HORTICULTURE IN EASTERN NEBRASKA. 291 



diseases as a result of more moisture during the summer 

 months, made the limited supply of fruit of inferior quality 

 and almost unmarketable. 



0\>'ners of many of these orchards gave up in despair and 

 the orchards have received practically no attention since. 

 Some cut down the trees and planted corn. Others set to 

 work to overcome the difficulties by more careful pruning, 

 tillage, and spraying. A few of the more progressive are now 

 equipping their orchards with heaters to ward off late spring 

 frosts and freezes as is done so successfully in some of the 

 fruit districts of the West. 



It is not often, however, that our fruit crops are seriously 

 damaged by late frosts. Records show that western New 

 York, where more apples are grown annually than in any 

 other state, has bc^a visited by late frosts and freezes as many 

 timeg during the last twenty-ilve years as has eastern Ne- 

 braska. But one crop saved will more than pay for the es:« 

 pense of equipping the orchard with a means of protection 

 and to the commercial grower this saving means profit. 



The results obtained by the^e orchardiats who have a per^ 

 sistent and optimistic nature have been very encouraging. 

 Even during the last few seasons of unfavorable weather con- 

 ditions many commercial orchards and small fruit acreages 

 have paid handsome dividends. 



Of the fruits grown in eastern Nebraska the apple is by far 

 of the most importance both for the home and commercially. 

 The upland soil of practically all of this section is well suited 

 to the apple and some of the very choicest varieties to be found 

 anywhere in the Union, such as the Jonathan and Grimes' 

 Golden, which have a national reputation for their quality, 

 are well adapted to a large part of this territory. 



Reports received by the writer from orchardists in Saline, 

 Washington, Nemaha, and Otoe counties make mention of 

 the fact that single trees of Jonathan the past season (1909) 

 yielded from twenty to thirty bushels of hand-picked apples. 

 One man reports Grimea* Golden yielding more than thirty 



