156 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The President: "We will now hear from Mr. T. M, Howard 

 of Scotts Bluff county on "Fruits Under Irrigation." 



FRUITS UNDER IRRIGATION. 



BY T. M. HOWARD, SCOTTS BLUFF. 



Fruit raising under irrigation bids fair to take a prominent 

 part in the development of Scotts Bluff county, Nebraska, and 

 while we have not the large number of grown and bearing or- 

 chards that eighteen or twenty years of settlement should show, 

 we have, we think, sufficient reason for it other than that our 

 soil, climate, etc. are not adapted to fruit raising. 



The early settlers of the county were largely cattle men and 

 while they know aU about raising, roping, and branding cattle, 

 their early education and environments have not fitted them for 

 successful fruit raisers. The first needs of irrigation in the 

 county was felt by the cattle men that they could raise more 

 hay to feed more cattle and the irrigation ditches in the county 

 were largely built by them. 



It is true that they made some efforts towards fruit grow- 

 ing but never seemed to carry the idea much beyond set- 

 ting out the trees. I was at the ranch of one of our most suc- 

 cessful cattle raisers a few years since. He had just trimmed 

 the trees put out for shade, about his house, cutting the center 

 down to about seven feet and trimming off the branches to make 

 them symmetrical with lower branches about two feet from the 

 ground. When asked why he trimmed them so low, said he 

 wanted to get the tops shaped to suit him, and when the tree 

 grew up he thought the lower limbs should be about the right 

 distance from the ground. What wonder then that they did 

 not succeed in growing fruit trees. 



An orchard I have in mind was put up about twelve years ago 

 by a tenant on a rented farm. He was fairly well qualified for 

 the business, set the trees and got them nicely started, then 

 moved on, and other tenants came and went. Little or no work 

 was done in the orchard farther than to burn the weeds off every 

 spring, half till, and give it little or no water. The result is 



