2200 NORTH AMERICAN STATES 



NORTH AMERICAN STATES 



naturally not so well adapted to horticultural opera- 

 tions as are the lands having the clay subsoil. 



Speaking in general, the soil lying west of the 100th 

 parallel, also that of the Missouri slope, Turtle Moun- 

 tain and Mouse River counties is all well suited to 

 vegetable- and fruit-culture, though partial failure 

 may result from short seasons. This is especially true 

 upon the level, rich soil of the Red River Valley, which 

 tends to prolong the growth of such plants as the grape 

 and apple beyond the season in which they should 

 mature. The more rolling surface of the land along 

 the Missouri River affords opportunity to select favor- 

 able sites for fruit plantations, and there is doubtless 

 some advantage in the soil itself. This is apparent in 

 the cultivation of the grape, or such vegetables as the 

 tomato, squash and melon. So far, attempts to grow 

 fruit on the lighter and more rolling soils, avoiding the 

 extremes, has met with reasonable success. On the 

 heavier soils and level lands, success has been confined 

 to the cultivation of such small-fruits as the currant, 

 gooseberry, raspberry and American plum, and vege- 

 tables maturing not later than the earliest sorts of 

 tomato or second-early sweet corn. In connection with 

 the fact that attempts at apple-culture have generally 

 been unsuccessful, it should be remembered that plants, 

 as a rule, cannot make long jumps. The line of apple- 

 culture is gradually moving northwest, the successful 

 varieties being those, like the Wealthy and Patten 

 Greening, that have originated in the newer places. 

 A region so far removed from the apple districts as 

 North Dakota must have time and opportunity to 

 develop varieties of its own. 



Removed from all influence of large bodies of water, 

 North Dakota has a comparatively dry climate sub- 

 ject to considerable extremes of temperature. The 

 mean annual rainfall at Fargo for the years 1892 to 

 1909 was 21.25 inches, distributed by seasons nearly 

 as follows: spring, 6 inches; summer, 10.5 inches; fall, 

 3.75 inches; winter 1 inch. Most of the precipitation is 

 in spring and summer, when it is most needed. The 

 average rainfall for June is 4.17 inches. The fact that the 

 larger part of agricultural lands in the state are abso- 

 lutely flat, as near as land may be, and composed of a 

 soil very retentive of moisture, makes what would 

 otherwise be a light rainfall generally sufficient for 

 ordinary needs. Farther west than Fargo, the rainfall 

 gradually becomes less. 



The temperature is very uniform throughout the 

 state, with the general difference that the range country 

 in the western part has milder and more open winters, 

 and the higher altitude, as well as latitude, of the 

 northern tier of counties gives them a shorter and cooler 

 summer, more inclined to frosts. It is only in that 

 section that corn has not been considered, so far, as a 

 possible crop. 



The winters are cold but dry and agreeable. An 

 occasional winter with too much sunshine kills young 

 trees of the thin-barked varieties through the process of 

 desiccation. The springs are short, the warm days of 

 summer coming very soon after whiter and some time 

 before the frost is out of the ground. In summer the 

 days are long and sunny, with nights invariably cool. 

 This condition gives the most perfect development of 

 hardy vegetables, like the cabbage and celery, but 

 retards the cucurbits and other semi-tropical species. 



General settlement of what is now North Dakota 

 did not begin till the building of the first railroad in 

 1873, and any effort to grow fruit has been made since 

 that time. In 1874, Andrew McHench, of Fargo, made 

 the first attempt at fruit-growing upon any extended 

 scale. In that year he bought at a nursery in Minne- 

 apolis a carload of young apple and crab-apple trees of 

 such varieties as the Wealthy, Hyslop and Trans- 

 cendent, and the year following planted 7,500 root-grafts 

 of these and other varieties. Though he obtained some 

 fruit and at different times grew trees that were models 



of thrift and fruitfulness, yet the venture was not a 

 success. The varieties that successfully resisted the 

 cold winters succumbed to the blight shortly after they 

 came into bearing. Other attempts by different men 

 made along the Red River Valley since then have 

 resulted similarly. In more recent years, with the 

 elimination of the Transcendent which is especially 

 subject to blight, efforts at apple-growing have been 

 more successful. This has been especially true in the 

 regions of the lighter soils in the southern part of the 

 state. At Cogswell, Hankinson, Lisbon, and Edgeley, 

 there are good bearing orchards of such varieties as the 

 Hibernal, Duchess, Wealthy, Patten's Greening and 

 Iowa Beauty. Any of the crabs are successfully grown, 

 eliminating only those subject to blight. In many other 

 parts of the state, younger orchards are coming on that 

 promise as well as those already mentioned. 



The only other tree-fruit hardy in North Dakota is 

 the native plum (Prunus americana) and some of its 

 hybrids. Of the pure species there are many varieties 

 that are productive and suitable for home use and local 

 markets but too soft for shipping. The De Soto, Sur- 

 prise, Weaver, Wolf and Hawkeye, are among the 

 varieties more commonly grown. The hybrids result- 

 ing from crosses between the American plum and the 

 sand cherry and also between the American plum and 

 the Japanese plum are all hardy and productive in 

 North Dakota and many of them promise to be of 

 value commercially as well as for home use. 



Most commercial varieties of grapes find the sea- 

 sons too short or the winters too cold, though the 

 Moore Early can be grown in the southern part of 

 the state. The Beta grape is being successfully grown 

 in many parts of the state. 



Currants and gooseberries find a congenial soil and 

 climate in au parts of the state and the hardier varie- 

 ties of raspberries do well when planted near a wind- 

 break so that they will remain covered with snow. 



Early attempts at strawberry-growing, before the 

 days of windbreaks, were not very successful. As 

 shelter has been provided and more vigorous varieties 

 have been introduced, the strawberry is being com- 

 monly grown for home use. The introduction of the 

 Senator Dunlap was the beginning of successful straw- 

 berry-growing in North Dakota. 



There are but few vegetables that cannot be pro- 

 duced abundantly and cheaply. This is particularly 

 true of celery, onions, parsnips, and the like, that require 

 a deep, mellow soil. The earlier sorts of sweet corn and 

 tomatoes can be successfully grown in most sections 

 of the state. At the Experiment Station at Fargo, a 

 yield of 1,000 bushels of ripe tomatoes has been secured 

 in some seasons on 1 acre. The ease with which the soil 

 is worked and the fact that no fertilizer is required 

 reduces the cost of production to a minimum. 



The horticultural progress of the state since 1900 has 

 been due largely to the development of the nursery 

 industry. This in the early settlement of the state con- 

 sisted simply of the collection, and sale of young seed- 

 ling trees. These were gathered in great numbers from 

 along the bed of the Missouri River, whose soft banks, 

 always flooded in the spring, especially favored the 

 germination of tree seeds. The cottonwood was the 

 one most usually selected, although the box elder and 

 ash were gathered to some extent. Most of the older 

 groves in the state are from these Missouri River seed- 

 lings, the total number planted running into the mil- 

 lions. The supply of forest trees, as well as other nur- 

 sery stock, is now furnished by the nurseries, of which 

 there are four of considerable size and a number of 

 smaller ones of more recent origin. One of these has 

 devoted its attention largely to the growing of conifers 

 and as a result has a fine stock of many thousands of 

 such hardy species as the jack pine, western yellow 

 pine, Douglas spruce, Black Hills spruce and Colorado 

 blue spruce. At the present time, nursery sales consist 



