404 TRANSACTIONS OF THE RICHLAND 



It is now quite generally understood at home and abroad that 

 Southern Illinois is the most favored region for growing fine 

 flavored, excellent keeping and shipping, handsome "red 

 apples." This favored region has for its center a place situated 

 less than fifty miles from where we are now assembled. Our 

 people are now fully satisfied that our claims have not, and can 

 not be overestimated, and they are determined to make this the 

 garden spot of the west. We hope to see within five years our 

 cheap land sell at from $75 to $100 per acre. Hope is made up 

 of desire and expectation, so that we not only desire it, but ex- 

 pect it. Land has increased one-fourth in the past six months,, 

 aud the demand is increasing every day. 



To grow an orchard requires time, money and eternal vigi- 

 lance. If you are not willing to wait eight or ten years for re- 

 turns, and are not willing to invest money for trees, labor and 

 fertilizers, and give the trees attention from the first of Janu- 

 ary to the last of December each year, you must let some one 

 else grow the orchards. 



After the orchard is grown our work is only begun. The 

 trees must be kept free of the many insects which prey upon the 

 fruit and foliage. The amount, in value, of fruit destroyed by 

 the injurious insects in the United States each year is estimated 

 at $200,000,000. It is estimated that the codling moth alone has, 

 in recent years, destroyed one-half of the apple crop. But along 

 with the marked increase of insects, there has been increased ac- 

 tivity on the part of cultivators and the national and state gov- 

 ernments are devising means and remedies for destroying these 

 pests. The borer needs special attention, because of his deadly 

 work, and the large number of young trees which have been set 

 within the past year. This insect enters the tree and cuts into 

 the solid wood near the surface of the earth. It is a dangerous 

 enemy, for while there is very little external evidence of his work, 

 it may have perforated the wood internally in all directions and 

 reduced it to a mass of powder. If the body of the tree is care- 

 fully washed in May with soft soap, lime, sulphur and carbolic 

 acid, from the ground about a foot high, the borer will do very 

 little, if any, harm to our trees. Spraying for codling moth will 

 be treated of later, so I will not speak of it here. 



We are frequently asked if there is not danger of overdoing 

 the apple business. We desire to say, most emphatically, that 

 we do not believe that there is any danger of ever overstocking 

 the market with select winter apples. But two sections, besides 

 ours, are known as large fruit producing sections, viz: New 

 York and Michigan. These sections in 1888 produced a large 

 crop — New York produced one and one-half millions barrels, 

 and Michigan one million ; or only two and one-half millions 

 in both; of which 1,300,000 barrels were exported, leaving 

 only 1,200,000 barrels for home demand, or one-tenth of a 



