238 



THE ILLINOIS FARMER 



Aug. 



mous Dutchess d'Angouleme, fine trees, but 

 sparsely fruiting this season, last year having 

 borne abundantly of most superb fruit, as all 

 •who visited the State Fair at Jaeksonville can 

 testify. This is Mr. Y.'s favorite variety. Ten 

 of the B. Goubeault have not done well. Seventy- 

 two of the Beurre Brown are without fruit. One 

 hundred and twenty-five of Beurre Diel are mag- 

 nificent trees, with a moderate show of speci- 

 mens. Tvro hundred and twenty-five of Vicar of 

 Winkfie'd, good treus, with a moderate supply of 

 pears. Forty one of the old Summer Belle, with 

 their strong shoots, are herewith greeted with 

 pleasure for " auld lang syne." Last year the 

 fruit of tliese was ripe July 4th, but at this time 

 just ready for bouse ripening This fruit should 

 always be picked rather green and house ripened, 

 or it will otherwise rot at the core. One hun- 

 dred and fifty of ihe Glout Morceau, with scat- 

 tering specimens, and a hundred of Fondante du 

 Automne, without the desired result, though fine 

 thriily trees. Fifty of Swan's Orange are in 

 the same category, to which we add sevenfy-fivc 

 Beurre d'Amalis and twenty-five of Vergalieu, 

 with one hundred of the La Jalva; but here 

 comes a relief in the way of one hundred and 

 sixty Louise Bonne de Jersey, with a superb 

 show of melting beauties. The list closes with 

 a hundred of the Eiister Beurre, that have given 

 evidence of more growth of tree than of fruit. 



The trees are set sixteen feet each way, have 

 not been cropped, but kept well cultivated with 

 the one hor'^e plow. Mr. Yates says that most 

 of the vari?:-'ie3 bore well last year and that the 

 fruit was mucn li. rger and fairer than this. Last 

 spring nearly every tree blossomed profusely, but 

 several sev>-re frosts following in quick succes- 

 sion, the larger part of the orchard was stripped 

 of the embryo fru-t, y»?t it will be seen that the 

 Bartlett and the Louise Boniie held a fair crop, 

 while some others have a small show, but the 

 great number are perfectly barren. We have no 

 doubt that in subsequent examinations we shall 

 find these two varieties to hold a high position as 

 regular bearers. Mr. Yates lays the loss of a 

 full crop to spring fro^t, of which he despairs of 

 a remedy. We have before stated that the eleva- 

 tion is favorable to ward oflf this danger, and we 

 believe that with correct culture it will produce 

 this effect ; but something more than mere plow- 

 ing and planting is wanting, if the ground is 

 saturated with moisture and the air charged with 

 the damp exhalations of this saturated soil, it 

 will show no other result than that attending the 

 low ground, as it is well known that a damp at- 



mosphere is more dangerous in a cold night than 

 a dry one. The inference then is, to have this 

 table land or orchard slope so dry that the air 

 cannot become saturated, and as it will be lighter 

 in consequence it will envelop the higher and 

 dryer ground, thereby lessening the danger from 

 frost. Underdraining is then the key to solve 

 the mystery, but, say our friends here, "we can- 

 not underdrain, our soil is so constituted that it 

 will run and fill up the drains." Well, let us ex- 

 amine the subject a little in detail : The top soil 

 for some two feet is a light grey colored clay 

 loam charged with lime in abundance ; in a wet 

 time this is a mortar bed, resting on a strata of 

 (f hard-pan which, when exposed or the surface 

 soil washed from it, is known as the " scalds." 

 This band is from four to six inches in depth and 

 is nearly impervious to water, so much so that 

 the water in the soil above must needs be evapo- 

 rated, and iu the process saturates the air above, 

 which being chilled kills the young fruit. Be- 

 low this band the substance is a firm clay loam 

 which is permeable to moisture, but as most of 

 the water is held above, it remains quite compact 

 unless in long continued rains. Now, if the wa- 

 ter could be let down through this band by mole 

 or tile drains, all the soil alove it would become 

 at once dry and friable, and this band itself soon 

 weather down into kindly soil, at the same time 

 the substratum would become modified, and the 

 heat thit now goes to evaporate the waer would 

 warm up the soil and thus create an artificial at- 

 mosphere several degrees warmer than on the un- 

 draint d soil, and the result would be almost cer- 

 tain crops, instead of, as now, accidental ones. — 

 There is no question in our mind that one-fourth 

 of this orchard, thoroughly underdrained would 

 pay a better revenue than the whole of it under 

 the best system of tillage without this improve- 

 ment. It will be borne in mind that this orchard 

 is set on the system of flat culture ; had it been 

 well ridged up no doubt the result would have 

 been more satisfactory. Mr. Yates cultivates his 

 orchard four times ; first from the trees, next 

 to the trees, again from them, and last late in 

 the fall after the growth is completed a heavy 

 furrow to them, leaving a clean open dead fur- 

 row in the cente to drain off the water ; but 

 with this flat culture it still leaves it flat and 

 liable to water logging about the collar of the 

 trees. 



His crop is injured with a green worm about 

 half an inch long, which glues a leaf to the 

 fruit under which he eats the rind of the pear, 

 which arrests the growth under the surface eaten, 



