WILD WEST FRUITS.
It is still within the memory of boys when it was almost universally
agreed that nothing was more impossible than successful fruit raising in
Colorado, with the exception of certain varieties of small fruits. It is
easy to see how such a belief grew up, for even now in many places it
requires ocular demonstrations to convince that, in parched valleys
where frequently even cactus and sage-brush are but sparsely
represented, fruit can be grown that in lustrous bloom and richness of
flavor can not be surpassed in any country or climate. That such is the
case, however, has already been so thoroughly proven, and the proof is
being so persistently repeated year after year, and in widely separated
localities, that to longer disbelieve or cavil is sufficient evidence
either of ignorance or determination not to believe.
When travelers first crossed the prairies and followed the sandy or
adobe river bottoms they could hardly be expected to think of the barren
tracts as covered with orchards and gardens within a few years. Yet
there were indices even then, and had not every mind been wholly
absorbed in the search for gold, some one might have drawn a lesson from
the laden plum and cherry trees that lined every foot-hill, cañon, and
ravine, sometimes following the stream far out on the prairie. In the
mountains, too, were raspberry patches, sometimes covering thousands of
acres and yielding almost incalculable quantities of luscious fruit
that, having no more appreciative pickers than bears and birds, annually
decayed among the rocks and fallen logs.
There were, and still are, countless numbers of huckleberries, and in
every part of the mountains grow more or less wild strawberries,
raspberries, currants, gooseberries, thimbleberries, huckleberries, and
numerous varieties of cherries, plums, and nuts. Considering these
things it would not have required a great stretch of imagination of some
old fruit man from the East to have foreseen something of the
possibilities now beginning to be almost phenomenally realized in every
part of the State.
A history of horticulture in the Centennial State has not yet been
written, and it is impossible to say when and where the first domestic
fruit was grown, or to whom is due the honor of having taken the initial
step in the industry that from its rapid development and the enthusiasm
already enlisted bids fair to outstrip all other pursuits in the State.
In rapidity the growth has been much like that of our magic capital
city, and as fruit is one of the things with which a luxury-loving
people will not dispense, it may fairly be predicted that the infant
industry, without any protection or coddling, will keep pace with the
State and city.
It is not difficult to find good reasons for believing that its progress
will not only exceed that of any other industry in the State, but that
it will be out of proportion to that of the State itself. Irrigating is
an expensive process, and whatever crop will bring the greatest return
for the least outlay in that direction is the one to which the energy of
the Colorado people should logically be directed. Not only can fruit be
raised with much less water than any other crop, but a good yield in a
single year after the trees are fairly well developed will reimburse the
purchase price of the land and the other expenses, besides leaving a
handsome profit.
If any one argues that only the southern half of the State can be relied
upon for fruit, a visit to Larimer County will promptly and effectually
convince him of his error. If he believes only in the western slope, let
him follow the Arkansas River from several miles above Salida to where
it enters Kansas, or the Platte from the foot-hills to Nebraska,
examining the embryo orchards that enrich nearly every farm on his
journey.
It is readily conceded that certain locations are, by nature, better
adapted than others to certain kinds of fruits. To fit the varieties to
the localities most suitable to their respective natures requires years
of experiment. The fruit industry of Colorado is now in that
experimental stage. To conduct the experiment so as to secure the best
results, men of skill, long experience, and indomitable energy are
necessary. Such men do not at present average one to the county. This
fact does not reflect discredit on the men who are growing fruit. No one
could realize the truth more fully than they do themselves. Hundreds of
them who are succeeding with orchards scarcely knew one tree from
another until they began putting them out on their farms.
The fact that so much has been accomplished without the experience and
skill so essential to success in every country is the strongest possible
evidence that the natural elements are here in the right combination and
ready to do their part, and more, to win for the Centennial State a
greater distinction as a fruit producer than has for years been hers as
the silver queen. Just as sure as the conditions of climate and soil
remain as they are, will this new industry eventually hold first place
in every respect. In the immediate vicinity of the capital city, where
only a few years ago was nothing but barren prairie, there are now
hundreds of acres in orchards and vineyards. Apples, pears, plums,
cherries, and numerous varieties of grapes are grown in abundance, and
with such success that the fruit acreage is annually increasing. Up and
down the Platte, on Cherry Creek and Clear Creek, on the prairie
wherever water can be had for irrigating, farmers are putting out more
and more in standard and small fruits. The never-failing demand for good
fruit, to fill which California annually ships thousands of car-loads,
is encouragement enough, for it insures good prices without the trouble
and expense of shipment.
Westward the same conditions are manifest, and the limited area of
tillable land shows a yearly increasing number of fruit trees. Here
close to the foot-hills a single acre, mostly in cherry trees, has
yielded a cash return of $1,000 from one year's crop just harvested. It
is but a matter of a few years until many another acre will yield as
much or more, either English Morello cherry trees, as in this case, or
from other varieties of standard fruits.
Boulder County has long been known as the home of small fruits. Last
year the county furnished 184,300 pounds of grapes and 304,810 quarts of
berries. In a walk through the streets of Boulder more grapes of the
finer varieties, such as Delaware, can be seen than in the market of any
other city in the State, without excepting even Denver in the present
year. Nor is the county's output confined to small fruits, for in last
year's report were 25,622 bushels of apples, 102 of peaches, and 143 of
pears, besides 4,745 quarts of plums and 1,905 of cherries.
The same condition prevails in all the counties in the northwest part of
the State, though, with the exception of the Greeley neighborhood and
the Platte Valley, the country is too recently settled to have made much
progress in the culture of fruit. In the last few years the blight has
been causing considerable discouragement in the Platte Valley and up the
tributary streams in Larimer and Boulder counties. Like other diseases,
it has struck hard in a few specially valuable places, and in the riot
of its march has caused more annoyance through fear than through actual
ravages. It may thin out a few susceptible varieties of trees, but when
it shall have run its course, the orchards that remain and those that
will grow up in the future will be practically impregnable to its
attacks. There are many varieties of fruits that will flourish just as
well as apples and pears, and which the blight never touches. Men who
are ready to drop the business when the fruit pest appears are not the
ones who will win success. Many of the trees from which the finest
apples are picked this year were badly blighted last year or the year
before.