STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 277 



twenty-five years old — which fre(|ucntly hear large crops of fruit. Some 

 of these trees are :i^raftecl on Hawthorn stocks, which has the eflect to 

 dwarf them. 



A larji^e nuniher of pear trees has hcen planteil of late years, mostly 

 of the Madeline, Doyenne d'Ete, Hartlett, Seckel, Louise lionne de 

 Jersey, llemish Beaut}', Easter JJeurre, Vicar of Winkfield. and Winter 

 Nells. Many of these trees are in bearing-, and produce excellent fruit. 



For my part, I can recommend the Vicar of Winkfield, Winter 

 Nells, and Easter Beurre, as standanls, and Bartlett, and Lcniise Bonne 

 de Jersey, as dwarfs. The blurt's or slopes of the river bottoms seem to 

 be better adapted to fruit culture than the bottom itself, both for quality 

 and quantity of the products. 



Fruit cultuic in the county is in the ascendency; thousands of trees are 

 annually planted. ^ 



MARION COUNTY. 



15 Y J. S. TAYLOR. 



(). B. Galusiia, Secretary Illinois State Horticultural Society: 



In response to your re(|uest to be furnished with the Horticultural 

 Ilistoiy of Marion County, for publication in the Transactions of your 

 Society, I have, as far as practicable, gathered the facts relating to such 

 history, and herewith submit them. 



Prior to the completion of the Illinois Central Railroad through the 

 State, and the consequent opening up of a valuable fruit market, but 

 little attention had been given to fruit culture in this county. 



With a few exceptions, the seedling apple and peach and the Morello 

 cherry were about the only fruits attempted to be cultivated. 



The wild blackberry and wild plum, then as now, grew spon- 

 taneously in abundance, but were made of comparatively little use. 

 There being no facilities for shipping, the production of fruit for market 

 was not thought of, and not until the introduction of improved varieties 

 of fruit, particularly of peaches, some three or four years after the com- 

 pletion of the railroad, did this branch of industry begin to receive much 

 attention. 



The surplus of the orchard, if sold at all, was commonly hauled to 

 the nearest store, and there traded for store goods at from twenty-five to 

 fifty cents per bushel, for both peaches and apples. No longer ago than 

 1857 and 1S5S, the abo\e price was paid for the seedling fruit oOered for 

 sale to the merchants in the then infant city of Centralia. Some of this 

 fruit was shipped to Chicago by the more enterprising purchasers, where 

 it realized them a handsome profit, being sold at live and six dollars per 

 bushel. 



As a thought bearing upon supply and demand of fruit, it may be 

 here stated that notwithstanding the vast increase m the production of 

 fruit, so great intleod that we now ship a thousand boxes from this 

 county for every one shipped at that time — the price even of the same 



