188 TEANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



And there are bat few farms in this State where they cannot be gi'own, 

 with the proper care and protection from frost and insect enemies. 



If any one doubts the above, let him plant ten trees each of 

 peach, plum and cherries, suited to his latitude, in a well drained, not 

 over rich, soil. Keep the borers out of the trunks and crowns in 

 the summer, with good cultivation (early in the season only); then 

 wrap the trunk and large limbs with building or carpet paper, and 

 then cut all superfluous brush early in the fall, and, just before hard 

 freezing sets in, fill the whole tree full of dry straw, free from chaff, 

 bind strong twine around the outside limbs, and take a pitch-fork 

 and crowd more straw between the twine and limbs till all is snug, 

 and then you are all snug for the winter, at a cost of not more than 

 twenty-five or thirty cents per tree. This protection should be left 

 on till danger from frost is over in the spring. 



(There is no patent on this plan, but there is a machine to do 

 the work in a more expeditious manner, that is patented, and is a 

 good thing.) 



But the serious business begins with the curculio, for they seem 

 to be omnipresent where stone fruit is grown. There are numerous 

 remedies recommended, some of which will check them somewhat; 

 but the only sure remedy is to catch and kill them. This can be 

 done cheaply with a sheet and a pail of water with a gill of coal-oil 

 poured on top. Thej^ never bother fruit any more after one bath of 

 the above, and a man or boy can run thirty or forty trees in ten min- 

 utes, morning and evening, and be amply repaid with nice fruit fresh 

 from the tree. 



{N. B. — This curculio remedy might not apply to friend D. B. 

 Wier's breed of curculio, for, according to his article on " Orchard 

 and (rarden," they are about to enter a state of " hiocuous dis- 

 uetude.") 



It is always fashionable to give a list of varieties to plant, but 

 when given for a State the size of Illinois it is most always a failure 

 for obvious reasons, and each planter should be governed by what 

 does well in his latitude. Of a number of the newer native, and 

 some of the later importations of the Japanese plums, I would recom- 

 mend a fair trial. 



Of the half-dozen varieties of the Japanese I am trying, the Bo- 

 tan seems to do the best. Its thick, heavy leaf and strong growth 

 in our dry, hot seasons makes it very promising, but I fear it will be 

 rather late in ripening its fruit in the north end of the State. Of 

 the Marienne, there is one point which I wish to call your attention 

 to, and that is, it will grow from cuttings almost as readily as the 

 Quince, and sends up but few sprouts. 



