COMMERCIAL ORCHARDING IN NEBRASKA. 89 



farther yet. Planting peach trees midway between the apple 

 trees North and South, and then keep the peach trees well 

 clipped. Plant strawberries in the space between the apple 

 and peach trees. The strawberries will bear fruit in one 

 year, the peach in from three to five years, and the apple in 

 from five to eight years. Those fruits seem to intermingle, 

 and if the orchardist has made a careful selection of the above 

 named fruits and gives them thorough cultivation and up-to-date 

 attention, he will have a happy surprise. Keep the orchard 

 clean of brush; keep worthless limbs pruned out of the trees 

 and keep it clean of weeds. Do these things for various reasons. 

 First, such an orchard has a neat appearance and is in keeping 

 with good taste, a silent speaker for the owner. Second, there 

 is some comfort in getting around in such an orchard to gather 

 the fruit, as one can make good time and do more work, and 

 this pays the owner. Third, men working in a clean orchard 

 are good natured and are willing to do better work. Fourth, 

 an orchard that is kept clean of dead trees and worthless limbs 

 is less liable to fungus diseases and insect pests. 



COMMERCIAL ORCHARDING IN NEBRASKA. 



BY E. F. STEPHENS, CRETE. 



The subject of commercial orcharding in central and western 

 Nebraska is a topic of very deep interest to me. All of my ac- 

 tive life has been devoted to a study- of the problems surround- 

 ing the planting and developing of orchards under new and 

 trying conditions. 



In the 60' s, after leaving the army, I lived for a time in 

 southern California when orcharding was in the early stages of 

 its development. There I learned how to handle soil so as to 

 conserve the limited rainfall and grow crops without irriga- 

 tion. 



Coming to Nebraska in the fall of 1871 my plan was to 

 grow fruit in commercial quantities in a region where it was 

 sufficiently difficult to keep the grower safe from the over- 

 production so trying in California. Thirty-three years ago I 



