1(36 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



REPORT ON ORCHARD CULTURE. 



BY JAMES T. JOHNSON, WARSAW. 



Secretary of the Illinois Horticidfiirdl Society: 



Dear Sir — Your Committee on Pro<i,Tamme for 1883 assign me 

 the subject of ''Orchard Culture." Duty impels me to furnish a 

 brief report. Having reported upon this subject a number of times 

 heretofore. I shall not attempt to say something new for the sake of 

 originality or for the mere gratification of the inorbidly credulous, 

 hence this paper is likely to contain some ideas not original. 



Nothing could afford me a greater pleasure than to be able to 

 say something to the advantage of those who are bending every 

 energy which they can command to the selecting, planting, and the 

 cultivation of the many kinds of rich and luscious fruits of which 

 our climate and soil are capable. Upon this subject much valuable 

 information has been heretofore obtained and disseminated through 

 the combined wisdom of the members of the Illinois Horticul- 

 tural Society, but yet we have much to learn, and what is of 

 all perhaps the most difficult, " to unlearn what we have learned 

 amiss,^'' and learn the art of separating the chaff' from the solid 

 grain, getting all the real wisdom possible, but not forgetting 

 the important adjunct, to " get a correct understanding." 



Learn to rightly appreciate local influences; to recognize the 

 now well-known fact that, in a very large degree, all of our well- 

 known varieties of fruits have their local characteristics, both as to 

 climate and soil. That the Russets, the Baldwins, the Newtown 

 Pippins, Greenings, etc., etc., find a congenial home elsewhere, and 

 not in our " Great West."' That some varieties of fruits delight in 

 a sandy soil, while many others flourish equally well, if not better, on 

 our deep rich (and even damp) prairie soils, and still a greater num- 

 ber which find a congenial home in our rolling timber soils ( loess 

 formation ) and nearest to our lakes and rivers. 



After learning what is best adapted to your own locality and 

 soil you are prepared to locate your orchard. In this, if possible, 

 consult your own convenience. We should like to have it as near 

 the dwelling as possible, and to the north or west of the house, leav- 

 ing alirays a generous space for a good lawn and for home ornamen- 

 tation. In this latitude we should prefer the highest land on the 

 farm, and if to be had, a slight northern exposure. This is not only 

 ])est for a healthful growth of the trees in summer, but the fruit 

 buds are much less liable to injury by the extremes of our variable 

 climate during winter and spring. In warm exposures fruit buds 

 start prematurely, and are destroyed afterwards, while trees situated 

 on more bleak ex])osures are ke])t liack and thus escape injury. 



With a favorable location and skillful cultivation an orchard 

 may be grown with a good degree of success o!n almost any character 



