It has been demonstrated by J. Talg, of Solomon township, that fruit of almost every description can be raised successfully and with profit in Cloud county, not only in abundance but of the finest flavor. Mr. Talg came to this county in 1880 and homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land in the hills that he back of the Solomon river, built a comfortable dugout, which he still occupies, and proceeded to experiment in fruit raising. He has an apple orchard of four hundred trees that yield large and beautiful fruit, his crop in 1901 reaching three hundred bushels. He has six hundred peach trees, large orchards of pears and plums and a vineyard that yields quantities of luscious grapes. Mr. Talg has a cellar filled with barrels of many varieties of wines and ciders. He is not only one of the most successful fruit growers of Cloud county but raises corn, and alfalfa, and keeps a herd of about thirty head of native cattle.

Mr. Talg is a native of Prussia, Germany, born in 1835. He left his Fatherland in 1872, just after the Franco-Prussian war, in which he served three years. He also took part in the campaign against Austria in 1866. His father, Andrew Talg, was a fisherman and died in Germany in 1855. Mr. Talg's mother was Mary Shoen, also of German birth. She died in 1849. Mr. Talg is one of nine children, three of whom are living, a brother and a sister, both living in Germany; William, a shoemaker by trade, and Mary.

Mr. Talg, when a young man, learned the stone mason's trade. When thirty-seven years of age he emigrated to Baltimore, Maryland, where he worked at his trade until coming to Kansas in 1880; he returned to Prussia two years later (1874), and was married to Louise Mary Hill. Two children have been born to this union, viz: Augusta, wife of Fred Hill, a tailor of Chicago, Illinois, and William, who is associated with his father on the farm.

Mr. Talg is a Republican in politics. Both father and son are members of Lodge No. 214, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of Simpson, Mitchell county, Kansas. The family are members of the Glasco, congregation of the Lutheran church.

Mr. Talg has a stone barn - with a basement - 27x27 feet in dimensions, built in 1888. While he lives in a dugout, it is modern and neat in appearance. His buildings are freshly painted and everything bespeakes the German thrift.