30 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



yards are being extended every year, and the supply of excellent grapes 

 in the market is constantly increasing, the price being fully sustained by 

 the increased consumption. 



"Small Fruits of the different varieties, as straw^berries, raspberries, 

 blackberries, currants, and gooseberries, show a marked improvement, 

 in both quantity and quality. The culture of pears is decreasing, on 

 account of the ravages of the fire-blight, for which no remedy or mitiga- 

 tion has been found. So with plums; with a soil and climate suited to 

 the growth of this beautiful and delicious fruit, the best eflbrts of the 

 most intelligent and industrious growers are rendered utterly futile by 

 the presence of that abominable "little Turk," the curculio. The supply 

 of apples is abundant, but no improvement noted in the management of 

 orchards. In peaches we once claimed a pre-eminence in this section 

 of countiy. I have seen them so plentiful in this market, that they 

 went begging at sixty cents a bushel for pretty fair fruit; and I have seen 

 large, luscious fruit allowed to rot on the ground, or to be eaten by the 

 hogs, because of the abundance. But the winters of 1855-6 and of 

 1858-9 did the business for the peaches, killing not only the fruit buds, 

 but the trees, root and branch. Since then we have bought peaches by 

 the box from "Egypt" and Michigan. Our insect and climatic enemies, so 

 called, are doubtless friends in disguise, for if we were free from them, 

 we would be even as California, where the finest fruit, such as pears and 

 peaches, is consumed by the hogs, or rots upon the ground. Hence in 

 California the fruit grower can make nothing; here he can make a good 

 living from the product of a few acres." 



John G. Zeller, of Woodford County, contributes the following inter- 

 esting report : "Horticulture in our county is fairly progressing. The 

 last six or seven years, hundreds and thousands of fruit trees and vines 

 have been planted, and a good share of them well taken care of. Apple 

 trees have naturally been most largely planted, but pears and the fine 

 varieties of cherries and plums have not been neglected. Many varieties 

 of grapes have been planted with varied success; but at last the public 

 mind has settled on the Concord, not as the best, but the surest, and con- 

 sequently the most remunerative variety. The timber portion of our 

 county is the most favorable for fruit culture, both on account of soil 

 and protection. On dry clay soils we fiind our healthiest and best 

 orchards, and the fruit is superior to that grown on sandy bottoms, or 

 prairie soil. It was once thought that on genuine prairie soil fruit 

 culture could never be carried on successfully ; but experience, gained 

 from a number of earnest experiments, has convinced every one to the 

 contrary. We have now in the inidst of our prairies, far away from 

 timber belts, some promising young orchards. The subsoil on nearly all 

 our prairies is a stiff impervious clay, and to make trees thrive well, it is 

 necessary to provide good surface, or underdrainage, and to subsoil where 

 the future orchard is to be planted. A belt of forest trees on rhe north 

 and west, and, I might add, on the south side, would be a great advantage. 

 Many wide-awake prairie farmers have already protected their young 

 orchards by timber belts. Much has been done lately on our prairies in 



