2250 NORTH AMERICAN STATES 



NORTH AMERICAN STATES 



but little inducement for experienced growers to come 

 into Oklahoma. Most of the peach-growers here at 

 present have picked up the business, and have acquired 

 such knowledge as may be gained by experience alone, 

 without any training, and without learning the details 

 of the business in some other section. This means that 

 there is no system either to the methods of raising or of 

 marketing peaches in this state at present. Some 

 orchards are cultivated, but more are not cultivated. 

 The same thing is true of all other peach-orchard opera- 

 tions. In marketing there is the same lack of uni- 

 formity. Peaches are shipped in all sorts of recep- 

 tacles, from the four- and eight-basket crate to a bushel 

 basket. The flaring top basket of the East is practically 

 never seen. 



Pears do not seem to be a very promising commercial 

 proposition, except possibly in the southern and eastern 

 counties. The reason for this is generally blight and 

 lack of fruitfulness. There are many neighborhoods in 

 which, in most years, pears may be raised for home use 

 or local market with considerable success. 



The status of plum- and prune-raising is practically 

 the same as that of pears. The European or domestica 

 plums do not seem to be well adapted to the mid- 

 western conditions. The native varieties do well, but 

 are not well adapted to commercial uses on account 

 of their softness and a lack of demand on the part of 

 the public. From the standpoint of home consumption, 

 however, the plum is well to the front. Trees of the 

 native varieties thrive, and in spite of the depredations 

 of curculio and black-knot, usually bear. On account 

 of their early fruiting, they are usually the first fruit 

 that the new settler secures for his table. This is 

 particularly true of the Prumis Watsonii, or sand-hill 

 plum, a dwarf species inhabiting the western part 

 of the state. 



Cherries are raised only for home use, and in most 

 years hardly enough for that. The cherry is rather 

 exceptional in that the middle counties of the state 

 appear to suit this tree better than those of the east. 

 In Oklahoma, however, as in most other states, the 

 cherry is one of the favorite yard trees, and there is 



Erobably more of this fruit raised than the Census 

 gures would indicate. 



The apricot is in much the same condition as the 

 cherry. The central and south-central counties, 

 although there are few or no apricot orchards, raise 

 much of this fruit hi yards and roadsides. The apricot 

 is a much surer crop in this state than in any of the 

 northern states, and the trees seem resistant to all the 

 vicissitudes of our seasons. 



Grapes are raised to a considerable extent for home 

 eating, but there are practically no commercial vine- 

 yards. Although the grape is found native in nearly 

 every part of the state, it is confined chiefly to the 

 streams, and it by no means necessarily follows that 

 the cultivated uplands are adapted to this fruit. That 

 the common commercial varieties, composed, as they 

 are, chiefly of Labrusca blood, suffer from the heat and 

 droughts of our season, is unquestioned. In spite of 

 this, the most commonly raised varieties belong to 

 this Labrusca class. This is probably owing to the 

 Oklahoma public having become accustomed to the 

 taste of these grapes, and hence preferring them to the 

 fruit from the stronger vines of the sestivalis and 

 riparia class. 



While the development of strawberry-growing is 

 very small, there is every reason to believe that this 

 will eventually become a large industry in the eastern 

 and northeastern parts of the state. This part of the 

 commonwealth has a climate and soil which is 

 almost identical with the nearby strawberry regions 

 of Missouri. 



Blackberries and dewberries do very well in Okla- 

 homa, and the only reason that there are not more com- 

 mercial plantings is on account of the lack of insistent 



demand for the fruit. The dry winters of the prairies 

 winter-kill the vines somewhat, but they are a com- 

 paratively sure crop, even in this part of the state. 



Raspberries, currants, and, to a considerable degree, 

 gooseberries, are apparently not adapted to the climate 

 here. Most of the growers have abandoned these fruits, 

 and many of them report absolute failure, after repeated 

 efforts. 



The growing of pecans is attracting very much in- 

 terest in the state, chiefly on account of the immense 

 profits reported from the South, and the fact that the 

 trees grow wild over a large part of the state. So far as 

 tested, the named Gulf coast sorts have proved tender 

 to our winters, although not nearly all of these Gulf 

 coast varieties have been tested. At present there is 

 considerable money being made in some neighborhoods 

 by selling the fruit from the wild trees, and some of the 

 growers have been cutting out the trees bearing the 

 smaller and poorer nuts and retaining those bearing the 

 larger and thinner-shelled nuts. There is considerable 

 overflow land in the state which seems to suit pecans 

 particularly well, and to be adapted to but little else. 

 It is probable that pecan-growing will occupy a prom- 

 inent place in the ultimate agriculture of the state, 

 although it will be slow in coming. 



Of vegetables, there are only two grown in this state 

 in sufficient quantities to attract the attention of the 

 census enumerator and deserve mention here. They 

 are the potato and the sweet potato. Although both 

 these vegetables are raised more or less all over Okla- 

 homa, they become commerical propositions only in the 

 lighter soils, contiguous to the Canadian and Arkansas 

 rivers. The growing of potatoes is chiefly the produ- 

 cing of early potatoes for the late June and July market. 

 During the last few years, owing to the very high prices 

 asked for the northern potatoes shipped into Oklahoma 

 in the fall, the Oklahoma growers have been striving to 

 raise late potatoes as well. In many sections, the 

 growers raise two crops a year, digging the first crop 

 about the first of July, when the second crop is at once 

 planted. The yields here are not nearly so large as in 

 the northern potato regions, but the [prices are very 

 much higher than are ever known in that- section. The 

 growing of early potatoes is an apparently stable indus- 

 try, for there are few other parts of the South so favor- 

 ably situated for producing early potatoes as the above- 

 mentioned parts of Oklahoma. The growing of late 

 potatoes, however, depends apparently on the rail- 

 roads. As long as rates remain so high that fall pota- 

 toes from the North bring over $1 a bushel in this state, 

 there will be a profit in raising them in Oklahoma. 

 This is true in spite of the fact that analyses have shown 

 that our southern-grown potato is not so rich in starch 

 as those from farther north. On occasional years, early 

 hot winds will seriously damage this crop. 



There is no doubt of the adaptability of sweet pota- 

 toes to the climate of this state, and to much of the soil. 

 Perhaps it is partly on account of the large contingent 

 of northern farmers that the growing of sweet potatoes 

 is not a more prominent industry than it is. The 

 acreage of this vegetable is much less than of Irish 

 potatoes. The sweet potato sections are practically 

 the same as for the potato, except that the Red River 

 Valley is also a contributing factor. The price of sweet 

 potatoes, in the towns of Oklahoma, is usually good at 

 all seasons. But few of the growers are familiar with 

 any reliable methods of keeping the potatoes, so that 

 generally the supply is confined to the fall months. 

 Sweet potatoes are nearly, if not quite, immune to all 

 the vicissitudes of the Oklahoma climate, but com- 

 mercially they are confined to the sandy bottoms. 



There are many other vegetables which grow well 

 enough in this state to be promising commercial under- 

 takings, but they have not yet been tested in any 

 except the most primitive way. Some of these are 

 muskmelons, watermelons, onions, peanuts, and pos- 



