2182 NORTH AMERICAN STATES 



NORTH AMERICAN STATES 



compared with $254,893 in 1899, an increase of 61.4 

 per cent. M. W. RICHARDS. 



Illinois. 



The state of Illinois (Fig. 2498) lies in the heart of the 

 Mississippi Valley, the most fertile portion of the United 

 States. Its eastern boundary is over 700 miles from the 

 Atlantic coast; it has a range north and south of a little 

 over 350 miles, extending from 37 to 42 30' north 

 latitude, and a breadth east and west of about 200 

 miles at its widest point. In spite of its great length, the 

 difference in mean annual temperature between the 

 extreme northern and southern parts of the state is 

 only 10 F. 



Soil conditions alone considered, Illinois stands, agri- 

 culturally, at the very forefront. It is known as the 

 great prairie state, and with the exception of Delaware 

 and Louisiana, is the most level state in the Union. 



2498. Illinois. The main horticultural areas. 



Third in population (1910), and second in railroad mile- 

 age, it is first in total value of agricultural products. 

 Over nine-tenths of its total area is in farms. There are 

 no considerable tracts of worthless land, and the statis- 

 tics of the United States Census for 1910 show every 

 one of the 102 counties to be fruit>-producing. 



The most distinctive fruit section of Illinois is the 

 southern third. This area contains something over 

 150,000 acres devoted to the growing of apples alone. 

 Other deciduous fruits, notably peaches and pears, and 

 small-fruits, especially strawberries, are also grown in 

 large quantities in this part of Illinois. Increased ship- 

 ping facilities and the coming into bearing of orchards 

 already some time planted have brought southern 



Illinois into close competition with Michigan in the 

 production of peaches. 



The southern fruit district, as indicated on the map, 

 lies between 37 and 39 30' north latitude, the former 

 being the latitude of Norfolk, Virginia, and the latter 

 that of Baltimore, Maryland. The climate of this dis- 

 trict is best indicated by the fact that the isotherm 55 

 F. passes through the northern part of the district, the 

 same temperature line also passing through the peach 

 and sweet potato districts of Delaware and southern 

 New Jersey. The 50 isotherm passes through Illinois 

 about on the dividing line between the northern and 

 central fruit districts, thus showing the mean annual 

 temperature of the northern district to be practically 

 the same as that of the great grape and small-fruit 

 sections of central New York. It should also be noted 

 that the mean annual temperature of the famous Santa 

 Clara Valley and the Santa Cruz mountain wine-grape 

 district is 55 F., or about that of Madison and Bond 

 counties in Illinois. 



In 1913 the total annual precipitation at Galena, in 

 the extreme northwest corner of the state, was 32 inches ; 

 in Henderson County and from thence along a line 

 northeast across the state and down to Ford and Iro- 

 quois counties, 34 inches; in a circle taking m Pike, 

 Adams, Hancock, Fulton, Knox, and up to LaSalle and 

 a little beyond into Kane and DeKalb counties, down to 

 McClean and the northern parts of Champaign and 

 Vermilion counties, then west across the state including 

 DeWitt, Sangamon, and Morgan counties, 34 to 36 

 inches; directly south, in a section including Clark, 

 Edgar, and the southern part of Vermilion County on the 

 east, and Scott and Calhoun counties on the west, 36 to 

 38 inches; along a line entering the state in Madison 

 County, bending north to the southern boundary of 

 Macon County and thence southeast to Crawford 

 County, 38 to 40 inches; from thence to the seven or 

 eight extreme southern counties, which have an average 

 precipitation of 46 to 48 inches and over, 40 to 44 inches. 

 The mean annual rainfall for ten years up to and in- 

 cluding 1913 at the Illinois Agricultural Experiment 

 Station at Urbana, Champaign County, was 35.37 

 inches. 



In recent years there has been a steadily increasing 

 interest in the apple as a commercial crop. Taking 

 the state as a whole, this fruit is far in advance of other 

 tree-fruits in area planted, in size of individual orchards, 

 and in crop values. The introduction of modern busi- 

 ness methods which have in great part supplanted the 

 careless and unprofitable methods common a decade or 

 so ago has brought great changes, and has established 

 commercial apple-culture upon a stable and profitable 

 basis. Attention to cultural methods and details of 

 management is now almost universal; grades of fruit 

 are rapidly being standardized, storage facilities are 

 utilized, and markets carefully studied. Many orchards 

 that were formerly neglected have been renovated and 

 made profitable, and the planting of new apple orchards 

 as commercial ventures is increasing. These new pro- 

 jects evidence study and the effort to apply those funda- 

 mental principles that make for success. The varieties 

 planted are few in number, chosen because of their 

 known adaptability to the particular region and their 

 established position in the market to be served. In 

 planting, the varieties are distributed in such manner as 

 to promote interpollination. For the northern and 

 central districts, fall and winter varieties are most in 

 favor for commercial planting, while in the southern 

 district new orchards are largely of summer varieties. 

 In large orchards, cultural operations are now per- 

 formed by traction engines with such satisfactory 

 results that the use of these tractors promises to become 

 universal in all commercial orchards. 



In the southern district of the state there is in progress 

 a notable revival in peach-planting. This fruit was 

 neglected for several years because of losses resulting 



