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Show Wm IN UTAH' HAVE BEEN A ; BIG FACTOR IN STATE'S GROWTH ! n travelers from the cast who "'r'li 70-crHnrAmcrica'' for the first I! 'S wtlon Is entertained that I- r made up of only vast, tiresome t ! rub L? of desert and naked moun-'" moun-'" l l3ttcK the time and the inclination travelers will permit, however, ' ! 9"satSS mny bo easily and quickly : e W Sr obtaining this satlsfnc-; satlsfnc-; fjp !Lv should afford themsolves tho r' ; Iftinlty and the pleasure of Jour-' Jour-' i WL r from the accustomed routes V '' EWeelng Utah's numerous canyons '-- i fJ.iMtic beauty, her charming vul-? vul-? f'f hJr beautiful ciUes, her splendid ': J orchards, and vineyards, wbero -i.: ? 'Sk is adding to the beauty of i , primeval grandeur and then RXo render their verdict. Utah. : !it be wid with emphasis, Ib a won-4i won-4i ' 'lrand whlcb delights tho eye. re- ' He the lred tluvolor- and sup' ;'f f rtrtJ her children in all the comforts ft ?f food living. H- s-ot long and not far does one have in t'tah to be impressed with the irrKce of her fruits. The climate, , a fS -ill. and tho general physical con-' con-' S Song of tho state are superbly adapt- I to tho production of aB fine fruit as ' 'i IT he grown on- tho earth's vast ex-I ex-I in our forUlc valleys the soil f ?ffP ftnd rich. No excessive raln- 111 has leached out the plant food to ,' "impoverished degree; chemical and logical action In the soil have exert-Ljd exert-Ljd baneful effects In making the 4 Z wur and Insufficiently aerated, i Sh'tve occurred In regions under hu . l 1a conditions. The main thing lack-' lack-' j bit in 'lie virgin fruit lands of Utah i humu''. or organic matUr, but by 1 j pfr methods of farming (manuring, 1 ' rrcfn manuring, and rolat on crops) . i t' us oA clency can easily be supplied. ' ' t nor tplendld advanUge of fruit J ' ffovrlng i'i Utah, the homo of modern , ; trration. is that water ci:n be sup- ' i lir rj 'o the soil whenever Mie plant , j eds It, thus eliminating the lrregu- . ' i Urltles of rainfall and the uncertain -' ( ties of growth. In this connection It ; 1 is interesting to note the unfounded ; itatpmonts made by some a few years 1 I 1 eo, it was argued that irrigation is i 1 fB unnatural process.- and therefore j (nit bearing plants that are Irrigated ' : qil produce watery and inferior fruit. J 1 Tfli3 erroneous Idea, however has ! been shattered by both results of prac- I ' . uul orchardists all over the west and t I : (he experimental work that has been I performed by experiment stations to i jj pertain the facts in tho case. Where j ' properly used In the orchard, or the c ' I -: arden, irrigation water Is ono of the t ' peatest assets of the arid west, and I ; tie fruit produced by Irrigation Is uu- acelled anywhere. a Utah's climate is of great diversity, : ranging from the sub-tropical delights v : of her Dixie to tho invigorating Joys a , ' oi four refreshing seasons. The ele- Tatlon of her ariable lands varies from I j about 3000 feet to about G0OQ feet In I ; ill parts of the state whoro water is r tvallable eome fruits are successfully c ilpown, while in certain sections all a tho temperate fruits the mind can conceive con-ceive or the heart desire are produced in abundance. The list for the state Includes apples, peaches and necta-rlns, necta-rlns, pears, plums and prunes, cherries, cher-ries, apricots, quinces, grapes, pomegranates, pome-granates, figs, strawberries, raspberries, raspber-ries, dewberries, gooseberries, mulberries, mulber-ries, and currants, besides various nuts. The cataloguing of tho list, however, long as It is, only tells a fraction of tho story. The big feature of it all is the exquisite quality which Utah fruit possesses. If ho would know tho real Joys of living, very traveler who 1b so fortunate as to be In the atato during dur-ing thegolden season of the fruit harvest har-vest should mako it a special point to stop over long enough to visit one of tho numerous orchards or vineyards of Utah and sample at first hand the delicious products there produced. It would be a memorable event Jn his life What with the Irrigation water which keeps the fruit in a normal growing condition, the bright sunshine producing beautiful color, and the cool nights In tho mountain valleys which add .flavor all the factors and forces of nature combine to place Utah in an enviable position as regards her ability to produce superlative fruIL From the standpoint of fruit production, produc-tion, Utah is also Interesting historically. historical-ly. The first fruit grown In the arid west was grown by the Mormons. In a general epistle of tho church, dated 1847. to the Saints throughout the earth, and signed by President Brig-ham Brig-ham Young, the following- paragraph appears: "To all Saints, we would say, come immediately and prepare to go west, bringing with you all kinds of choice seeds, of grain, vegetables, fruits, shrubbery, trees, and vines everything that will please the eye, gladden the heart, or cheer the soul" of man. that grows upon the face of the whole earth; also the best stock of beast, bird, and fowl of every kind that 3hn.ll tend to promote the comfort, iiealth, happiness, or prosperity of any people." Bancroft, the historian, states that 'In 1875 southern Utah produced 544 teres of grapes, the total vield being lbout 1700 tons, and that the value f Utah's orchard products in 1883, ncludlng apples of which there were it least ninety varieties pears, ilums, quinces, cherries, peaches, cur-'ants cur-'ants and berries of many descriptions, vas estimated at $157,000. The yield )f apples was about 90 bushels to the icre, of pears 75, of poaches 120, of )lums 165 and cherries 75." As a result of these home-building md home-beautifying efforts of the ' iarly settlors, a great many varieties vera Introduced Into tho territory from l11 parts of the United States then in-labitod.. in-labitod.. Of course the dominating dea was to have home orchards and lome-grown fruits sufficient for the leeds of the family. To produce fruit n a commercial basis for export was . much later development. Many of Panoramic View of Osden 1 il l 1 ; 1 '.!;'; theBe early orchards still exist in the older Utah towns and give a characteristic character-istic setting to the landscape features. Some of these early varieties are no longer listed In the catalogues and they are being gradually replaced by newer and bettor varitles. A striking development that has taken tak-en place within the past two decades is the planting of orchards on a commercial commer-cial basiB and the production of fruit on a sufficiently large scale for shipment ship-ment out of the state in carload lots. The last census showed 3,027,436 orchard or-chard trees In Utah, of which over half had not then reached the bearing age. The total value of tree fruits, nuts, and grapes, as shown by the last census, cen-sus, was $617,165 and of small fruits was $217,327, making a total value of $8.S8,492 for the fruit and nut products prod-ucts of 1909. The Increase in recent years has now made of fruits a inore-than-a-million dollar industry in Utah, which, considering the yopulation, is of great importance per capita. Vlie two chief factors against which the commercial fruitgrowers of Utah have had to contend are frosts and the distance from markets. Because these lights frosts occur with sqmething like regularity each year, the erroneous impression has gained ground that they are absolutely destructive and that fruit-growing is a foolishly hazardous haz-ardous undertaking. Vet the frosts have not been an unmitigated evil for they have been the means of thinning the fruit and thus saving the grower that operation, for on the fertile soils of the west the tendency is for trees to overbear and they should be thinned thin-ned annually. Furthermore, in all the years there have been very few really serious frosts as far as the fruit industry is concerned, and the last frost of 1916 and the early frost of 1917 are among the most destructive we have had. With Improved mothods in frost fight-fng, fight-fng, this adversity will be overcome. As to the market situation, several StJrlous problems await solution. The distance from the large central markets mar-kets means heavy freight charges and also the early picking of the more perishable per-ishable fruits before the luscious qualities qual-ities have been developed to completion comple-tion on the trees. To counteract the high freight charges the products must command a high price on the market To secure this price the fruit must be of the best quality, well graded, and packed well in attractive packages. It is by excelling in these respects that western fruit has been able to compete com-pete go successfully on the eastern markets. To avoid the necessity of picking the fruit green at the expense of quality, the markets nearer home must bo developed de-veloped and supplied for the more perishable per-ishable fruit. The gTeat empire west of the Mississippi is developing at a remarkable rate. The population is doubling every ten years in some sec-lions, sec-lions, important cities are springing up, mines are being opened, and industries indus-tries developed- This Increasing population popu-lation is going to use more and' more fruit each year. In other words the market is steadily coming closer and closer to our orchards, and the outlook is therefore growing brighter. Some fear has been expressed In the past that there would be an over-production of fruit. Statistics, however, show conclusively that the increase In fruit production Is not keeping pace with the increase of population In this country. Thus the increase In population popu-lation in tho United States between 1900 and 1910 was about 21 per cent. During the same poriod there was an increase in production of orchard fruits of only 1 per cent, and increase in value of 68 per cent In the case of small fruits the production for the same period decreased 8 por cent and yet the value increased 20 per cent From 1910 to 1916 the population of the United States hns increased about 11 per cent and the increase in apples and peaches Is only about 8 per cent The difficulty Is not over-production; it is Inadequate distribution, and better bet-ter metho'ds in marketing will overcome over-come this handicap. One factor worthy of special mention men-tion in this connection is the development develop-ment of the canning industry In Utah. The canneries furnish aji excellent market for the fruit which is not shipped ship-ped in the fresh state. Evaporating and drying fruits and the manufacture of valuable by-products are also being given consideration as an outlet for the fruit produced in the state. All of the forces interested in fruitgrowing fruit-growing In Utah are working to stabi- i llze tho industry and make it fit Into its proper place as one of the Important Impor-tant revenue producers in the state agricultural ag-ricultural prosperity. As the problems prob-lems become solved, one by one, the future appears evermore hopoful. But "there Is no excellence without labor." la-bor." rtn |