STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 63 



A very small crop of pears, more Seckels than any other 

 variety. 



Grapes, aljout one-fourth of a crop. The cold winter, a hail 

 storm in June, and rot in July nearly ruined the crop. 



Strawljerries were fine and l^rou^ht a fair price. Capt. Jacks 

 ;iii(l Crescents head the list. 



Ked raspl)erries are fairly ])rotitable here, with Brandywiue and 

 Turner in the lead. 



Respectfully suhmitted. 



F. HAYDEN. 



[From G. W. Endicott.] 



Mr. Fred Haydex, Alton, HI.: 



Dear Sir — Accordin<2; to your request I herewith report such 

 facts and information as I have been able to collect in rej^ard to gen- 

 eral horticulture in Southern Illinois. Not having the time or al)il- 

 ity to make out an elaborate report, the l:»are facts gathered from 

 observation and enquiry among the best fruit-growers of this ])art of 

 the State must sutiice for this time: and to make a report of this kind 

 better uiulerstood, each county will be reported on se])arately. begin- 

 ning with Pulaski, and including Union and Jackson to some extent, 

 or the grand chain district as laid down in the horticultural classili- 

 cation of the State. 



Piddski Count I/. — In a horticultural point of view, the past 

 vear has been a remarkable one. not on account of the abundance of 

 fruit, but from the wide-spread devastations by insects and the pecu- 

 liar eccentricities of the weiither. 



Our a])])le crop was entirely destroyed by the forest-tree cater- 

 pillar. l)oth fruit and foilage Ijeing completely devoured, and the trees 

 left in a very bad shjqie for next year's fruiting; in fact, nniny of 

 them died outright, and what looks more discouraging is the millions 

 of eggs now deposited for another crop the coming Spring. Very 

 few young trees ]danting. 



Pears seem to be on the down grade. There were no crops to 

 speak of. and what specimens there were were more or less scabby and 

 imperfect. The blight has almost ruined the pear orchards of this 

 county, and no one seems to have the coiirage to plant any more 

 trees. Duchess and Howell succeed better than any others here. 



Peaches were only a partial crop in this county, owing to various 

 reascms. The winter of 18S2-H was extremely changeal)le. with 

 sudden cold snaps that killed a part of the buds, folh)\ved by a heavy 

 sleet that crushed the buds to a ])ulp on some varieties: but with all 

 these mishaps there would have been a fair croj). but for the cold wet 

 weatlier in ^lay; that caused many varieties to dro]) their fruit ])re- 

 maturely, and the warm wet weather iit the time of ri|)ening caused 

 many to rot and speck, so they were unfit for market. Tlie ])ast 

 Summer and Fall have been very favorable for a good growth of new 



