In a recent number of the Gardeners' Monthly it is stated on the authority of some one that apples will not grow in Mexico.

I have seen apples, and good apples, growing at El Paso, in Mexico, and have also seen apples from the interior of Mexico in the market at Laredo on the Rio Grande in this State. From some Austin friends now at Saltillo, south of Monterey, in Mexico, I learn that apples, pears, peaches and strawberries are there, and that they have a plentiful supply of them. In April, 1882, I saw a fine-looking peach orchard at Lampazas, in Mexico, seventy-five miles southwest of Laredo. The trees were young and making a fine growth. Young peaches on the limbs gave promise of good fruit, which the proprietor assured me he had had the previous year.

I have seen many statements in print that apples will not grow in Texas, especially in middle and southern Texas. Fine apple orchards are in the northern part of the State. Such statements are made on the authority of old residents here, some of whom told me a few years ago that it would be wasting time and money to plant apple trees. However I planted a few. They grew well, and I planted more, and now have an apple orchard of more than three hundred trees. From these I have annual crops of fruit, there having been only one failure since they began bearing, about eight years ago. We have apples for home use during nearly the entire year, besides many bushels for the market. The Red Astrachans and Early Harvest ripen during the last days of May, for which there is a ready sale to dealers at from three to four dollars per bushel. The summer and fall apples sell at from one to two dollars per bushel. Hence the planting of apple trees here was a profitable investment, so profitable that others have planted them, from which Austin will have a plentiful supply of apples without importation.

Our apples are equal in size and flavor to the best grown at the North. This I know from large experience in growing apples in western New York.

Mexico is a large country and Texas is a large State, and both Mexico and Texas have climates ranging from the tropical to the temperate. Among the mountains and table lands of these regions are places and soils suitable for the fruits and vegetables of temperate climates. The lowlands of Mexico and portion of Texas on the Gulf of Mexico are suitable for and have tropical fruits and vegetables.

To succeed with apples here the trees should branch out near the ground, that the body of the tree may not be exposed to the sun in summer. Mulch the trees for the first two or three years, until the roots be well established. Be careful not to cultivate so as to disturb the roots of the trees during the growing season, then with a good soil apples can be successfully grown in this portion of Texas.