Page 40 



BETTER FRUIT 



April 



is found more or less generally through- 

 out the Yakima Valley, for instance above 

 the Sunnyside canal, twenty-four inches 

 of irrigation water, or possibly less, will 

 produce orchards, assuming that waste is 

 reduced to a minimum by careful appli- 

 cation and thorough cultivation. 



This type of soil will hold about 23 per 

 cent of moisture, or nineteen inches in 

 the first four feet. Where it is eight, ten 

 or possibly fifty feet deep, as is not 

 uncommon, there is no excuse for waste 

 water by percolation into the subsoil, for 

 trees are able to get moisture from the 

 depth of eight to ten feet. With the 

 same type and depth of soil at Wenatchee 

 or some other part of the state having 

 a greater rainfall, less irrigation water 

 would be necessary. 



Now, if the soil is but eighteen inches 

 to three feet deep, as we will find it in 

 some sections, or coarser in texture, it is 

 impossible to use water with the same 

 degree of economy as on the fine, deep 

 soils, for the reason that a larger per- 

 centage is lost by percolation into the 

 subsoil, and more by evaporation occa- 

 sioned by the greater frequency of irri- 

 gations necessary. On soils of this kind 

 humus should be added by every possible 

 means to increase the water-holding 

 capacity, if for no other reason, and if 

 manure is not available, this means cover 

 crops in the orchard. 



In fact, since the practice of growing 

 cover crops is coming to be so generally 

 adopted, its influence upon the water 

 requirements of orchards must be con- 

 sidered, for the two crops cannot be 

 grown on the same ground at the same 

 time without requiring more water than 

 for one. To grow one ton of clover hay 

 per acre about five inches of water is 

 required, allowing nothing for any loss 

 by percolation or run-off; alfalfa needs 

 about the same. So if either clover or 

 alfalfa is to be grown with the trees, five 

 inches or more per acre of irrigation 

 water will have to be added for each ton 

 of dry matter produced. In the light of 

 present experience it is unwise not to 

 make provision for growing such crops 

 to some extent at least in connection 

 with every orchard scheme. 



There are other matters bearing on the 

 question of best use that have as yet 

 received scarcely any or perhaps no con- 

 sideration whatever. Bulletin 101 of the 

 Oregon Agricultural College experiment 

 station says: "It is not sufficient merely 

 to obtain fruit of a certain size, but such 

 questions as the relation of irrigation to 

 color, flavor and shipping qualities of the 

 fruit, the action of the water on the leaf, 

 twig and bud, and the action of the water 

 on the different types of soil, must be 

 considered." Different kinds of fruits, 

 we know, too, require varying amounts 

 of water, even different varieties of the 

 same species may not respond uniformly 

 to like irrigation. It is said that the 

 Spitzenberg apple, for instance, if kept 

 too moist will be inclined to go too much 

 to wood growth, and will not set fruit 

 spurs withotit summer pruning. 



The time of applying water, too, in the 

 production of fruits may have as much 

 influence on yield and quality of the crop 



as does the amount applied. It has been 

 demonstrated that in growing peaches 

 heavy irrigation early in the season, fol- 

 lowed by a more moderate or light use 

 of water later, produces strong wood 

 growth in the tree, and a peach with 

 large stone and comparatively little flesh, 

 while light early irrigation, followed by a 

 copious use later, gives less wood growth 

 and a peach with stone much smaller in 

 proportion to the fleshy part. The flavor 

 and keeping quality of the latter will. 



YOUR instructive and beautiful "Bet- 

 ter Fruit'' reaches us away down 

 here in the Piedmont region of Georgia, 

 where conditions are so entirely differ- 

 ent from your section; yet, we think, in 

 many respects "the fruit section of 

 U. S." Whilst the apple and the peach 

 have been growing here for over 100 

 years — as the Cherokee Indians had 

 planted quite a number of orchards and 

 had been our first fruit men of the north- 

 east of Georgia. 



The early settlers, in 1824 to 1840, 

 brought in fruit trees from their home 

 section and planted trees until today 

 these veritable- monarchs of the apple 

 and peach stand as curiosities. We have 

 apple trees three feet in diameter, forty 

 to fifty feet high and producing forty to 

 seventy-five tons of apples. An old 

 peach tree on my farm is now forty 

 years old, and the natives say fruit has 

 been gathered from it for nearly its 

 entire life, and never a flat failure. 



A cherry tree eighteen inches in diam- 

 eter sends bushels of fine cherries to 

 market at Atlanta yearly, netting the 

 owner $40 to $70. 



Twenty-six different varieties, includ- 

 ing all the leading varieties of berries, 

 ripen and pay well here. Sixteen differ- 

 ent kinds of nuts, including the paper- 

 shell pecan and English walnut. Yearly 

 more and better varieties of fruit are 

 being planted, for our country is only 

 eight of ten years old as far as com- 

 mercial fruit industry is concerned — 

 one might say a recent discovery. A 

 few energetic people have literally taken 

 hold and shaken up this section, buying 

 some 10,000 acres, and have about half 



however, be inferior to peaches grown by 

 the opposite method. 



We must conclude that the problem of 

 how to make the best use of our irriga- 

 tion water is one of great breadth and 

 depth, involving many things in its solu- 

 tion. The attainment of best use will 

 depend on how well we as citizens prac- 

 tice what we already know to be right 

 use, and to a large extent also on knowl- 

 edge yet to be acquired, for there is yet 

 much to learn. 



planted in peach and apple orchards 

 already shipping 500 cars annually. 



Our peach orchards commence to bear 

 at two or three years of age after planting, 

 usually paying for themselves in three 

 years. Apple orchards, mostly young, 

 are paying from $200 to $500 per acre 

 net; larger income when older. Our 

 market lies right at our door, netting $1 

 to $2 per ton f. o. b. Cornelia. 



I sent thirty-three different varieties 

 of apples to the government pomologist. 

 He did not know half of them — so many 

 new varieties seem indigenous to this 

 section — some of them superior to the 

 Jonathan and Baldwin. 



The rainfall is sixty-five inches annu- 

 ally, plenty of cheap white labor, and 

 Habersham County, of which Cornelia 

 is the center of the fruit belt, is, 

 according to the U. S. census of 1890, 

 the healthiest county in the U. S. 



We would be glad, Mr. Editor, to show 

 you our section, where heaven supplies 

 the perfect climate for fruit. 



California is a wonderful state, famous 

 for its generosity and its hospitality. 

 Citizens of San Francisco subscribed for 

 this exposition $7,500,000, $4,000,000 of. 

 which was raised in two hours. The 

 State Legislature voted $10,000,000 more. 

 This means that California will put up 

 $17,500,000 for this exposition, which will 

 make it the greatest and grandest expo- 

 sition ever held in the world. The entire 

 Pacific slope, including the Northwest, 

 should support San Francisco in this 

 exposition in every way possible for the 

 great good and benefit which will come 

 out of it for the entire Pacific slope and 

 the Northwest. 



FROM OUR APPECIATIVE SOUTHERN SUBSCRIBERS 



