NORTH AMERICAN STATES 



NORTH AMERICAN STATES 2245 



fruit trees are planted mainly on the slopes and higher 

 lands where, owing to air-drainage, the fruit is less 

 subject to damage by spring frosts than in the valleys. 

 Although there is a critical frost period the latter part 

 of April, properly located and cared-for orchards escape 

 injury except occasionally. A typical Ozark orchard of 

 40 acres under good care has borne during the past 

 seventeen years fourteen good crops of apples, two light 

 crops, and has had but one total failure. Another apple 

 orchard has had in seven years six fair to large crops 

 and but one very light crop. Experiments indicate that 

 orchard-heaters are not necessary in well-located and 

 well-cared-for apple orchards in the Arkansas Ozarks 

 except occasionally, or at intervals of four or five years. 

 Like spraying, it is a kind of insurance and some grow- 

 ers have provided heaters for a part of their orchards 

 as a safeguard against the occasional frost-damage. 

 The higher parts of the state are not so well suited to 

 the Elberta peach as lands southward on the southern 

 slopes of the highlands where the elevation ranges from 

 300 to about 800 feet. In both sections peaches are 

 damaged mere frequently by winter injury to the flower- 

 buds than by spring frosts. Orchard-heaters are prac- 

 tical and successful in raising the temperature in the 

 orchard sufficiently, under usual conditions, to save the 

 crop, but careful attention to location, air-drainage, and 

 proper care are more important. 



Many of the fruit and other trees planted are pur- 

 chased from nurseries outside the state, and planters 

 have suffered frequent loss from trees proving untrue 

 to name, infested with San Jose scale and diseased by 

 crown-gall. In 1911 only twenty nurseries in the state 

 called for official inspection. The growing of ornamen- 

 tals is represented in the state by a few nurseries only. 

 There is an extensive greenhouse establishment at 

 Little Rock and several smaller establishments which 

 at other points supply the local demand. The forcing 

 of flowers and vegetables under glass receives but little 

 attention and only for the supply of local trade at a 

 few of the large towns. 



Tomatoes are grown extensively throughout the state; 

 string beans also, for shipment and canning. Asparagus 

 thrives throughout the state. Onions have not received 

 much attention commercially, probably because Texas 

 has the advantage in earliness and produces such large 

 quantities. Rhubarb is grown and shipped to a limited 

 extent in northwest Arkansas. It does not succeed 

 southward. Melons are an important commercial crop. 

 Both the watermelons and cantaloupes grown are of 

 high quality. Many hundreds of carloads are shipped 

 northward in their season, from a few shipping-points. 

 The Arkansas Gems reach the markets some weeks in 

 advance of the well-known Colorado melons. Water- 

 melons evidently were introduced into the state at a 

 very early day, since it is said that the Indians treated 

 to watermelons the remnants of La Salle's band when 

 they were passing through the state in 1687. 



Irish potatoes are grown extensively throughout the 

 state. Red Bliss is the leading variety grown. Early 

 Ohio, Irish Cobbler, Sunlight and Burbank are also 

 grown. In 1909, counties leading in production were: 

 Sebastian, 101,328 bushels; White, 91,231 bushels; 

 Washington, 67,739 bushels; Pulaski, 62,253 bushels; 

 and Crawford, 46,492 bushels. 



Sweet potatoes find congenial conditions in all parts 

 of the state and yield well under fair treatment, yields 

 ranging from 200 to 600 bushels an acre. 



Many of the orchard-owners have evaporators for 

 utilizing the second-grade apples. Towns in the several 

 orchard districts have one to several evaporating plants 

 of large capacity which make a business of producing 

 evaporated apples. Culls, cores and peelings are con- 

 verted into vinegar. 



Before the National Pure Food Law was passed 

 (1906), little cider vinegar was produced in a commer- 

 cial way. At present there are large and well-equipped 



plants at Rogers, Siloam Springs and other points. 

 There are also large apple-brandy distilleries at Rogers 

 and Bentonville, the latter being the largest in the 

 world. 



Home canners have become common in connection 

 with fruit-growing and truck-gardening in order to 

 utilize surplus fruit for home use and local markets. 

 There are large well-equipped central plants at Prairie 

 Grove, Bentonville, Fayetteville, Decatur and some 

 other points. 



Public-service agencies for horticulture. 



Horticultural instruction is given as a part of the 

 Agricultural College work at the State University 

 at Fayetteville. It is also provided for in each of the 

 four Agricultural High Schools by legislative enact- 

 ment in 1907, and opened for instruction two years 

 later. These schools are located at Russellville, Jones- 

 boro, Monticello, and Magnolia. Extension work is 

 carried on by the college. 



There are local horticultural societies at a number of 

 points where such interests are important or being 

 developed. Springdale and Bentonville have very 

 successful societies. The latter has been in existence for 

 many years, and is well known beyond the confines of 

 the state for its useful work. 



Cooperative fruit-marketing associations exist at 

 most of the important shipping-points. These, when 

 independent, compete with each other more or less by 

 shipping to the same markets. The Ozark Fruit- 

 Growers' Association is a general organization formed 

 in 1904 to handle the output of the numerous local 

 associations of the Ozark region. 



The Arkansas State Horticultural Society was organ- 

 ized in 1879. Among the original organizers, S. H. 

 Nowlin, W. S. Thomas, E. F. Babcock, Jos. W. Vestal, 

 W. K. Tipton have all rendered valuable services to 

 horticulture. Judge I. B. Lawton, for years secretary 

 of the Benton County Horticultural Society, also 

 deserves special mention. Recently the fruit-growers 

 of northwest Arkansas have organized "The North- 

 west Arkansas Fruit Growers' Society," as a branch of 

 the State Society. The sweet potato growers have also 

 organized a society as a branch of the State Society. 



Statistics (Thirteenth Census). 



The approximate land area is 33,616,000 acres of 

 which 51.8 per cent, or 17,416,075 acres, are in farms. 

 The percentage of the farm land that is improved is 

 46.4, or 8,076,254 acres. The farm land in woodland is 

 8,511,510 acres, and the unimproved land in farms num- 

 bers 828,311 acres. There are 214,678 farms in the state, 

 the average size of which is 81.1 acres. [The total area 

 of Arkansas is 53,335 square miles.] 



The leading agricultural crops are cereals, hay and 

 forage, cotton, and forest products. In 1909 the value 

 of the cereals was $31,262,922. The acreage was 2,564,- 

 898 in 1909, a decrease of 13.9 per cent since 1899, when 

 it was 2,980,684. The acreage of hay and forage, in 

 1909, was 435,915, an increase of 82.1 per cent over the 

 acreage in 1899, when it was 229,426. The value of the 

 hay and forage products in 1909 was $4,887,139. In 

 1909 cotton contributed 52.9 per cent of the total value 

 of all crops. The value of cotton products in 1909 was 

 $63,155,683. The acreage of cotton in 1909 was 2,153,- 

 222, as compared with 1,641,855 in 1899, an increase of 

 31.1 per cent. The value of the forest products in 

 Arkansas for 1909 was $6,914,262. 



The leading horticultural crops are fruit, vegetables, 

 small-fruits, nuts, flowers, plants and nursery prod- 

 ucts. In 1909 the value of the fruits and nuts was 

 $3,142,891; of vegetables, $7,641,102; of small-fruits, 

 $601,722; and of flowers, plants and nursery products 

 $352,000. 



The principal orchard-fruits are apples and peaches, 

 which in 1909 produced more than one-half of the 



