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¥ THE LAND OF THE BIG RED APPLE. 373 
THE LAND OF THE BIG RED APPLES. 
J. S. HARRIS, LA CRESCENT. 
From our earliest infancy, now more than three-score years since, 
we have been an ardent lover of trees, fruits and flowers, and nearly 
all the years of our life have been spentin planting, cultivating and 
enjoying them. So intimate has been our companionship with 
them, those who grow them and the conditions under which they 
come to the greatest perfection, that we believed we could forma 
very correct idea of a country or locality and its people by seeing 
the fruits thereof. When at the World’s Columbian Exposition, in 
1893, we were afforded the opportunity of seeing the fruits of our 
whole country brought together in the largest and most complete 
exhibition of the presentage. In all that vast and most wonderful 
spread of fruits, the magnificent exhibit of apples, pears, peaches, 
grapes, etc., made by the state of Arkansas, during the later months 
of the fair, was the greatest surprise and a striking revelation of the 
capacity and peculiar adaptation of that state for the production of 
the fruits of the temperate zone. We lingered long at their tables, 
filled with large and beautiful fruit, visited them often, tested the 
quality, compared it with other exhibits and felt like shouting 
“Eureka!” We found none that excelled them, and pronounced the 
place where they were produced the “Land of the Big Red Apples,” 
the eden of America and the best spot on the continent for the 
apple, peach and pear, and a veritable paradise for the fruit grower. 
Since that time we have desired to visit the place where that won- 
derful fruit was produced and investigate the conditions under 
which it was brought to so great perfection, such as soil, climate, 
methods of cultivation, etc. The opportunity came to us this last 
autumn. Greatly needing rest and recreation, we left Minnesota on 
September 21st and sojourned in the “land of the big red apple” for 
the space of three weeks, just at the time the apple harvest.was at | 
its height. The geographical location of the best fruit region is in 
the northwestern part of the state, comprised in Benton, Washing- 
ton, Crawford, Madison, Carroll, Boone and adjoining counties. It 
has an altitude of 1,200 to 1,800 feet above the sea level, and the sur- 
face is diversified by hill, valley, table lands and mountains, the 
very best altitude for tree fruits being about 1,500 feet. The soil, 
while not as deep and black as on our prairies in Minnesota, is yet 
very fertile and produces good crops of corn, wheat, oats and most 
kinds of garden vegetables. Two crops of many of the latter are 
often taken off the ground in one season, and no one there need go 
hungry or homeless. The region is, or seems to be, most peculiarly 
well adapted to the production of fruit. The uncultivated portions 
are very generally well timbered, the water is good and abundant, 
and the climate is very desirable, “just lovely.” Itis said that the 
mercury seldom drops down tozero in winter, and that the summers 
are not uncomfortably hot but are very pleasant and much longer 
than here in the north. 
A considerable portion of this country as yet has its resources but 
imperfectly developed, but to us it appears to have great possibili- 
ties in store for the intelligent, industrious and enterprising fruit 
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