FRUIT GROWING FOR HOME USE IN THE GREAT PLAINS. 5 



some of the small fruits are also frequently found. The orchard 

 fruits comprise principally apples, cherries, and native plums. 

 Peaches are quite common in some sections, while occasionally pears 

 and apricots are seen. 



In a few instances fruit plantations of commercial size have been 

 developed entirely without irrigation, 10 to 20 acres — in a very few 

 cases more — being devoted by a single individual to fruit growing. 

 But such plantations are exceptional. Where they do exist they 

 have been developed gradually with the increasing experience of the 

 owner. 



The fruit from commercial orchards in this region, and from the 

 home fruit gardens whenever there is a surplus, always sells very read- 

 ily, bu3^ers sometimes driving 40 and 50 niiles across the plains to 

 obtain it. 



The possibility of growing fruit at many points in the central and 

 southern Great Plains may be said, within certain limits at least, to 

 have been demonstrated. In the majority of the orchards and fruit 

 gardens investigated the results have justified the efforts that have 

 been niade. In numerous widely separated cases very satisfactory 

 returns have been secured. In many sections a complete crop failure 

 is rare. 



Not all of the efforts to grow fruit, however, have been successful. 

 ]Many things have contributed to failure. The one ever-present diffi- 

 culty where only the natural rainfall is available is lack of moisture. 

 Yet after the trees are well established it is not often that tins causes 

 more than temporary losses, as a crop of fruit for a single season. 

 In some- sections hail is frequent and occasionally causes great dam- 

 age not only to the fruit but to the trees. Many regard it as the most 

 serious factor that has to be considered. Late spring frosts are also 

 a cause of much injury. But with all the difficulties, rarely is the 

 effort to grow fruit one to be regretted. Those who have been suc- 

 cessful i)rize beyond any commensurate monetary value the product 

 of their trees and bushes. 



THE OUTLOOK FOR THE FUTURE, 



The vast majority of settlers on the Great Plains must depend upon 

 their own plantations for a supply of fruit for home use. Most of 

 those who do not have home-grown fruit are obliged to do without it. 

 The chief interest, therefore, in the cultivation of fruit in this region 

 centers about the home and the production of enough to meet the 

 needs or desires of each family. 



Here and there, as above stated, there are fruit j)lantations of com- 

 mercial size. Doubtless others will be developed in the future. But 



[Cir. 51] 



