222 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



laved with a perennial flow of water ; another delights and thrives only in a deep alluv- 

 ial soil: while others grow in sand; another in clay; while some will only grow in a 

 dry and arid soil where all others will die. 



The peculiar characteristics of each must be understood, and all successful culture 

 must be based upon such knowledge. Any peculiar unfavorable condition of soil or cli- 

 mate, must be remedied artificially, to rear any variety of tree, or its culture must fail. 

 There are several conditions required by the apple tree, not furnished by the prairie soil 

 and climate. Its first and most pressing requirement is moisture, there are but few trees 

 more impatient of drought than the apple. It is a rapid grower and immensely produc- 

 tive. Reflect upon the demand upon its resources — it has to form its annual growth, 

 mature its immense crop of fruit, and form the fruit germs for the next year's crop of 

 fruit — all at the same time. Now, consider it standing in a soil almost entirely deprived 

 of moisture, as our prairie soil often is in August and September, and we may well 

 expect to find leaf blight, frozen sap blight, and other fine spun throated diseases the 

 next summer, but which are generally only evidences of exhausted vitality, and but 

 what might be expected — little or no growth ; defective and scabby fruit, of poor keep- 

 ing qualities ; the fruit grown of the next crop, imperfect or entirely deficient — and the 

 tree weak and exhausted, the prey of insects and disease. The apple tree is a gross 

 feeder, a constant supply of nutriment is required to supply its waste, a good and gener- 

 ously rich soil is required, and as the nutriment is available only through dilution in the 

 moisture of the soil, deficiency of moisture is deficiency of nutriment — we frequently 

 hear fears expressed that our soil is so rich that our trees may grow too fast, this may be 

 true of young trees before they come in bearing, but I have never known it true of trees 

 after — the reverse is generally true — trees seldom bear more than one crop of fruit after 

 they stop growing, and that very imperfect. The condition of health and full nutrition 

 is the condition of fecundity in animals, and vigorous and perfect health and growth are 

 the conditions of productiveness in vegetable life —fair and perfect fruit cannot be ex- 

 pected from any other condition. 



I have noted that those orchards which failed to produce fruit the past season made 

 a very feeble growth, and that those which bore a crop of fruit made a fair growth of 

 wood. A steady and constant growth through each season, is necessary to successful 

 fruit culture. An orchard that has stopped growing must be thoroughly renovated by 

 cultivation and resume its normal growing condition before fruit can be expected. 



The renovation must be radical. As well might the Physician expect to restore 

 health to a cholera infected district, by use of some nostrum, or to clear the ague from 

 the swamps of the lower Mississippi by use of Quinine, as expect to realize a crop of 

 good fruit from trees standing in stagnant water, or in the dry and parched prairie soil, 

 during a season of extreme drouth. 



There are some insects that prey upon healthy growing trees, the Canker Avorm, Tent 

 caterpillar, Large borer " Saperda bivittata," are of the class, with some others and 

 must be destroyed. But I have never known the small flat borer infest a healthy tree, 

 when the bark has been partially killed by sun-scald, this borer commences work. 



The Hark louse with me has never attacked a healthy growing tree; an unthrifty 

 tree invites the lice and the lice prevents it growing, so the two work in harmony and 

 the tree goes under. The best remedy is to'cultivate, manure, prune, wash with alka- 

 lies, and by every means invigorate the tree ; start it growing once, the remedy is 



