SOCIETY OF NORTHERN ILLINOIS. 341 



lands where we succeed well with orchards. The Barahoo 

 Mountains and hillsides are the best orchard and vineyard sites we 

 have. At Oshkosh, the Alexander succeeds well in black, mucky 

 soil. If you must set your trees in an old orchard, grub out the old 

 ones and burn them, trunk, top, and all, right in the hole where 

 you take them out, mix some new soil with the ashes and plant 

 your young tree in it. T do not fear any of the insects, except the 

 curculio, as Paris green will destroy all others. 



D. J. Piper — I have dug up nearly all my trees, as they were a 

 failure. Had them planted on new rolling ground four years. The 

 Mann apple is not good with me. I like the Willow Twig and Ben 

 Davis, but I am afraid to plant them. The next orchard I set will 

 plant Duchess and Whitney, and top graft Willow Twig, Wythe, 

 Salome, Sweet June, Astrachan and Excelsior on them. The 

 Wythe is hardy and bears every year a full crop. If I had had five 

 hundred trees of them for the last five years, they would have paid 

 well. 



Mr. Cunningham referred to an orchard near Kankakee, which 

 he said was situated on a piece of ground near a lake, which he 

 should think was on an average of about four feet above the level 

 of the water. This orchard has been a great success, due, I think, 

 to the fact that the water seeps through the soil under the orchard. 

 However, it was all killed three years ago this winter, I think by the 

 severe cold weather, but prior to that time it bore heavy crops for 

 years. 



Professor Budd — I saw trees on Wheat Ridge, near Denver, 

 hanging full of as fine Fulton apples as could be grown in California. 

 This is a very dry climate. There is no rust on the wheat, trees or 

 anything, on account of the dry air, which is very even. Our 

 trouble with rust comes from having a dry, hot air one day and 

 dampness from the Gulf of Mexico the next. We shall always have 

 these rusts, dusts and smut unless we can get varieties adapted to 

 this changeable atmosphere. When the white man first came to this 

 country he found some native fruits — plums, grapes, strawberries, 

 etc., which were not troubled with rust and such disorders, as they 

 were indigenous to the climate. Apples, pears and cherries are not 

 natives of this country and are not hardy enough. The Duchess, 

 having heavy foliage, can endure these sudden changes. 



