THE ILLINOIS FARMER. 



201 



Tuiips. 



^^•ember is said to be the best month for 

 plantii^ out those bulbs, but it will answer 

 to plant <hem out any time in winter when 

 the weathci is open and the ground is in good 

 order. Briojman says : "The ground for tu- 

 lips should bt light, part sand, and they 

 should be planted on beds three or four inches 

 above the surface. It would be well to 

 throw some litter over ilio beds to preserve the 

 bulbs from injury during severe weather." 



A bed of tulips in flowei is a most beauti- 

 ful sight. It is scarcely a wtnder that even 

 the phlegmatic Hollanders admire thera. 

 In their gardens they cultivate seme twelve 

 hundred varieties. Mr. Dutelzs in his trav- 

 els states, that he has known single bulbs sell 

 there as high as SCO. There was a tulip 

 mania in Holland between 1634 and 1637. 

 In that time, the bulb of the tulip called 

 Viceroi/ sold for §1,250; Ihe Admiral Lieh- 

 Junes forever §2,000; and other tulips at the 

 most fabulous prices. A father engaged in 

 the tulip trade, left one of these bulbs upon 

 his sideboard, and a son, just from sea, sup- 

 prsing it an ouion, ate it;— when he was told 

 by his astounded father, that the bulb was 

 worth a thousand pounds ! 



The Dutch still continue the tulip trade. 

 Vast quantities are sent to New York and 

 other parts of the world every year for mar- 

 ket. But quite as good varietios can now 

 be had of our nurserymen at 85 per hun- 

 dred. Some choice varieties sell at higher 

 rates. 



Stppheiiscn County. ^ -.--^"^ 

 Stephenson County, has as many- 

 active, intelligent, progressive Farmers 

 as any county in Hlinois. It has a 

 County Agricultural Society, County 

 Farmers' Club, township Farmers Club, 

 and at least one township Agricultural 

 Society. At the meeting of the "Ste- 

 phenson Farmers' Club," on the 4th, the 

 subject of paying taxes in paper money 

 was taken up and discussed, and a peti- 

 tion to the Legislature was agreed upon, 

 asking that the paper currency, author- 

 ized by the State and secured by de- 

 posit of bonds with the State, should 

 be received in the payment of taxes, 

 representing that the policy which au- 

 thorizes tiic issue of paper currency for 

 the ordinary purposes of money, and 

 then refuses to receive it for Govern- 

 ment purposes, is an excessive hardship 

 upon the people. At the same meeting 

 a petition AVas agreed upon, asking ol" 

 the Legislature protection by law 

 against theft and robbery of orchards 



— making such theft or robbery, lar- 

 ceny. 



The Ridott Farmers Club, (Stephen- 

 son County,) held a meeting on the 6th, 

 in which there,was an interesting discus- 

 sion on the merits of wire fences. The 

 Club adopted the following resolutions : 



Resolved, that we urge our Represen- 

 tatives to pass an act, that the taking of 

 growing fruit or grain, be made lar- 

 ceny. 



Resolved, that it is but justice, tliat 

 we should pay our taxes Avith our stock 

 secured bank notes. 



The Executivfi Committee of the 

 County Agricultural Society, met at 

 Freeport, on the 9th inst. A proposi- 

 tion was offered, (and laid over for con- 

 sideration, until the annual meeting on 

 the 28th,) for awarding a premium, for 

 the best essay on the cultivation of the 

 Chinese Sugar Cane, and the manufac- 

 ture of its juice into Sugar and Molas- 

 ses. 



Active measures are being adopted in 

 Freeport to secure the location of the 

 next State Fair in that city. In connec- 

 tion with this fact, we may state that, 

 Jacksonville, Quincy, Dixon, Freeport, 

 Rockford, Chicago, Bloomington, Peor- 

 ia, and Urbana, are all applicants for 

 the State Fair. : : 



Protection for Orchards. 

 In Hon. M. L. Dunlap's address, de- 

 livered before the State Horticultural 

 Society, at Bloomington on the 15th ult; 

 after referring to the destruction of our 

 orchards within a few of the past years, 

 he took the ground that orchards should 

 be protected on the West and South by 

 skirts of timber, or natural woods. This 

 will be a new idea to many, but wc think 

 it is undoubtedly correct. Such is the 

 character of our falls, that trees, very 

 often continue in a growing state till the 

 weather becomes severe. They are then 

 not in a state to bear the change in our 

 winters. Quite often, in March, and 

 even in Febuary we have warm weather 

 and hot suns which scald the unripened 

 shoots of trees and even the bark on their 

 south western exposures enperuse, and 

 the result is that they are killed. He sup- 

 posthat skirts of timber on the South and 

 West would prevent these disasters to 

 orchards. These skirts of timber on 

 the Prairies must be grown. This can 

 be done by planting out slips from the 



i cotton wood, the nuts of the Black 

 i Walnut and seeds of other trees. 



Mr. Edwards, of Lamoile, considered 

 Evergreens as the best protection, that 

 Norvay was the fastest growing variety 

 and Mr. Bryant believed that two rows 

 of this Evergreen so planted out as to 

 cover all the space when grown ten 

 years, would be equal in protection to 

 solid buildings. 



State norticultural Society. -^--^v 



This Society held its annual meeting 

 in Bloomington, commencing on the 14th 

 (Tuesday) and ending on the 17^^ 

 (Friday.) There wore some fifty mem- 

 bers in attendance, besides others who 

 came to hear the discussions. On Tues- 

 day, L. Ellsworth was chosen President 

 pro tem., and Charles Kennicott, Secre- 

 tary. A committee was appointed to ar- 

 range business for the session ; the Pre- 

 sident thanked those gentlemen who had 

 presentedjfruit for examination; andmem- 

 bers received invitatons from citizens to 

 stop with them while remaining in t^e 

 city, and the Society adjourned till after- 

 noon. At the meeting in the afternoon, 

 the subjects of "fruits, seeds, seedlings, 

 and insects injurious to vegetation," 

 were taken up, and these subjects occu- 

 the attention of the Society until the ad- 

 journment. 



In the evening, Arthur Bryant, of Bu- 

 reau county read an interesting and in- 

 st.uctive essay on "The Apple Troe and 

 its Diseases." The remainder of the 

 evening was occupied in an animated 

 discussion on the "ornamental branch of 

 Horticulture, and its influence on the 

 minds of the young." 



On Wednesday the Society met at 9 

 o'clock. After some preliminary pro- 

 ceedings, the Society proceeded to elect 

 its oflBcers, for the year ensuing. C. R. 

 Overman, of Bloomington, was elected 

 President ; 0. B. Galusha, of Lisbon, 

 Corresponding Secretary; Samuel Ed- 

 wards, of Lamoile, Recording Secretary; 

 Arthur Bryant, of Princeton, Treasurer, 

 and a Vice President for each Congress- 

 ional District. 



M. L. Dunlap was appointed to su- 

 perintend the preparation of the minutes 

 of the last meeting of the North Western 

 Fruit Growers' Association, for publica- 

 tion. In the afternoon, the discussion 

 was continued on the planting of the seeds 

 of the apple tree, the growth of seedh'ngs 



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