STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 51 



simihir soil uiul exposure, wliit h was rolling prairie land, bui of an cntirch 

 different appearance. The trees in this orchard had been trained low, 

 having their lower branches within from two to three feet from the ground, 

 generally, with little pruning in the orchard, and were robust, thrifty 

 trees, which had made a fine growth last season. I do not mention this 

 for any other rea.son than to impress the truth so often reiterated in this 

 Society, that, other things being ecpial, trees trained low, so that their 

 trunks are shaded by their branches when young, are usually better both 

 in health and ])roductiveness than those trained with trunks five or six 

 feet to the lower limbs; and that se\ere pnming tends to make diseased 

 trees. * 



Dr. Lo\(; (of Alton) — I was mu( h interested in the essay. My 

 labors in the orchard commenced many years ago. There was a time when 

 I ])roduced more fruit thaji all the rest of the State of Illinois. My 

 orchard now has become very okl, many trees have become unprofitable, 

 and I am cutting many of them awa) . The Gilpin is a long-lived tree, 

 and has produced me some very profitable crops. The Prior's Red is a 

 long-lived tree. There is one thing to be observed: if you raise a great 

 amount of wood mju can't have fruit ; check the wood growth and you 

 get fruit. You can do this in many ways. Bore holes in the tree, if no 

 other way ; but better sow to grass, and check growth in this way.* But 

 1 ne\er allow my trees to remain in grass more than six or seven years at 

 one time. My grounds are always clean. A})ples are now selling in the 

 neighborhood for two dollars and fifty cents per barrel. I have sold (iil- 

 pins, in the spring, for seven and eight dollars per barrel. I advise every 

 farmer, who has ground that he can call his own, to set out an a|)])le 

 orchard ; it will make food for himself and famil\-, and nothing is more 

 conducive to good health than good ripe fruit. x\bout this giving up the 

 raising of i)ears : I have not given it up; I had seventy varieties at one 

 time. 'J'hey have now died out and dwindled to six or seven varieties ; 

 some of these trees are now twenty-four to twenty-five years old, and bear 

 Well. These are not in cultivated ground ; those in highly culti\ated 

 ground seem to suffer worst. The cultivation of pears on the bluffs of 

 the Mississippi is a success. The soil is of a nature to suit them. 



The Doctor did not consider root-pruing of any advantage. 



Mr. Hammond — I would be glad to have Mr. McCune tell us some- 

 thing out the pear orchard of which 1 spoke. I do not think there has 



* Dr. Long's soil is the rich, loess S(jil of the Mississippi river bluffs, which, at his 

 place, is many feet deep. — Secretary. 



