
growing hobby and asked me to
write this with the thought that
it might be useful to other home
owners who might be interested
in having orchards of their own.
I have been at this more than
10 years now and have learned
lot-including lot of things
NOT to do. believe that the
best indication that this is no
fy-by-night hobby for those
who are really bitten by this
species of bug is that, despite
the cycle Of droughts from
which we may now be happily
emerging, hurricanes, Japanese
beetles, and 17-year locustS. my
interest in and enthusiasm for
this hobby has never waned but, |
rather, has increased year by
year.
How He Started
My start was the planting of 4
four apple trees on my acre and
half lot in the Buffao Hill SUBJ /
division near Seven Corners. in |
Fairfax County Va.
They were two Stayman wine |
Saps, Black Twig, and a Bell 4
flower. The last named, a
smallish tasty yellow apple, was /
a miStake-the mistake of a
local nursery. BY now all four
trees are full-sized and this year |
are loaded so heavily that some /
of the limbs have cracked de-
spite my best efforts to prop
them up.
Then followed, in my plant- /
ings, a variety Of peaches, plums, \
cherries, apricots, nectarines, 4
grapes. boysenberries, rasp-
berries, and strawberries. The |
berries are long since gone butt
most Of the trees are still bear
ing.
Altogether. I planted some 40
trees on my acre and half of \
ground. AS look back at those I
early years at this hobby l re-
member with least enthusiasm
the sheer hard work of digging
the holes for the trees and
plants and in cultivating them. 4
/ mention this because it is a /
task that can gladly be avoided 1
If the soil permits. Unfortun-
ately, my Buffalo Hill soil was
not that considerate; 1t con-
sisted Of sandstone rocks and
gravel separated by sandy soil. |.
The only way to dig a hole for |
a tree was to blast it out with |
pick and mattock. I refilled the |
hole with top soil that came |
from q more fertile part of the |
county. With this booster shot 1
of good soil, the trees all did
well.
So I believe you can grow fruit
trees degardless of the type of
soil you have. If it is heavy
clay, you can tighten it with
peat moss, leaves or humus. or
with a soil conditioner. II it is
rocky and sandy, you can do
what / did.
OF course, If you are fortunate
you will have q loamy soil that
will be easy to dig into and
which will require no substitutes
or additives-such as / have on
a farm bought some six years
after I began my Buffalo Hill
planting.
Now Has 900 Trees
I now have some 600 fruit
trees, most of them peach, set out
on the farm. Planting them was
scarcely any trouble. One of my
sons and I and about a dozen
Of his friends put in a block Of
400 peach trees in less than
day.
Our main problem at the farm
was water. Solving it became
family project involving my wife
and three sons. Lots of 1t was
needed for spraying. First we
got it from a neighbor, but this
put too much of a drain on his
shallow we'll. Then we tried
hauling it out in so gallon drums
but thise was costly and made
quate.
Next we put cutters on a farm
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