REPORTS OF COUNTY SOCIETIES. 367 



that our committee was dropped off. but instead one of the members 

 billed to report on the subject. However it was then my intention to 

 attend, in which case I could have reported in person. 



Most respectfully, 



F. LlONBERGER. 



CALDWELL COUNTY. 



Cowgill, November 30, 1889. 



I with pleasure report to you the prospects for fruit-growing here 

 in Caldwell county from the best information I can get. The soil in 

 Caldwell is fertile and contains no doubt very many of the chemical 

 substances necessary for the growth of all kinds of fruit grown in this 

 latitude. The Hannibal & St. Joe railroad passes through the north part 

 of this county, and the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad passes 

 through the south part of the county from east to west. These roads 

 give us good facilities for shipments of fruit, etc. About the worst 

 drawbacks here against fruit-growing is negligence and carelessness 

 on the part of many persons who attempt to raise orchards. Much 

 money is spent for young trees and vines, etc., many of which are set 

 out or planted very imperfectly, and many left almost to take care of 

 themselves. In a little time many of them are killed by borers or 

 stock or other things, and the man then buys more trees and sets out 

 another orchard likely to share the same fate. There may be one 

 farmer in ten that is careful with their orchards, or at least reasonably 

 careful. This class of farmers have plenty of apples, which shows at 

 once the great horticultural wealth of Caldwell county to be developed 

 in the future by men who are careful with their orchards, as we know 

 that the soil of Caldwell county is remarkably fertile with a basis of 

 limestone, nicely rolling with the highest land capped with the loess or 

 bluff formation, and naturally well-drained and being the home for the 

 apple and blue-grass and clover. 



All know that the farmer is generally in a rush of work, and often 

 the orchard is neglected. Bushes and briars and weeds grow up in 

 the orchard. Water-sprouts grow freely. Droves of hogs are put in 

 the orchard. They wallow in the mud and rub their bodies against the 

 trunks of the trees, which injures the bark of the trees, or the sap ves- 

 sels or tubes through which the tree receives nourishment, or the 

 chemical elements necessary for the life of the tree. Hogs might be of 

 much advantage in the orchard if they could be kept from rubbing 



