162 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



growth, and the wood does not mature or acquire the hardness 

 to withstand climatic extremes. * * * The subject of location 

 has been so extensively commented on that it is useless to add much 

 here. It will be sufficient to say that in the locality under consider- 

 ation the greater the elevation the better, and a northern exposure 

 will always give the best results." 



There are, doubtless, some reasons why in many localities an 

 elevated piece of ground is better for an orchard than one that is 

 level, and chief among these is it furnishes a natural drainage. I 

 have failed, so far, to find, as the writer says, that apple trees do 

 well where their roots stand in water any considerable portion of 

 the year. I might cite a number of instances, but will not do it 

 here. On the subject of " Where we shall Plant," the Hon. A. C. 

 Hammond, in the Prairie Farmer for March 20th, says: "The 

 limits of this paper will not permit of an extended discussion of the 

 new theory of flat, moist orchard sites. 



" But the older members of this society will agree with me that 

 the conditions of our soil have greatly changed in the last three or 

 four decades. At that time fifty per cent, of our prairie land was 

 supposed to be an irreclaimable swamp, and in a day's travel on the 

 large prairies we would pass scores of ponds which were seldom if 

 ever dry, and which it was supposed would always be breeding places 

 for frogs and mosquitoes. When this land was first brought into 

 cultivation it was, of course, very wet and unsuited for tree-planting. 

 But a judicious system of drainage, cultivation and road-making, has 

 drawn the water from these ponds, as well as drained the higher 

 lands adjacent; and now these supposed worthless swamps are our 

 most valuable farms, covered with orchards, fields of golden grain, 

 and countless flocks and herds. The conditions of our rolling lands 

 have not changed so much, but even here it is very important. 

 Careless culture has robbed the soil of much of its fertility, and sent 

 the best portion of it to build the delta of the Mississippi, and 

 seamed the hillsides with great gullies that are blots upon the land- 

 scape and a serious loss to the farmer. We now find that orchards 

 on the high and dry lands that twenty-five years ago produced an- 

 nual crops of fine fruit, are, on account of drouth and poverty of 

 soil, now incapable of producing anything of value. Years of ob- 

 servation have convinced me that fruit trees suffer much more from 

 drouth and starvation than wet feet; and that if they are healthy 

 and vigorous, and go into winter quarters with well-ripened wood, 

 the lowest temperature we ever experience in Central Illinois will not 

 injure them. I would therefore plant on flat, moist, but well-drained 

 land, because such land contains more of the elements of tree and 

 fruit growth, and the supply of moisture is more abundant and reg- 

 ular. If, however, it was necessary to plant on high, dry land, I 

 should not hesitate to do it; but supply the conditions necessary to 

 success as nearly as possible by increasing the fertility, or by repeat- 



