296 KANKxVKEE COUNTY ILLINOIS. 



stake, and tied with strong twine at the top, and pruned 

 on the Spur system. These have borne as high as five tons in 

 a season, but as before mentioned, have not done as well for a 

 few years past, on account of the rot. I have never made any 

 wine. Some few of these grapes have been made into wine 

 after passing out of my hands, but the most of them have been 

 used for the table. A light crop has generally been consumed 

 by the home market, while in good bearing years Chicago has 

 taken a part. I have handled them in crates, half bushel boxes 

 and three pound boxes, but prefer the half bushel box. One 

 change I would make if planting again, I would plant farther 

 apart, say eight feet each way. 



SMALL FRUIT. 



But the fruit most neglected, the easiest raised, and the 

 most profitable for family use is the small or berry fruit. The 

 strawberry, the king of the berry family, is about the only fruit 

 that grows naturally on our prairie soil. Strawberries should 

 have good culture the first year, then if they are properly 

 mulched, we can take two crops without disturbing the soil, 

 after which, however, the old bed should be plowed up and 

 a new one planted. 



Raspberries, blackberries, currants and gooseberries require 

 good cultivation or heavy mulch ; they then produce bountiful 

 crops, excepting the blackberry, which has suffered from Winter 

 killing, but with the Snyder and other reputed hardy kinds, 

 we may anticipate more uniform success. 



TIMBER. 



Knowing the value of timber to the prairie farmer, and 

 having succeeded beyond my most sanguine expectations in 

 growing the same, a few notes touching the growth of different 

 varieties may benefit some beginner. 



The following are actual measurements taken from timber 

 cut on my grounds : 



Lombardy poplar, fourteen years' old, fifty-four feet high, 

 twenty-two and one-half inches in diameter at the base, one 

 year's top growth or increase in hight, four feet five inches ; 



