STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 193 



AURORA. 



Aurora for several years has been a center of the small fruit cultivators. It is located 

 about forty miles west of Chicago. The committee spent one day here — a rather hasty 

 visit to take in the whole subject, but sufficient for comparison with other points of 

 inter 



It was the la.st week of the strawberry season at that point. This fruit can be 

 cheaply grown and handled at this point, but is subject to a wide field of competition. 

 Northern Illinois, Indiana, the St. Joseph district in Michigan, all reach the market at 

 the same time ; and just then other fruits from the south come in competition, as well as 

 a large supply of cheap vegetables, all of which conspire to place the price of strawber- 

 ries very low in the market. It is therefore doubtful if the business of growing the 

 small fruits at this point will be continued on a large scale for distant markets. The 

 large number of families engaged in rail road manufacturing, will supply a class of 

 cheap labor, always reliable, that will go far to aid the cultivators of the small fruits in 

 their competition with other points. 



Raspberries, currants and gooseberries do remarkably well ; and along the out-crop 

 of Trenton limestone on the river bluffs, the grape cannot fail of being profitable. 



The prairie lands west of the river are of a dark prairie loam, but need under-drain- 

 ing to make them available for the strawberry. When thus treated, and with the 

 advantage of cheap labor which will be afforded by the children of the mechanic fam- 

 ilies, this fruit can be grown very cheaply ; but as before stated, it will always meet 

 sharp competition in the market. This year a part of the crop was sent south and 

 west. 



STRAWBERRY WINE 



has been rather largely made at this point, or rather more so than at other points. 

 Thus far it has paid very well, but the time is at hand when a gallon of grape wine can 

 be made, for what it will cost to supply the gallon of strawberry wine with sugar ; for 

 without three or four pounds of pure sugar to the gallon, this strawberry wine cannot 

 be made. We may therefore dismiss this as one of the profitable products of this 

 fruit. 



THE MAY CHERRY. 



The cherry crop was a failure at the south and central part of the State, but along 

 the road from Chicago to this point, the trees of the May or Early Richmond cherry 

 were red with ripening fruit. The crop appeared a full average one. The trees were 

 mostly stock 'grafted on the Morello. This part of the State has been fortunate in 

 good crops of this cherry. And as most of the trees arc stock grafted on Morello 

 suckers, it has been supposed that its great productiveness is due to that course. At 

 Princeton we found equally good crops on trees budded on the Mabaleb, and in one 

 case on th<' Ma/.zard. A very decided preferance is iriven to the Morello stocks. It is 

 probable that one cause of loss of trees on the Mahaleb is due to frost killing the 

 stocks in the same manner of dwarf pear trees. To prevent this is an easy matter, by 

 setting deeper or banking the earth above the point of junction. 



What effect climate and soil may have on stocks is not well understood, and we may 

 furth'-r investigate the subject with profit. Thus Cor the Chicago market has been 

 supplied with this fruit grown on trees grafted on the Morello; and In this part of 



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