STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 4g 



I consider rich, high and dry land and a northern exposure as best for most species 

 of fruits. 



For Timber- Belts, rapid-growing evergreens — spruce, pine, etc., are most effectual 

 all the year, but are detrimental except for summer winds, as high exposed locations are 

 most productive of fruit. 



Pruning. — Orchards are more injured from excessive pruning than from neglect. 

 Shape the young tree, and never after cut large limbs; hollow, open tops are short- 

 lived, and no wonder, when Nature is so perverted ; one main trunk from top to base, 

 with enough side branches (though not a popular theory), is the strongest and best tree. 



Best Sorts of Different Fruits.— li grown for money, the most prolific and salable; 

 if for dessert, suit the taste. Select the fewest varieties for a succession. The most 

 profitable on our black prairie soil might differ in other localities. A few of the most 

 hardy and remunerative are given : 



Raspberries. — Black-cap and Mammoth Cluster. 



Blackberries. — Snyder and Kittatinny. 



Slawberries. — Charles Downing and Wilson. 



Currants. — Red Dutch, White Grape and Cherry. 



Cherries. — Early Richmond (for profit). 



Grapes. — Concord (most profitable), Ives' Seedling, Hartford, Clinton and Norton's 

 Virginia; Concord Seedlings (White) Martha and Lady are both hardy and prolific. 

 Rogers' Hybrid No. i, if protected in winter, is the most profitable grape for late 

 keeping; the vine is a vigorous grower, very prolific; fruit with foreign flavor. 



Plums. — Wild-Goose and Chickasaw varieties. I am introducing a seedling Wild- 

 Goose which I procured at Union Village, Ohio, and from the seed have grown trees 

 giving a succession from late July to October, which surpass all varieties for hardiness 

 and profit. It is doubtless thebest family and market plum for Illinois ; the tree, hardy 

 and vigorous, occupies twenty feet of land, and has never failed me a crop. 



Pears suffer from blight and are not extensively grown. The standard trees suc- 

 ceeding best are Flemish Beauty, White Doyenne, Belle Lucrative and Osband's 

 Summer. Those with dark or reddish bark, such as Flemish Beauty and Osband's 

 Summer, are most hardy. 



The Duchess d'Angouleme is unsurpassed as a dwarf. 



Peaches. — The money is in a few varieties, viz. : Troth's Early, Early Crawford, 

 Old Mixon Free, Stump the World, Smock Free, Lagrange, Heath Cling and Allen's 

 October. 



Apples. — The following are adapted especially to the soil and climate of this 

 county : Early Harvest, Maiden's Blush, Rambo, Penn. Red Streak, Rome Beauty, 

 Ben Davis, Winesap, Jonathan, Fallawater, Willow Twig, Rawles' Janet. 



DISCUSSION UPON THE REPORT. 



Mr. McWhorter. — I would like to know if Prunus Americana and 

 Pninus Chicasa are identical ? 



A. H. Gaston. — All plums, natives in America, are Chickasaw plums. 



Mr. Murtfeldt. — My daughter has given some study to this 

 cabbage-worm, the Pieris rapce, and has found it infested with parasites, 

 v/hich may keep it in check. 



Mr. Hathewav. — These insects were very bad upon my cabbages 

 last summer, and I thought at one time that I would have no cabbages, 

 but by using one grain of carbolic acid crystal to one gallon of water, 

 sprinkled over the plants, I kept them in check and raised a good crop 

 of cabbages. 



