26 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



deep, rich prairie soil, which, if properly cared for, gives a growth suffi- 

 cienriy large for either budding or grafting at one year's growth, which 

 is preferred by the most of nurserymen. We prefer grafting at the collar 

 of the root, using one root to the graft, leaving the root four to five inches 

 in length, though there may be exceptions. Where the roots are long 

 and fibrous the second cut may be used, and, if equally strong, they afibrd 

 a strong growth to the graft the first year, which invariably insures a tree 

 with strong, healthy growth, and more liable to ripen its wood before the 

 setting in of winter. 



In setting out orchards of apple, pear, plum, and cheriy trees, we 

 prefer to have the ground plowed at least ten inches deep, then dig a hole 

 sufficiently large to receive the roots as they naturally grew, wet the roots 

 (with water not too cold) and use the hand in putting in fine earth around 

 them. Be careful to place all fibrous roots in their natural position, fill- 

 ing up, and pressing down with the foot, until the tree stands firm in the 

 ground, leaving the tree one or two inches lower than when it stood in 

 the nursery, then mulch well with coarse manure, and cultivate the ground 

 with some hoed crop. On prairie or level gi'ound, more especially 

 where there is a clay subsoil, (unless the ground is properly drained with 

 tile or other material) we would recommend in plowing to turn the fuiTow 

 towards the row each year, until the ridge where the row stands is twelve 

 to eighteen inches high, leaving a ditch between the rows, to carry off* 

 surface water. This mode of cultivation not only serves to make the tree 

 stand erect and keep the roots diy shod, giving the tree nearly all the 

 strength of the surface soil, but prevents the starting of the sap in the 

 roots the first sunny days in spring, thus preventing the blossoms from 

 bursting forth before the late frosts in spring, and is more likely to insure 

 a good crop. It also keeps the dense freezing from the roots of the tree 

 in even the coldest winter. I have seen in the orchard of James A. Wake- 

 man, sixteen miles west of Chicago, on the prairie, with a stifl'clay subsoil, 

 even such varieties as the Rhode Island Greening, Baldwin, and Spitz- 

 enberg succeeding quite well when grown with the above mode of culti- 

 vation, although these varieties have been found too tender to succeed 

 well in general orchard culture in this district. 



There is a strong growing interest in this district, as well as in the 

 whole Northwest, in regard to Siberian Crab apples, but this question 

 has been so well discussed before the public and by able men, that there 

 is little need of my saying much about it; but I will say that not only 

 the leading varieties, but many new varieties are bound to become popu- 

 lar, as they are gaining in favor very fast throughout the Northwest. 

 The fruit gi-owers and kitchen gardeners, as well as farmers, may plant 

 one of these iron-clad trees (if we may be allowed the expression), and 

 it will stay with them, and they need not replace it every few years, as 

 has been the practice with tender varieties of fruit. The same may be 

 said of plums. The Townsend, or Miner, and other hardy varieties 

 will follow suit, as it is a positive fact that we must propagate fruit of 

 varieties that will ripen their wood early in autumn, shed their foliage, 

 and be prepared for the sudden changes of our Northwestern climate at 



