J an u aril, 1922 



BETTER FRUIT 



Page Seven 



Idaho, Empire of Promise 



By Frederick V. Fisher 



Manager Idaho Development League 



IDAHO on the school maps looks like a 

 wedge between the giant state of 

 Montana and the Inland Empire of Wash- 

 ington and Oregon. But, in fact, Idaho is 

 twice the size of Pennsylvania, equal to 

 New England and New York and larger 

 than any eastern or middle western state. 

 It stretches north and south from the sn ^w 

 line of Canada to the deserts of Nevada, 

 close to the gates of California. It takes 

 the rumbling overland train a day and nigh' 

 to cross Idaho from the coal mines of 

 Wvoming to the cattle ranges of Eastern 

 Oregon. 



It is a scenic wonderland. In the north, 

 amid the pines and the Couer d'Alenes, is 

 the greatest lake country of America. In 

 lU heart is the vast wheat belt where, at one 

 little way station in 1921 they shipped 

 1,000,000 bushels. Looking down on bot i 

 north and south are the snowy summits and 

 jagged outlines of these Alps of America, 

 the Saw Tooths. On one side is the Grand 

 Canyon of the Snake, through them flows 

 the picturesque Salmon and at their feec 

 lies the weirdest place in all North America, 

 the Valley of the Moon with its 63 extinct 

 volcanoes and strange ice caves. The 

 Yellowstone is its portal, the far winding 

 Snake its life blood, the thunderinj,- 

 Shoshone out-rivalling Niagara, its expres- 

 sion of power and possibilities. 



Idaho is the third largest water-power 

 state in the union, with only one-seventh 

 of it developed. Idaho is best fitted of 

 any state for dairying. Here is the land 

 of contented cows if there ever was an> 

 Here are found mild winters, good feed 

 condenseries close at hand, assured markets. 

 One of the largest cheese companies m the 

 land has just offered to buy all the 

 first class cheese that Idaho can produce-. 

 In the north are the vast forests of comme.- 

 cial lumber, with the largest stretch of 

 white pine in .America; wheat in the 

 center; mines in the mountains with limit- 

 less pastures to the south and then, above 

 all, wonderful fruit countrv of the vallev 

 of the Snake river. 



In fruit, Idaho excels. Much rare fruit 

 marketed in the past under fanciful names 

 as coming from other states, grew in the 

 rare climate and warm sunshine of the 

 cle.ir skies of Idaho. Delicious Apples from 

 the Mesa farms are noted, peaches that 

 drip sweetness, small fruits with fine flavor 

 and then those superb things, the Idaho 

 prunes. 



Irrigation in the south assures the crop, 

 no matter '-hcther the s';ies ••■e f avorabi ; 

 or not. With the constant opening of 

 new irrigated tracts and the coming great 

 project of American Falls a vast realm is 

 opening to the homeseeker and grower ) .' 

 fruits. 



Idaho is pre-eminently a home state. Good 



roads, rapidly building, lead to small towns 

 and large ones, with all the conveniences 

 of civilization. Her educational system is 

 unsurpassed, starting with the grammar 

 schools and reaching clear to a strong wcil 

 manned State University. 



Idaho has the climate, the soil, th'.- 

 resources, the civilization, the opportunities, 

 all she needs is folks — folks with red 

 blood and life ahead of them, who love 

 the open, ready to work and grow up with 

 the state and reap in after years the finest 

 results of life in home, plenty and neigh- 

 borliness and all the best virtues and bles- 

 sings of America at her best. Come see 

 Idaho. Come live in Idaho. 



Finding Contentment 

 By T. D. HussEY 



Clark's Fork, Idaho 



ON SEPTEMBER 1, 1919, my wife 

 and I left Kansas City, Mo., in our 

 "flivver" for the "wild and wooly" West, 

 as we supposed to find it. We had decided 

 that it was a life of too much monotony to 

 live in a citv, daily viewing only artificial 

 life. 



We drove through Cheyenne and Boise 

 and then over the Mackenzie Pass to 

 Eugene, Oregon. Then we visited Port- 

 land and Spokane and finally landed in 

 Bonner county, in the Panhandle of Idaho. 



It certainly was a grand sight to see the 

 fine varieties of fruit here, especially the 

 apples. As a non-irrigated country, this ap- 

 pealed to us and we acquired 80 acres, of 

 which 20 acres is in Delicious, Winter 

 Banana and Winesap apples, nine years old. 

 The trees had been cultivated only three 

 years and then left in clover and tlmothv 

 sod. There had been no pruning and 

 spraying and consequently had been no 

 fruit. 



In the spring of 1920 I pruned and 

 plowed and disced until the orchard was 

 in good state of cultivation. I sowed the 

 land to wheat in the fall of 1920 and to 

 clover in the spring of 1921. 



In the fall of 1920 I got 16 bo.xes of 

 apples. This year, the crop was 310 boxes 

 and, in addition, I made 125 gallons of 

 cider. I have obtained a good terminal 

 growth, good foli.ige and color. I will 

 plow the clover under next spring. 



This is my first attempt to grow fruit 

 commercially, but if other fellows can I can. 

 Our small fruit has been a money-maker. 

 Besides what we have sold we have 300 

 quarts of home-grown fruit in the cellar. 



We have a cow, poultry and pigs, God's 

 own sunshine, pure mountain air, "spark- 

 ling" water 18 feet from the surface, and 

 the world for a market for good fruit. 

 We have the thought of achievement in 

 a good cause, which is something satisfy- 

 ing. 



It is my motto to always be a booster, or 

 move, if you are interested in fruit sub- 

 scribe for Beller Fruit. It has helped me 

 wonderfully. 



Opportunities for 

 Growers 



By J. Grant H inkle 



Secretary of State and Commissioner of 

 Immigration, State of Washington 



' I ■'HE problems that confront the Ameri- 

 ■^ can people, when the last analysis is 

 given, are brought about by the facts that 

 mines become exhausted, gas wells ease 

 flowing, oil wells likewise 'fail, forests are 

 hewn down and but little attention is paid 

 to reforestation. These facts place the 

 problem directly up to us as to what shall 

 take the place of these resources when they 

 are gone. The Northwest is particularly for- 

 tunate in having large areas of land, and 

 abundant water for irrigating the arid 

 portions. 



It has been discovered that the most 

 reliable and productive results may be 

 obtained from fruit and berry culture, for 

 the reason that there is an ever increasing 

 market for these products. The Northwest 

 is the ideal spot for the highest develop- 

 ment of fruit raising. 



Every year the problem of taxation 

 becomes more and more serious. At the 

 present time it is pretty generally con- 

 sidered that real estate is bearing all of the 

 burden that can possibly be carried and that 

 anything additional will result in confisca- 

 tion. In a recent convention of the 

 secretaries of state at Helena, Montana, 

 one of the number forcibly illustrated our 

 difficulties in the Northwest with our ta.\- 

 ing problems. 



This speaker said: "Your states are four 

 times the size of my state, yet your people 

 are ambitious and want everything under 

 the sun that we of hundreds of years older 

 commonwealths have, and even now almost 

 all of your states have more miles of hard 

 surfaced roads than we have in my state. 

 Your schools are well up to the top when 

 measured by educational standards. There 

 are but two propositions for you. One is to 

 cut down on your good schools and good 

 roads program, which you are not likely to 

 do, or, get about 5,000,000 of the people in 

 the East to locate in each of your states 

 and develop your resources, thus putting 

 their shoulders under the burden. We 

 have six times your population and one- 

 fourth the area and it does not seem strange 

 to me to hear you gentlemen report that 

 your taxation problems are a real burden." 



Everyone can find truth in this man's 

 statement. Fortunately for us, the states 

 of the Northwest are able to absorb many 

 more millions of people when our irriga- 

 tion systems make it possible to develop 

 more lands. 



No other industry is quite so inviting in 

 the Northwest as the berry and fruit cul- 

 ture. Our products are already sought in 

 the leading markets of the world and com- 

 mand the highest prices. The Northwest 

 invites the man who can make trees and 

 vines grow, blossom and bear fruit, where 

 nothing grew before. 



