8o TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



the nurserymen who propagate them, or the farmers who will only pay 

 a frice for their trees that precludes the possibility of giving them the 

 desired room in the nursery. I once heard a nurseryman say, " I have 

 tried this plan of producing stocky trees, and it came near being the 

 cause of my financial ruin, as they cost me twenty-five cents a piece, and 

 I had to sell them for a shilling." 



The plan of allowing a portion of th« lateral shoots to grow as near 

 as from two to three feet from the ground, for the first ten or twelve 

 years, does not necessarily prevent the general and more full development 

 of tlie higher and more permanent branches, for if they have been kept 

 in check by shortening them in, from time to time, they may be then 

 removed altogether, for the thick bark of the trunk and larger limbs is a 

 sufficient protection to the alburnum from the effects of the heat of the 

 sun. 



There are exceptions to most of rules in Horticulture, as well as 

 in other sciences and arts, and we do often find trees in the West that are 

 prepared by nature to resist influences that would seriously damage nine 

 tenths of their neighbors ; yet I repeat that the fact that apple trees 

 with tall trunks, and especially those that lean to the northeast, as nearly- 

 all such do, are not as healthy or long-lived as those whose trunks are 

 partially shaded by their branches, has been ftilly established by obsei-va- 

 tions in thousands of acres of orchards in all parts of the State. 1 found 

 one orchard this year, however, that seemed to contradict preceding 

 observations. This orchard (in Macoupin County) appeared as near 

 perfection in vigor and productiveness as any old orchard I have seen in 

 the West ; yet the ti'ees were trimmed up to four or five feet of trunk, 

 and the heads were moderately thinned out. I remarked to the owner, 

 who, by the way, had himself planted the trees about thirty-three years 

 ago, that his orchard appeared to show an exception to the general facts 

 that had come under my observation. On my explaining to him the 

 nature of these facts, he rejoined : " Why, bless you ; these were low- 

 head trees when I planted them, and I never put the knife or saw into 

 them until they had stood about twelve years, and from that time on I 

 trimmed up and thinned out." The explaiiation was, of course, satis- 

 factory. Some orchardists prevent the leaning of their trees to the 

 northeast by planting them with their tops inclined to the southwest, 

 securing them in this position by stakes and bands of straw. The tops 

 thus inclined shade the trunks somewhat, and the rays of the sun that 

 do strike them do so at such an oblique angle that their effect is not 

 damaging. 



I have been thus definite in giving the causes and preventives of this 

 premature decay in so many thousands of our orchard trees, only because 

 of its extent^ and because the preventives are mainly at the command of 

 every tree-planter. 



Insects. — ScA^eral species of the insect enemies of the apple have 

 been more numerous this year than heretofore. The codling-moth, tent- 

 caterpillar, and leaf-roller have been far more destructive than I have 

 ever known them to be. 



