°16 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



old settlers) still the owner of the hind. About the same time, Mr. Samuel Ogle planted 

 a large orchard, and grafted the trees with fine fruit, (sent to him from Delaware) five 

 miles wesi of Belleville, his was a choice selection of fruit ; he has, perhaps, made more 

 money out of his orchard than any other man in this county. There were some orchards 

 in the Lemen settlement, in the northern part of Ridge Prairie. 



In justice to the old pioneer settlers, I must state that most of them planted orchards, 

 all over the county. 



About fifteen or eighteen years ago, some Ohio men brought a great many very fine 

 apple grafts to this county. I wish I could give you their names, as I consider them 

 public benefactors; they grafted the old orchards; they only asked to be paid for 

 what grew or did well by the following year, by which honest liberality on their part, 

 they overcame the predjudice so common at that day against peddling Yankees. 



About thirty or thirty-five years ago, one Mr. James Mason, a very good farmer and 

 a very intelligent man, commenced the nursery business on his farm, five miles south of 

 Maseoutah, and raised a great many valuable trees, which he always sold as fast as they 

 bore transplanting; he was in reality a public benefactor. The writer of this bought 

 several hundred of his trees in 1844-45 which were true to name, and grew well, and com- 

 prised the following list : Red June, Early Harvest, Ram bo, Big Hill, Big and Little 

 Romanite, Jennettings, Grindstone, Pennsylvania Red Streak, Shiloh Pippin and a few 

 others. There are to-day hundreds of good orchards, in this and the adjoining counties, 

 for which their owners are indebted, for the intelligence, honesty and industry of James 

 Mason. He died last summer, having received a paralytic stroke about two years ago, 

 previous lo his death, he could neither walk, talk, nor write. His fine farm will be sold 

 to strangers, and his good name and deeds will soon be forgotten, while hundreds will 

 enjoy the luxury of eating his fine apples, and drinking good cider, without thinking of 

 the original propagator. 



Within the last twenty years, the county has been dotted over with fine orchards, 

 with all the various new varieties. Some new good apples have been added to the list 

 that have originated in this county. A serious impediment to orcharding now and for 

 a few years back, seems to be a disease known as the Bitter Rot, which are little black 

 spots of dry rot all over the apple, which makes it almost useless, except for hog feed. 

 Let us hope that some one will be able to shed some light on this most important 

 subject. 



From my past observations, I think that the average life of apple orchards is from 

 twenty-five to thirty years. 



Peaches were, until within fifteen years, mainly raised from seedlings in fence corners, 

 being considered unworthy to occupy any other portion of the farm. About that time, 

 or a few years previous, Joseph Ogle planted a small orchard of budded fruit off, of 

 which he sold in one year — six or seven years ago — over four thousand dollars worth 

 of fruit. Of late years peach orchards have not more than paid expenses. The laigest 

 now in this county is owned by the undersigned, covering nearly forty acres, being 

 planted 20x30 feet, with an apple tree between 40x40 feet. Benjamin Davis has the best 

 peach orchard in this county, which is on one of the highest hills on Turkeyhill, three 

 miles southeast of Belleville. Josephina and Col. Englemann, Philip and James Scott and 

 others, about Shiloh, as well as Major Lemen, north of O'Fallon, all have fine peach 

 orchards. All the varieties of small fruits have been introduced in this county several 

 years ago, but are only cultivated by amateurs, and but little is marketed. 



