FRUITS UNDER IRRIGATION. 157 



that some trees were burned up, some dried out, and of the sur- 

 vivors only a few^ have the original trunk they started with but 

 have branches out a little above the ground and now have from 

 five to eight branches from twelve to fifteen feet high looking 

 like huge shrubs rather than trees. It was my privilege to as- 

 sist in picking the apples from these shrubs last fall, and it is 

 no fairy tale I am giving you when I say that we picked twenty 

 bushels of as fine Wealthy apples from four of these shrubs as 

 I ever saw, — size, color, and quality all taken into consider- 

 ation. 



The Hyslop crab trees were the same, loaded to the ground 

 with large finely colored and fully matured fruit. Had this or- 

 chard been properly tended and the trees producing even as 

 well as the shrubs, the crop this year would have been worth 

 more than the entire crop on the balance of the forty acres. 



We have however a good many small orchards that are now 

 bearing, that were well put out and well tended and the results 

 give ample proof that fruit raising under irrigation is a success. 

 The trees grow more rapidly — come into bearing early and pro- 

 duce large crops of excellent quality of fruit. 



An altitude of nearly 4000 feet makes some difference in kinds 

 of fruit grown, but from examples before us we can in a meas- 

 ure shun the mistakes of others and only put out those varieties 

 that are known to be good. Among them I can mention the 

 following kinds that are proving satisfactory: Yellow Trans- 

 parent, Red Astrachan, Wealthy, Duchess, Grimes Golden, Iowa 

 Blush, Missouri Pipx)in, North-Western Greening. The Ben 

 Davis in most orchards is not keeping up its reputation here, 

 but the trees grow well and seem hardy. Cherries do exceed- 

 ingly well, trees grow rapidly, fruit early and heavily, and of 

 excellent quality. Almost any of the standard varieties will do 

 well. Of the plums, only the early maturing kinds do well 

 every year, as the late varieties are liable to get caught by frosts 

 in the fall, but the fruits that lead all others, and are the won- 

 der of all who see them in fruit are the small fruits, such as 

 currants, gooseberries, raspberries, strawberries and the like. 

 The crops are simply enormous and the very best quality, and 

 one marked feature of all these fruits or berries, under irrigation 

 is that they all hold their fruit until fully matured. Take cur- 



