GROWING APPLES 
We, all of us, like to go back to the Garden 
of Eden, as it were, and I know that one time 
a Garden of Eden existed for why should a man 
want to go back te a place that never did exist. 
And if you lived in town when you were a boy 
you may have forgotten many things but you 
have never forgotten the old fruit peddler who 
came around mornings. Well, I was not raised in 
town. Just the same I can remember the apple 
merchant who was in Stephenville some fifty-five 
years ago. Apple Walker, as we called him, climb- 
ed the last hill many years ago; but there is not 
a man around Stephenville whose hair is getting 
white who does not remember the jolly old fellow, 
and to me a boy, his apples also looked jolly. He 
furnished many apples to go in Christmas stock- 
ings and made Santa Claus a reality instead of an 
imagination. But I have gotten off on this and I 
am not writing what I aimed to write. Some one 
wrote me a letter the other day and asked why 
I do not discuss apple growing for Texas. Many 
years ago there were apple orchards planted in 
this county and in many other counties, But at 
that time no one had thought that apples were like 
men; some liked one place and some another and 
most of the apples planted forty years ago just 
did not like Texas. They were born to live in a 
colder climate. But we have found apples that 
simply glory in our deep sand here in the South 
and our sun-shiny weather. Some of these are Yel- 
low Delicious, Delicious, Jonathan, King David 
and Smokehouse. Apples like deep sand here in the 
South. They will grow on the cold dead sand They 
have a way of getting all there is in land out of it. 
Apples require different treatment to peach 
trees. They do not like being pruned much here 
in the South and they do not like a long shank for 
the body of the tree. They want to grow down close 
to the ground and that helps them to shade the 
ground and keep it cool under the trees. And they 
like plenty of room, say thirty or forty feet apart. 
But they, like many other creatures, like company. 
It is seldom a Delicious tree or any other apple 
tree will bear if alone. It must have some other 
kind of apple tree near it, one that blooms out 
the same time. They do not like to grow on land 
where cotton dies and they do not like drouthy 
land. But what they do like is good deep sand and 
good cultivation They will grow much farther 
South than here. Some of the finest apples in the 
whole nation are grown on the Colorado River near 
Goldthwaite and in sand that was washed there 
centuries ago by the river. You know a river con- 
stantly changes its bed and moves eastward all 
the time though it may take it many years to go 
far. And where it was a thousand years ago is an 
ideal place for an apple orchard. I believe such 
land is called delta land. But on the sand hills 
where the wind has piled up the sand is a good 
place for apples. I have one place in my field 
where at some date many years ago the sand was 
piled up and on top of this place and around it 
the apples are growing good. Apples need more 
spraying than other fruits. While they are thrifty 
they are like a strong man and may have several 
diseases but keep on going. Where good thrifty 
oaks have once grown is a nice place for an apple 
orchard. Down here in the South we need to plant 
apples that get ripe from about the fifteenth of 
August until the fifteenth of October That gives 
us a chance to sell our crop before the apples from 
the North are shipped in. There is only one kind 
of apple shipped in at that time. It comes from 
California and it is the Gravestein, a very poor 
apple, and the yellow Delicious grown in Texas 
makes the California apple go back and sit down. 
American Elm 
It has been several years since we have been 
able to offer this old tree. One of the prettiest of 
all natives. We have them in the following sizes: 
BeltOes LOOtpmnnttrnes ee Sone $1.00 
DelOgs ef OOb ce sates tent aks $1.50 
ATOR Op LOOt ee ae eee $2.00 
NUMBER OF TREES TO PLANT TO THE ACRE 
KKK KK OK 
te 
—) 
AAA KKK KM KK OM 
To determine number of trees to an acre for any 
given distance apart, multiply distance apart and 
divide 43,560 by this product. For example: 
18 x 20 equals 360. 43,560 divided by 360 equals 
: There are 121 trees per acre, planted 18 by 20 
eet. 
THE BEST OF SERVICE IS NONE TOO GOOD 
FOR FITZGERALD’S CUSTOMERS 
We take special pride in handling each customer’s 
order separately and giving it personal attention. 
There is no holding up an order until there are 
several from that one community, so that they may 
all go out at one time, in one shipment. Each order 
is individual, from the largest to the smallest, and 
is filled with stock taken fresh from the nursery, 
packed by experts, and shipped at the proper time 
to plant in your particular locality, 
FITZGERALD NURSERY—STEPHENVILLE, TEXAS » 3 
