THE ILLIlSrOIS F^mMER. 



day; at night the temperature may and 

 should fall 15 ° or 20 * . To render 

 young plants stocky and strong, pinch 

 out the tops of shoots. Give the flow- 

 ering plants the most light and the ten- 

 der ones the warmest place. If insects 

 appear, fumigate with tobacco. 



<•• 



THE APIARY. 

 It appears to us that no part of the 

 North West is better adapted to the 

 profitable culture of the bee than our 

 own, and yet little effort has been made in 

 that direction. White clover is the best 

 food, and this grows bountifully when 

 sown. Those who wish to keep bees 

 should obtain a few pounds of this seed, 

 and sow about their premises; its cost is 

 about seventy-five cents a pound, to be 

 had at the seed stores. We would ask 

 our bee keeping friends for practical 



details of their experience. 



. *—■ — ■ 



To the Friends of Horticulture. 



The fourth annual meeting of the Illi- 

 nois State Horticultural Society will con- 

 vene at College Hall, in Bloomington, 

 for the purpose of discussion and elec- 

 !jion, on Tuesday, the 10th day of Janu- 

 ary, 1860, and continue in session four 

 days. ;:.■■ "•-■^ 



Arrangements have been made for a 

 series of practical and scientific lectures 

 and ssays, on subjects pertinent to the 

 grea* interest of Horticulture in the 

 northwest, among which are the follow- 

 ing : Dr. John A. Warder, of Cincin- 

 nati, on "Vegetable Physiology ;" Dr. 

 B. Walsh, of Rock Island, on "Insects 

 injurious to Fruits and Trees;'' N. J. 

 Colman, Esq., o£ St. Louis, on "The 

 Culture of the Small Fruits ;" Prof. C. 

 D. Wilber, of Aurora, on " The Prairies 

 and Prairie Soil ;" C. T. Chase, Esq., 

 of Chicago, on " The Elevating Influ- 

 ence of Horticulture;" Mr. Kern, of 

 Alton, on "Landscape Gardening;'' 

 Mr. C. Thomas, of Murphysboro, on 

 *'The Climate and Soil of Southern Illi- 

 nois and its Adaptation to Fruit Cul- 

 ture." 



It is very desirable that every mem- 

 ber, and all others in Illinois and the 

 adjoining States, interested in the pro- 

 gress of the good cause should be pres- 

 ent at this meeting. To amateurs it 

 gives promise of a rich feast, and to the 

 farmers, by whom the great bulk of the. 

 fruit of this countay is to be produced,'! 

 the discussions and lectures cannot fail 

 to prove most interesting and instructive. 

 At no period within the history of our 

 State, perhaps, has there been a time 

 when a course of systematic experiments 

 and scientific research was so impera- 

 ively demanded as at present. The 

 ''larming increase of diseases in trees, 

 a 



plants and fruit, and the myriads of in- 

 sect tribes that prey upon them and 

 threaten their destruction, call for prompt 

 action. Can it be that in a country 

 such as ours the people can afford to 

 abandon Fruit Culture? — settle down 

 into apathy and indifference, and despair 

 of success in producing even the hardy- 

 fruits? NO, NEVER! 



We can and must search out and ob- 

 viate the various diseases — exterminate 

 the hordes of insect enemies — educe and 

 PRACTICE the best methods of culti a 

 tion, and thus we may, with compara- 

 tive certainty, secure to ourselves and 

 bequeath to our children an abundance 

 of the luscious and health-giving fruits 

 of the earth. 



With this great end in view, all who 

 can attend are pressingly invited to do 

 so ; and all who may have specimens of 

 winter apples or pears are respectfully 

 solicited to bring them along, or pack 

 them properly and send by express the 

 day preceding the meeting, addressed to 

 " C. R. Overman, care C. W. Holder & 

 Co., Bloomington, Illinois," and mark- 

 ed ("Fruit.") 



Assurances are already given of att 

 tendance by the principal fruit growers 

 of the State, and it is confidently expec- 

 ted the discussions will exceed in interes- 

 those of the last annual meeting, which 

 was conceded by all present, to be the 

 most interesting meeting ever held in 

 the West. V 



This Society is not, as some suppose, 

 a Nurserymens' Society, but is designed 

 to embrace all who are engaged in grow- 

 ing either fruits or trees, and also Flor- 

 ists and Gardeners, as well. In short, 

 all who are desirous of elevating this 

 branch of industry to the position its im- 

 portance demands. 



The cultivation of ornamental trees, 

 plants and flowers, vegetable and land- 

 scape gardening, also come legitimately 

 within the scope of this Society, and a 

 portion of the time of the meeting will 

 be devoted to each of these departments. 



Every effort will be put forth at this 

 meeting to render the Society permanent 

 and eflicient. \^ 



The citizens of Bloomington, with 

 their accustomed lib ra ity, offer, as far 

 as practicable, to entertain the member, 

 and visitors from abroad, and the pro- 

 prietors of some of the principal hotels 

 have proffered to board guests at half 

 their usual rates. 



It is earnestly hoped that the known 

 liberality of the ofi&cers ©f the Railroads 

 centering at Bloomington, will induce 

 them to convey visitors to and from the 

 meeting at half the usual fare. All who 

 attend the meeting are requested to re- 

 port themselves at the store of C. W. 

 Holder & Co., on Front street, at eight 

 o'clock on Tuesday morning, where a 



Committee>ill be in attendance to wait 

 upon them and assign them places. 



C. R. OVERMAN, Pres't. 



0. B. Galusha, Cor. Sec'y. . 



Bloomington, Dec. 10, 1859. 



Important Diieovery. 



Quite recently, while walking in the gar- 

 den with the Hon. J. W. Fairfield, Hudson, 

 N. Y., he called my attention to the small 

 stakes, which supported the raspberry canes. 

 The end in the ground, as well as the part 

 above, was as sound and bright as if lately 

 made, but he informed me that they had 

 been in constant use for twelve years! Said, 

 I, "Of course they are cyanized?'' "Yes," 

 he replied, "and the process is so simple and 

 cheap that it deserves to be universally 

 known, and it is simply this: "One pound 

 of blue vitriol to twenty quarts of water. 

 Dissolve the vitriol with boiling water, and 

 then add the remainder." 



"The end of the stick is then dropped into 

 the solution, and left to stand four or five 

 days, for shingles, three days will answer, 

 and for post six inches square, ten days. 

 Care is to be taken that the saturation takes 

 place in a metal vessel or keyed box, for the 

 reason that any barrel will be shrunk by the 

 operation so as to leak. Instead of expand- 

 ing an old cask, as other liquids do, this 

 shrinks them. Chloride of zinc, I am told, 

 will answer the same purpose, but the blue 

 vitriol is, or was formerly, very cheap, viz., 

 three to six cents per pound." 



Mr. Fairfield informed me that the French 

 government are pursuing a similar process 

 with every item of timber now used in ship- 

 building, and that they have a way of forcing 

 it into the trees in the forest as soon as cut 

 ejecting the sap and oyaniaing it all on the, 

 spot. I have not experimented with it, but 

 Mr. Fairfield's success seemed to be com- 

 plete. ': r,- o-;;. ,.v^."-, -J: ■'-;'=;'.. ^*^ A- ■'";■■ 



The process is so simple and cheap as to 

 be within the convenience of every farmer, 

 and gardener even, and therefore thought it 

 so valuable as to warrant a special notice of 

 it.— iJ, G. Pardee. 



Chinch Bug.— The Ogle County (HI.) 

 Reporter says that a fanner checked the 

 ravages of the chinch bug, by strewing a 

 breadth or lino across his field with air- 

 slacked lime. 



— «•» — '■■■'-- 



Premium Currant Wine. — The currant 

 wine which receiveed the first premium at 

 the Illinois State Fair, was made by Mrs, 

 Lewis Ellsworth of Naperville. It was made 

 of equal parts of currant juice and water, 

 with one pound of sugar to each quart of 

 the mixture — nothing else was used, and we 

 think the sample the best we have ever 

 tasted. — Prairie Farmer. 



jg®-The Prospectus oilhe New York Ledger, 

 the great family paper, will be found in 

 another column. It ia scarcely neoessary to say 

 that The Ledger is by far the most popular fam- 

 ily paper in the country, having a circulation 

 of over four hundred thousand copies. It is 

 always characterized by a hijjh moral tone and 

 ks will be seen by reference to its advertise 

 ment ciupioys more eminent contributors 

 than any other paper in the world. 



