800 



ILLINOIS 



tricts thus showing the mean annual temperature of the 

 northern district, -which is second to the southern in 

 small-fruit production, and in 1898 produced more grapes 

 than both the other districts put together, -to be practi- 

 cally the same as that of the great grape and smalJ iruit 

 sections of central New York. While speaking of tem- 

 perature it should also be noted that the mean annual 

 temperature of the famous Santa Clara valley and the 

 Santa Cruz mountain wine grape district of California 

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



In 1898 the total annual precipitation at Galena, in the 

 extreme northwest corner of the state, was 30 inches; 

 in Henderson county and from thence along a line a 

 little north of east clear across the state, 40 inches; m 

 a circle taking in Adams, Pike, Fulton, Tazewell, Menard 

 and Morgan counties, and along a line entering the state 

 in Monroe county, bending north almost as far as Spring- 

 field, and thence southeast to Lawrence county, 50 

 inches; and in the 12 or 14 extreme southern counties 

 of the state, 60 inches. The mean annual rainfall for 

 10 years up to and including 1898 at the Illinois Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station at Urbana, Champaign 

 county, was nearly 33% inches. 



PRODUCTS. An idea of the extent of the horticultural 

 interests of Illinois can be best gained by reference to 

 the following tables, which give the approximate pro- 

 duction of the various horticultural crops raised in the 

 state for five years, down to and including 1898: 



ILLINOIS 



GRAPES Annual Crop in Pounds. 



Year. 



1894 

 1895 

 1896 

 1897 



1895 

 1896 

 1897 



1894 

 1895 



Nor. Div. 

 603,638 

 198,888 

 248,151 

 449,833 

 715,592 



Cent. Div. 

 658,908 

 459,916 

 467,877 

 573,832 

 435,544 



Sou. Div. 

 467,813 

 410,839 

 263,990 

 239,807 

 201,807 



STRAWBERRIES Annual Value of Crop. 



$14,309 $4,037 $25,019 



5,556 1,985 3,458 



7,407 3,805 14,910 



Total. 

 1,731,089 

 1,069,643 



980,018 

 1,263,472 

 1,352,943 



$43,365 



14,362 

 17,840 



3,864 



24,374 

 24,080 



WATERMELONS Annual Value of Crop. 

 $24,021 $28,963 $2,128 



1897 

 1898 



20,231 

 23,215 

 21,497 

 20,773 



18,116 

 16,217 

 16,451 

 16,103 



11,710 



8,435 

 8,276 

 8,261 



26,122 

 42,600 

 45,849 



$55,112 

 50,057 

 47,121 

 46,224 

 45,137 



OTHER FRUITS AND BERRIES Annual Value of Crop. 



1895 



1895 



$28,190 

 17,532 

 18,196 

 21,175 

 25,807 



$36,930 

 30,915 

 22.586 

 25,775 

 26,452 



$42,364 

 114,560 



80,733 

 110,249 



84,186 



$107,484 

 163,007 

 121,515 

 157,199 

 136,445 



SWEET POTATOES Annual Crop in Bushels. 

 7,901 85,321 235,704 



18,409 

 25,408 

 10,003 

 12,633 



80,231 

 67,147 

 49,596 

 67,327 



200,220 

 210,790 

 132,703 

 280,156 



328,926 



303,345 

 192,302 

 360,116 



The large falling off in the apple production of the 

 state during the season of 1898 was due to a scourge of 

 the apple-scab fungus, which attacked and devastated 

 the apple orchards in all parts of the state. 

 Pear-growing in southern Illinois has been 

 more or less kept back by the prevalence of 

 pear blight, which has destroyed many trees 

 before coming into bearing. No comment on 

 the other tables is necessary, as they tell 

 their own story. 



The nursery industry has been largely de- 

 veloped in Illinois. There are 447 commercial 

 nurseries in the state, 203 in the northern 

 division, 143 in the central, and 101 in the 

 southern. The other branches of horticul- 

 tural industry are also well developed in the 

 state. Gardening for the Chicago market 

 forms a large and important business in it- 

 self ; while the growing of vegetables for 

 shipment in certain sections of southern Illi- 

 nois is assuming large proportions. Cobden, in Union 

 county, is the largest shipping point for tomatoes in 

 the United States, sending out some 300 car-loads of 

 this single fruit during the season of 1898. Union 

 county, exclusive of Cobden, shipped to outside mar- 

 kets about 400 car-loads of tomatoes during the same 



ORCHARD Fumrs-Annual Crop in Bushels. 



Year. Nor. Div. 



1894 305.057 



1895 365,908 



1896 361,754 



1897 520,775 



1898 136,154 



1894 869 



1895 6,063 



1896 8,135 



1897 2,387 



1898 8,912 



1894 313 



1895 275 



1896 434 



1897 192 



1898 223 



Total. 



2,542,798 



4,656,659 

 8,556,487 

 1,033,484 



63,698 

 198,812 

 170,013 

 244,278 

 213,392 



5,165 

 15,997 

 13,876 

 15,055 

 11,285 



Chicago was, according to the census of 1890, the sec- 

 ond largest market in the United States for cut-flowers. 

 The business has grown considerably since that time, 

 although exact figures are not obtainable. The only 

 notable examples of landscape horticulture or landscape 

 gardening in the state are found in the Chicago city 

 park system, which is the largest and in some respects 

 the finest in the entire country. 



With her situation, natural advantages, vast resources 

 and present attainments along these lines, Illinois seems 

 destined to take even higher rank horticulturally in the 

 not far distant future than she has in the past; and 

 with her increasing production and immense and grow- 

 ing railway facilities, to prove a formidable rival to the 

 older fruit-producing regions of the Union. 



The tables giving crop reports are compiled from 

 figures given in the annual statistical reports of the 

 Illinois State Board of Agriculture. Other figures (ex- 

 cept where noted as being from census report) are from 

 the Report of the Illinois State Farmers' Institute for 

 1898. The climatic and meteorological information is 

 based on reports of the United States Weather Bureau 

 and records of the Illinois Agricultural Experiment 

 Station. j. c. BLAIR. 



