Monroe County, Wisconsin - Chapter 21: Apple Industry, 1912

A great many years ago attempts were made in some portions of the county to raise apples with some measure of success, but the farmers of that period did not have the advantage which those of this day have in the benefit of scientific learning and instruction from the Agricultural college in connection with the University, which has investigated all sorts of subjects which are related to agriculture in any way, and a great deal of attention has been paid to the subject of apple raising, and as to whether or not the soil and climate conditions in this part of the state will permit of apples being raised on a large scale. In the earlier days alluded to, occasionally was found a small orchard which was planted by some farmer and just allowed to grow without any particular attention, except that in some instances the science of grafting was gone into when, perhaps, some man who has been familiar with the growing of apples in some eastern state knew the method of grafting apple trees; but that in no locality in the county was a determined effort made to raise apples as a commercial proposition, although many varieties were in fact raised of good quality and flavor, but with the lack of attention these little orchards gradually went intodecay and the trees died off, more for the want of proper care and attention than on account of any conditions in the soil or climate.

With the awakening all along the line in agricultural subjects has come a movement in this county in the last few years to experiment with the growing of apple orchards, and with the great assistance which has been rendered by the agricultural department of the University, and also the officials of the State Horticultural Society, we are able in this chapter to record the result of experiments which prove beyond any cpiestion that within the limits of ^lonroe county there is just as good fruit lands as can be found anywhere in the United States for the raising of certain varieties of apples. The authorities of the University and of the Horticulture Society had their attention called a year or two ago to the orchard maintained by Mr. Fred Muehlenkamp upon his farm in the town of Wells, where this gentle- man has seven acres of as fine apple trees as can be found anywhere. Some of the trees in this orchard were more than thirty years okl and it originally was a small orchard, planted just as farmers iilaiited twenty or thirty years ago; but for many years Mr. Muehlenkamp has made a study of the problem of fruit culture, paying particular attention to the raising of varieties of apples best adapted for profitable culture in this climate, and he is today a recognized authority on this subject. Particularly so with regard to tree grafting, and the result of his study and experiments are shown in his orchard, where there are many trees bearing more than one kind of apples, and some producing four or five different varieties.

Working in conjunction with the ofiRcers of the State Horticultural Society this veteran apple grower opened his home. Avhich, by the Avay, is a fine brick mansion, upon his farm and invited all who desired to come to attend a field day fruit demonstration and meeting at his farm on August 23, 1911. Secretary Cranefield, of the State Horticultural Society, was present, together with D. E. Bingham, president of the socity; \V. II. Hanchett, of Angel o, and a commission merchant by the name of Merrill, of Chicago, were present, together with about two hundred people from a number of different towns in the county. At this meeting addresses were delivered by the gentlemen named and by ]\Ir. IMuehlenkamp, and it was demonstrated not only ])y tile orchard upon this farm, but in the addresses delivered at the meeting that there were no better lands and no better conditions anywhere in the United States for successful cultivation of apples than exist in Monroe county, especially on the ridge lands, which are well adapted for that purpose. It was shown that an average orchard ten years old, which is properly cultivated and cared for, could be depended upon to yield an annual income of $250 per acre, which is better than can be done with iuiy ordinary crop at this time.

It is generally agreed that the most profitable varieties of apples to grow in this county were the jMc^Mann, Northwestern Greenings, AVealtiiy. Salome and IMalinda; and as a matter of fact it had ])vvn shown that winter apjiles could be raised in this county and in various othei' poitions of the state at ]ii-ici's Avhich would more than successfully (-omi)ete with the New York apjih's. This meeting gave to this industry a standing which was to the great satisfaction of those who were present, and U7idnubtedly tlie future will see good results from it. As the cominereial advantage of having an orchard of several acres properly cared for is so evident that the farmers, in the ridge country especially, will undoubtedly, in the future, give special attention to this branch of horticulture.

If anything else was needed to complete the demonstration and to establish beyond any question that apple growing in Monroe county can be successfully accomplished, and not only apples, but grapes, plums and cherries, it has been most conclusively furnished in the results accomplished by J. "W. Leverich at his fruit farm in the town of Angelo. ]\Ir. Leverich, who now is acknowledged one of the authorities on small fruits, started in 1904 an experimental orchard of five acres, which he planted in May of that year. In order to demonstrate to his own satisfaction whether these fruits, apples, grapes and cherries could be successfully raised if handled scientifically, his trees were selected with the greatest care and planted upon a piece of land which was carefully selected for the purpose, and his long experience in small fruit raising gave him the knowledge necessary to select the particular land which he did for this orchard. The tract is protected on the north and west by growing timber from the winds ; to the south and east are hills which protect the trees from wind blowing from that direction. There are sixteen rows of fruit trees and two rows of grapes. The trees are set twentytwo in a row, and the two row^s of grapes about four hundred feet in length each, in which there are seven distinct varieties.

At the time of setting this five-acre tract into an orchard in the spring of 1904, Mr. Leverich placed between the rows of trees either raspberries, red raspberries or blackberry brush. These berry brush have been thoroughly cultivated and cared for, as the trees and vines of the orchard were, and as a consequence there has been a crop of berries each year commencing with 1905. In 1906 the first returns from the orchard proper were secured, being ten baskets of grapes. The plum trees commenced bearing in 1907, and the apples in 1908, while the first cherries were secured in 1911, and it is the opinion of IMr. Leverich that this locality in the town of Angelo is not adopted to the culture of cherries. But his experiment has demonstrated beyond a doubt that the valley soil of Monroe county, as well as the ridges, is suitable and just as well adapted naturally for the culture of fruits as the ridge lands. It only needs the intelligence, industry and perseverance, which are, of course, all necessary in an industry of this character to put into a paying proposition an orchard bearing apples, plums and grapes. During the fall season of 1911 IMr. Leverich exhibited in one or two store windows in tlie city of Sparta baskets containing the varieties of fruit and grapes raised in this orchard, and they made a tempting picture, indeed, and we here have tlie record which was kept by him from the time beginning with the ])hinting of the orchard up until the market of 1911, showing in detail the number of l)askets, eases or bushels, as the case may be, of fruit Avhich was raised upon this five-acre tract of land from ]\Ia.v. 1004, up lo and including the crop of 1911, giving tlie total amount realized upon the entire tract :

This tract being largely in the nature of an experimental orchard, ^Ir. Leverich has set in a greater variety of trees than he probably would have if he was to now set it out with the knowledge he now possesses after seven years of experimenting. Some of the varieties have done better than others, but it is not the object of this article to specifj^ particularly in regard to that, but to tell of the orchard as we found it. It consists of the following trees, vines and berry brush :

The handsome returns of over $6,000 upon five acres of land certainly places this industry upon the footing with the lands anywhere, as those in Oregon and AYashington, which sell as high as $2,000 per acre. The ciuestion arises as to how a person contemplating fruit growing should get anything out of his young orchard before it begins to bear apples, and the answer is here given most definite and positively, for between the rows of trees were raised bush berries to the value of $207.86 per acre, showing that the income begins almost at once wdth the very first year's planting by using the space between the rows, which should always be done for producing an income.

AVhile at the time of the publication of this work this industry has not begun to develop to a great extent, there is no cpiestion but that this county is capable of supporting more than double its population, and that fruit raising and intensified farming will be in effect during the next decade, and will double and treble the varieties of fruit, and any farmer properly located who will study the question of apple growing will, undoubtedly, make it a success. But success will only come with study and the use of intelligent methods. Let us hope that the future generations may see Monroe county one of the garden spots of this country, rich in its products of apples, plums, grapes and other fruits.