Show V APPLES IN WESTERN MONTANA Daniel E Bondman Tells of tho V Growth of the Orchards Daniel 13 Bandman the actor has a fortyacre apple orchard on his ranch in western Montana and is an cnthu I slasilc champion of the Montana apple I Ho was V the father of the protective I pest bill passed by the State Legislature I Legisla-ture and was instrumental in the creation V I crea-tion of the State Board of Horlicul tuie He is at present flue Commissioner Commis-sioner appointed by the Governor to repiesent the four counties comprising compris-ing the Montana fruit belt on this board Why lie said V VI its surprising to see how little Eastern people know oC V the marvelous resources of Montana The name out here seems to conjure up visions of some wild uncivilized sort of country where bears and mountain lions sulk round wlle the elk and wildcat play hldeandscck I with each other utterly heedless of the whirrr of the ever hungry rattlesnake and where cowboys Indulge In friendly games of marbles while the bartender of the Cut Throat Inn dispenses red eye and tanglefoot between encounters with savage Indians V V i Now that sort of stuff niUces pretty reading but the trouble is that it isnt true The fact Js that Montana is rapidly coming to the front as one of the most industrious States In the tjnion In addition to our mining and lumber Interests we arc interesting ourselves in agriculture and more especially in horticulture Fruitgrow ing has made such rapid strides oC late that out Legislature found the passage of a pest bill and the formation forma-tion of our Board of Horticulture to be Imperative V You can get some idea of the extent ex-tent of the apple Industry in our great fruit belt when I toll you we have orchards of 600 acres such as that of the late T Marcus Daly One orchard 1 V that of Samuel DInsmore includes an I entire section 640 acres while as for the comparatively small orchards of forty eighty and 160 acres the regions re-gions full of them Our orchards are V still young averaging only about four V V years and they will not produce their best fruit for a couple of years yet V I and it will be five or six years before large crops can be expected Trees 1 nine and ten years old yield from six I to eighteen bushels each Instances i have been known where twclveyear I 1 olds have yielded twentyfour bushels but It Is In many cases unwise to allow al-low trees to overbear and the process of thinning Is common in Montana V orchards V Taking into consideration the fact that our fruit Industry Is still In Us Infancy you will probably be amazed when I tell you that there are at present pres-ent more than 5000000 trees planted in Montana and that every year upward oC 500000 new trees are set out The V soil and the climate of the western part of the State are so adapted to apple growing that with sufficient I moisture a tree will nourish anywhere It is not uncommon to see trees growing grow-ing among the stones and boulders Now nil of this may seem incredible Youve probably never ible tp you V before even heard that we had apples out here But there isnt hm slightest particle of doubt to my mind that In a short time the Montana apple wilt lead all Iho apples In the universe If for no other reason this will be brought about by our climate V The ue most destructive apple pests woum unable to hibernate in Montana on account ac-count oC the cold nights This fact has been substantiated by expert authority au-thority We ore free from the San Jose scale canker worms and borers of any kind as well as fungous diseases dis-eases and rabbits Wo have nothing to scourge our trees To insure the cpntinuance of these healthful conditions condi-tions and to Insure ourselves against the imporalloii oC diseases and pests we make a rigorous Inspection of all fruits entering the State But there are other reasons why the Montana apple Is the apple of the future In size color flavor keeping quality our apples are superior to others Our russets do not reach their best flavor until May or June and we can raise apples all the year round Our market is entirely local as yet but only because oC the great fruit consuming power of the native Montanan Mon-tanan Why last year 1200 carloads oC fruit were Imported to Montana und of this tIme lnhabilants of Butte alone consumed 1100000 pounds But wait until our trees have been going a few years longer then well be able to give you outsiders a cho nee Chicago Tribune V |