168 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMEE. 



June 



A Talk about Plums, 



At the Cincinnati Horticultural Society. 



Mr. Ivobert Reilly read the following pa- 

 per from Will. F. Irwin, Esq. : 



Gentlemen : In responding to your request I 

 will confi.ie myself to a biief ptatement of the 

 raethod I Lave pursued in cultivating plums, 

 rather than attempt a report on plum culture in 

 H^imilton county, as my expei-ience and observa- 

 tion will not warrant me in going further than 

 my own premises. 



Seven years since, I planted a spit of g ound 

 thirty-five feet wide by eightv feed deep. On the 

 north t^ide it is enclosed by a close board fence, 

 twecfy feet high ; on the south side with a paling 

 fence of the same hight ; on the east and west 

 end s'ands a stable. 



la this ground I have planted twenty-five plum 

 tree's. About half these have been planted seven 

 years ; th ■ others since, aud at diflFerent times. 

 The va ietiesare: the Washington, Coe's Golden 

 Drop, Duane's Purple, Dawson, etc. 



This enclosure was made chiefly for a chicken 

 yarc-, and a large number raised in it annually. 



Early in the spring I scattered over the ground 

 coal ashes to the depth of two or three inches. 

 The ashes attract the chickens, and by scratch- 

 ing they pulverize it, and by frequent rains it 

 settles and forms rather a hard surffice. 



For the past four years, or siuce the trees have 

 become old enough to bear, I have not failed to 

 have fruit, and have nerer lost a crop by the in- 

 sect. Ou'side of this enclosure, and nbout fi'ty 

 yards distant, I have a plum tree which has al- 

 ways borne, but from which I have never gath- 

 ered a ripe pium, bfing uniformly destroyed by 

 the curculio. What the merits of this method 

 are, I leave you to discuss. It may be the situa- 

 tion of the ground and its protection by the en- 

 closure. It may be wholly attributed to the 

 presence of so many chickens, and po-sibly (and 

 I think quite? probable) that the coal ashes pos- 

 sess valua'-le properties, or it may be attributed 

 to the combination of all. 



Respectfully, 



Wm. F. Irwin. 



Avondale, March 22, 1861. 



Dr. Warder said he was glad to hear from our 

 old friend Mr. Irwin. He had no doubt the coal 

 cashes, and the chickens working in them, and 

 packing th" ashes hard, thus prevented the in- 

 sect from obtaining a lodgement. If the insect 

 ■was possessed of the instinct attributed to it, 

 that prevented its depositing on limb<- hanging 

 over water. Chickens were known to retuse to 

 eat the curculio. a fact here stated by Mr. Brace, 

 a careful observer. He did not, however, want 

 to lose sight of his old remedy of limewater and 

 sulphur. 



Mr. John P. Foote said it appeared to him that 

 Mr. Longworth established the fact some years 

 since that a solid pavement would prevent the 

 ravages of the insect. We know that Mr Bush 

 succeeded with chickens, and Mr. Irwin practiced 

 both remedies. 



Mr. StoQis said, since be made his report on 



the curculio he had received such suggestions 

 from persons who bed made careful observations, 

 as induced bim to regard with attention the idea 

 that disturbing, by shaking the trees was the 

 most elfeetual method for destroying the insect. 



Mr. Mc Williams throns water over the trees 

 every day, and shakes them ; never fails to raise 

 plums. 



Mr. Reilly mentioned two instances — as going 

 against- the chicken theory — of plu ns being cu'- 

 tivated in poultry yards, with no fruit, while 

 close by and outside thfe" poultry yard very nice 

 plums were grown. 



Mr. John K. Green stated that he had planted 

 plum trees in the chicken yard, and never got a 

 plum ; the soil, however, was an open, sandy 

 one, in which the insect might easily obtain a 

 lodgement. He intended trying hogs this year, 

 to let them run in his plum orehard. 



Dr. George F. Foote stated that he had raised 

 plum trees in the State of New York, obtaining 

 fine plums. He cut ofi' the limbs of his trees, 

 aud struck them with a mallet. 



Mr. Reilly called attention to the fact that in 

 Mr. Bush's plum orchard there were five hundred 

 chickens. 



Mr B. F. Sanford was convinced it was the 

 agitating system that saved the plums. Mr. Bush 

 bad a small yard and a great many chickens. 

 The chickens disturbed the trees. 



Mr. Stoms remarked to the sime cfi'ect, and a 

 general opinion seemed to prevail that the reme- 

 dy against curculio was the disturbing element — 

 commotion in the trees. 



The Season. — Notwithstanding several severe 

 frosts, the fruit in this region of country is as 

 yet uninjured, and promises au abundant crop. 

 The peach blossoms are unusually ab'^ndant. 

 The farmers are in good sp'rils The g ound 

 "breaks up" finely, and a good sh-ire of the 

 corn crop is already in. — Jacksonville Journal, 

 May 2d. 



We will bet a good apple that the corn 

 growers of old Morgan will have their plant- 

 ing done on time. They never fail of a 

 crop ; the word is not in their vocabulary ; 

 it is true they sometimes get a light crop, 

 say thirty to forty bushels to the acre, 

 though in good seasons they run up to 

 eighty or a hundred bushels. We doubt if 

 there is a county in the State that uniformly 

 turns out as large an average yield per acre 

 as old Moraan. The soil, the climate, and 

 the superior culture make up the trio of 

 powers that produce this result. A visit to 

 the corn fields of Morgan when June sends 

 up the green blades, and when the soft 

 south-west wind kisses the ripening wheat, 

 is worth making the effort. 



