WARSAW HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 409 



chard of this kind may be counted on as a profital)le investment for 

 fifteen or twenty years, when it shouhl be cut down and a new one 

 phmted on the same or a new site. And here I will digress to say 

 that if the old orchard has been kept in proper condition by the ap- 

 plication of fertilizers, or by plowing under green crops, I would be 

 just as willing to plant there as on a new piece of land. 



The limits of this paper will not permit of an extended discus- 

 sion of the new theory of fiat, moist orchard sites; but the older 

 members of this Society will agree with me that the conditions of 

 this soil have greatly changed during the last three or four decades. 

 At that time fifty per cent, of our prairie land was supposed to be a 

 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 mosqui- 

 toes. When this land was first brought into cultivation it was, of 

 course, very wet and unsuited to tree planting; but a judicious sys- 

 tem 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 healthy orchards, fields of golden grain, and countless 

 fiocks and herds. 



The condition of our rolling land has not changed so much, 

 but even here it is very apparent. Careless culture has robbed the 

 soil of much of its fertility and sent the best portion of it to build 

 up the delta of the Mississippi, and seamed the hillside with great 

 gullies that are a blot upon the landscape and a serious loss to the 

 farmer. We now find that orchards on the high and dry lands, that 

 twenty-five years ago produced annual crops of fine fruit, are, on 

 account of drouth aud poverty of soil, now incapable of produc- 

 ing anything of value. Years of observation have convinced me 

 that fruit trees suffer much more from drouths and starvation than 

 from wet feet; and that if they are healthy and vigorous, and go 

 into winter quarters with well ripened wood, the lowest temperature 

 we ever experienced 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 regular. If, how- 

 ever, it was necessary to plant on high, dry land, I should not hesi- 

 tate to do it, but supply the conditions necessary to success, as nearly 

 as possible, by increasing the fertility of the soil by an application 

 of fertilizers, or by repeatedly plowing under rye, clover, or other 

 green crop. After following this plan for several years I would seed 

 to clover, which should be permitted to remain on the ground as a 

 mulch, which will ))revent evaporation and keep the ground moist 

 during the most severe drouth. 



In conclusion I will say, plant trees; plant for market if you 

 choose, but plant for home use if nothing more. Don't invest in 



