48 



TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



Where dollars and cents are the object in fruit-growing, I still believe that quantity 

 has more to do with success than quality ; that a great quantity of poor, miserable-look- 

 ing berries or apples, or a variety that will produce a great quantity of large, good- 

 looking fruit, though they be inferior in quality, will return more money to the producer 

 than a much better quality of fruit produced at greater cost. 



With the strawberry the old Wilson still occupies a prominent place; and next I 

 believe comes the Monarch, which does not set such a great number of berries, but carries 

 them all through to good-sized marketable fruit. One of my neighbors has the past 

 year been very successful with Forest Rose and Crescent, both in a small way, but being 

 new sorts with us they have not been fairly tested as yet. 



The Mammoth Cluster, Doolittle and Davison-Thornless still lead the list of the 

 black-cap raspberries ; and the Turner comes square to the front as a red berry. Of 

 course there are others claiming favor, but the Turner comprises the great bulk of red 

 fruit grown in this county. 



The Early Richmond cherry has not yet been superseded, and probably will not 

 soon be laid in the shade by any competitor. Of course there are many better cherries, 

 but one ripe cherry in the mouth is worth more than a bushel that rot on the tree just 

 before they ripen. 



Our mai'ket is annually well supplied with home-grown Wild-Goose and Chickasaw 

 plums; therefore, if their quality is poor they are more profitable than one hundred 

 other better varieties that cannot be grown here. 



Any peach that would stand our climate and produce fruit in two years out of five 

 would be considered the best for us, but at present we have none such, and as I do not 

 like to abuse an old friend whom I have not seen for several years I will say nothing 

 about them. 



The Red Astrachan and Early Harvest for early apples ; the Rambo, Maiden's 

 Blush, Jonathan and Snow (or Fameuse) for autumn, and the Winesap, Janet, Willow- 

 Twig and Ben Davis give a long enough list for winter. I do not consider the Ben 

 Davis a good apple, but it fruits well and sells well, and that ought to be enough to 

 expect from any one variety. 



As a rule noxious insects have not been remarkably active during the past season ; 

 the robin and cat-bird have done more damage than any other insects now in mind. 

 We always expect as many as one worm in each apple, and the codling-moth is not the 

 insect to let man overestimate its working capacity, and we have not been disappointed 

 this time. As for remedies, the shot-gun is the only one of value in dealing with the 

 two first-mentioned species, and more apples and hogs are the only ones known to be a 

 benefit in the latter instance. 



REPORT OF ADAMS COUNTY— By W. H. Thompson. 



The severe cold of the past winter killed all the plum-trees in this county, except 

 the Chickasaw and Wild-Goose varieties; also most varieties of cherries, peaches, 

 blackberries, Delaware and hybrid grapes, hardy perpetual and annual roses, etc. 

 Stump-the-world, Morris White and Late Crawford are among the varieties of living 

 peach-trees. Concord, Ives, Clinton, Martha, Lady and Norton's Virginia survived 

 and yielded heavy crops. 



Fruit Crop of 1879. — Berries, plums, pears and cherries were scarce ; hardy grapes 

 abundant. 



Cultivation. — Berries and all small-fruits want high culture; grapes, close pruning 

 in spring, but none in summer, except surplus laterals or suckers; pears, at bearing, do 

 best mulched or in clover; all plums are best in tramped, poor land, without manure — 

 pigs and chickens are most convenient and beneficial. Apple and peach orchards at 

 bearing should also be treated to clover, and hogs turned in to eat fallen fruit. These 

 , orchards should be plowed shallow every few years and re-seeded to clover; small grain 

 sown in them induces the borers ; a pint of salt close to and around the base of the 

 trunk of each tree every year kills the grass there and checks the operations of the 

 borers; pears need more salt, also rusty iron imbedded in the soil under the trees is 

 beneficial. 



