1G TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



before they ripened. Seedling peaches sold at $1 per bushel. 

 They were spotted and scabby, but people were anxious to get 

 them at that price. The trees havemade a fine growth this seas- 

 on, and there is a prospect of another crop next season if 

 Jack Frost does not kill the buds. Have sold more peach trees 

 out of our Nursery this fall than we have for several years. The 

 crop we had this summer has encouraged the farmers and 

 fruit growers and I think there will be a good demand in the 

 spring for trees. Trees of apricots, Russian and American, have 

 been largely planted the last few years, but owing to their early 

 blooming the frost kills them before the fruit sets and so we have 

 not had any in this part of Illinois. • 



Cherries bore a good crop the past season, it being the first crop 

 that we had for several years. Early Richmond, English Mor- 

 rellos, May Duke and Montmorency are mostly grown here but 

 the latter seem to take the lead. 



Plums seem to be taking the place of peaches in this section. 

 Six years ago we set out an orchard of one hundred and fifty trees 

 of the Wild Goose, Chickasaw and Miner, setting fifty trees of 

 each kind. We had three full crops in succession of the Wild 

 Goose and Chickasaw, whereas the Miner has done no good for us. 



Have heard it said that Miner trees do better as they grow old- 

 er. A neighbor of ours has a tree about fourteen years old that 

 bore good, large, sound plums for several years. The Wild Goose 

 is certainly a fine, large plum for all purposes, but the Chickasaw 

 we have is the largest yielder. In the year 1888 we had one hun- 

 dred bushels of good, sound Chickasaws and fifty bushels of Wild 

 Goose; the past season we had one hundred and twenty-five bush- 

 els of Chickasaws and one hundred bushels of Wild Goose. The 

 Chickasaws we have were brought from the South. They are not 

 budded, but sprouts . They are distinct from any other Chickasaws 

 that we ever heard of or saw. It is yellow, with a red cheek, is 

 not as large as the Wild Goose. It is rich, sweet, juicy and suit- 

 able either to be eaten out of the hand or for cooking purposes, 

 ripens about a week later than Wild Goose. It is an enormous 

 bearer, the limbs being literally covered with fruit. We cul- 

 tivated our orchards the first two seasons, but since then we have 

 not worked the ground; neither have we sprayed the trees. We 

 do not pick our plums when they begin to ripen, but give the trees 

 a gentle shaking every day and are particular to gather all that 

 fall. Then we take them to a shed and sort them, putting the 

 good sound ones in quart boxes and throwing the waste to swine 

 and chickens. This is what we think saves us from the Curculio 

 which has not troubled our orchard so far. We sold our plums 

 here at home, Wild Goose brought us in 1888, §1.75 per twenty- 

 four qt. case, Chickasaw $1.50 per twenty-four qt. case. The past 

 season, fruit being plenty, Wild Goose sold at §1.25 and Chicka- 

 saws at §1 per twenty-four qt. case. We have planted trees of 



