78 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



Mr. Galusha, from the Committe Ad-Interim^ read his report upon 

 the cultivation of the apple, as follows : 



O. B. GALUSHA'S REPORT ^Z?-/iVr£i?//l/— APPLES. 



To the President and AIe?nbers of the Illinois State Horticultural 

 Society : 



In endeavoring to prosecute effectively the labor allotted to me by 

 you, and especially by the members of the Ad-Interim Committee, I 

 have traveled during the summer and fall sixteen hundred and eighty-five 

 (1,685) i^il^s expressly to visit orchards, vineyards, and nurseries, 

 examining not only the appearance of tree, shrub, vine, and fruit, but 

 also soils and sub-soils, and inquiring into the modes of culture and 

 training that had led to the various results. It would be the work of an 

 entire day to read the details of all the observations made and notes 

 taken at all points visited, and would certainly be a foolish expenditure 

 of the funds of the Society to publish them. I shall, therefore, in this 

 report, give only such facts gathered as I think will throw light upon 

 important points not fully understood or agreed upon among us; also 

 such as may may indicate some desirable change in orchard culture. 



The portion of work allotted to me, in the "division of labor" agreed 

 upon by the Ad-Interim Committee, was to examine and report upon 

 Apple Orchards. I shall, therefoi-e, pass over all other fruits which were 

 incidentally examined, reserving the privilege of writing out hereafter, 

 for the next volume of " Transactions," such facts, if any, in the culture 

 of these as may have escaped the observation of other members of the 

 committee, or were noticed at points not visited by them. 



Laying the Foundations for Longevity. — While it is a generally 

 admitted fact that orchards west of Lake Michigan will not be 

 healthy and productive under the same course of treatment or culture 

 that would be successful at the east, it is not as generally conceded, 

 if, indeed, it is scarcely thought of, that the peculiar treatment 

 necessary to produce hardiness, productiveness, and longevity in trees 

 here, should cofnmence in the nursery; yet my observations warrant me 

 in asserting, without a doubt, that this is generally true. As this paper 

 is in no sense to be a list of theories^ but rather a record of the results 

 of observations, I will pass over the commendable experiments of those 

 who are carefully saving all the seeds of the Siberian Crab apples at their 

 command, and planting them, in the hope thereby of procuring a more 

 hardy race of stocks upon which to graft the more desirable dessert and 

 market apples. 



I can not, however, pass these gentlemen by without bidding them 

 "God-speed" in their hopeful enterprise, and expressing the hope, that 

 these initiatory steps will, in a decade of years, result in placing such fruits 

 as American Summer Pearmain, Jersey Sweet, Fall Pippin, Bullock's 

 Pippin, Mother, Esopus Spitzenburg, Swaar, and Newton Pippin upon 

 thousands of tables whose owners are now trying to satisfy their craving 

 for fruit with such varieties as Ben Davis, Pennock, Willow twig, and 



