DEVELOPMENT OF HORTICULTURE IN EASTERN NEBRASKA. 



(Paper read at State Conservation and Development Congress, Lincoln, 

 February 23 and 24, 1911, by G. A. Marshall, Arlington, Nebr.) 



It is with much pleasure that I say a few words regarding commer- 

 cial horticulture along the eastern boundary of this state. Twenty to 

 thirty years ago thousands of acres were planted to orchards along the 

 Missouri river between Omaha and St. Joseph. The orchards which 

 were then bearing yielded such nice, clear and attractive fruit that the 

 i<]ea prevailed that all that had to be done was to plant the trees and 

 gather the fruit. The enthusiasm \im high and people from all walks oi 

 life, including doctors, lawyers, merchants, railroad men, capitalists and 

 others F;or. the fever and fairly fell over themselves to procure a piece oi 

 land and plant a commercial orchard. 



Time went on and nature smiled on this country as usual and the 

 small trees planted on these many hills grew into vigorous, beautiful 

 orchards and began bearing friiit. Yoii know nature has decreed that 

 "we cannoi obtain something foi- nothing;'' well, tor lack of care the 

 bugs and worms and fungus thrived and got in tlieir destructive wort; 

 and the result was second and third class fruit, slow sales and second 

 and third class prices and small profits. And as many of these orchards 

 were planted on good farm land where annual crops of almost anything 

 one cared to ijlant could be grown with ease and certainty, the orchard 

 enthusiasm waned and the enterprise dropped to a low ebb. The care of 

 orchards dropped to the same level. The few orchards, however, that 

 escaped the ax, lived and bore and bore. Finally their unceasing per- 

 sistence was noticed and many of them have been leased and others are 

 now being leased by the more enterprising gardeners and fruit growers 

 or taken up again by their owners and after a year or so of cleaning up, 

 pruning, spraying and cultivating, the orchard responding nicely, pro- 

 duces an abundant yield of fruit of good quality wL'ch will sell and be 

 acceptable to any market. 



The conditions for commercial orcharding now are pretty well under- 

 stood. We know about what to expect of a tree and what to plant to 

 receive the best results. In fact I know of no country that has been 

 more thoroughly tested. I have looked east, west, north and south and 

 made all kinds of comparisons, and I firmly believe, everything con- 

 sidered, that this same Missouri river hill country has them all beaten 

 for commercial orcharding. The advantages here are many and telling: 

 First, we are far enough south so the tree will live and do well, yet far 

 enough north so the fruit is at home and is perfect in color, size and 

 quality. We also get just about the right amount of rainfall to mature 

 the fruit with the highest of quality and it is not reduced in flavor and 

 keeping qualities by artificial watering as when irrigated. Neither is the 



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