356 



THE ILLINOIS FARMEE. 



Dec. 



Dwarfs in General, and the Dwarf 

 Apple, Pear, Cherry and Plum in 

 Pai'ticnlar. 



In the last number of the Farmer, we give a 

 chapter from the Cliic'tgo Tribune on orchard 

 culture. The following we prepared as a contin- 

 uation of the same subject, for the same paper, 

 which we transfer to the Farmer fur the purpose 

 of making up a record for the future. Ed. 



In our last we gave the reason why so mtiny 

 thousands of trees set in the orchard Lad failed 

 to grow and produje fruit, and so universal and 

 constant has be^ n this loss, that most people 

 have come to the conclusion that fruit would 

 not do well on the pra.ries, and that some new 

 mode or new varieties must be resoited to, to 

 make up the deficiency. Dwarfing was offered 

 as the panacea, and directly cur eastern 

 philantliTopists got up Jmmense stocks of dwarf 

 apples, pears, cl.eiriog and plums. These 

 were duly sent throughout the country, and eve- 

 rj'body that owned a garden sp'it was to gi-ow 

 rich wiih the immense crops of fruit that wouid 

 be prodnced on their dwarf trees. Occas'onn.Uy 

 an itidividual tree made wonderful returns, per- 

 haps three per cent, of the whole number. Re- 

 ports were made of these cases, and soon nothing 

 would do but dwarfs — dwarfs for the fruit garden, 

 dwarfs lor the lawu, and dwarfs for the orchard. 

 Now, what is the result of all this? Has the 

 amount of fruit increased in propsrtion to the 

 dwarfs planted, over standard trees ? If we take 

 into consideration the extra CDSt, we do not think 

 there has been any advance. It is true that these 

 dwarf trees, by receiving extra care, have more 

 of chem survived. Yet only a small per cent, of 

 the (Iw irf pears hav; produced fruit, a less num- 

 ber of a[)ples, while the cherry has proved a de- 

 cided fiiiure, and iie b^d management ot tLe 

 plum his given it c ) advant»ge. To be a little 

 nice si^.ecific, we w 1' rxiniiue each in its turn, 

 and SCO them as inuiviuual varieties. First, then, 

 of the 



dwarf atple. 



For the past two years, the writer has given 

 much of hia time to the 'tudy of fruit culture in 

 all it various departm nts. lu this cause he has 

 visited nearly ail parts of the State. The uni- 

 f..rm courtesy extend* d lo him by railroad mana- 

 gers, has e abled hui to give the subject his 

 earnest attention at a trifling outlay beyond the 

 time necessarily devoted to the examination, and 

 it is probable that no other person has made so 

 extended a personal examination on this subject. 

 So much, by way of explanation, for what we 

 may say on this subject, and how we have arriv- 

 ed at tho conclusion, .=o ' ounter to the present 

 popular idea, in riif:ard to the value of dwarf 

 fruit trees. As a uiember of the " Farm Commit- 

 tee," wa traveled some two thousand miles, and 

 examined a large number of orchards and gar- 

 dens, and converse 1 with hundreds of people in- 

 terested in fruit cuiure, and the almost univer- 

 sal answer in regard to the dwarfs was that they 

 had disappointed their expectations. In the 



garden of Robert Douglas of Waukegan, the 

 dwarf apple had given good satisfaction; a few 

 trees on the grounds of C. E. Peck, of Winetka, 

 and in the garden of D. F. Kinny, of Rock Island, 

 all on timber land, were the only trees that 

 we found at all satisfactory, and nowhere on the 

 pra'rie did we find a single tree that even presen- 

 ted a moderate crop. We saw hundreds of 

 trees over four inches in diameter, with large, 

 fine heads, destitute of fr<iit. At the same lime 

 we saw numbers of standard trees, trained with 

 low head-, in the form of dwarfs, that were 

 loaded with fruit. The Duchess of Oldenburg, 

 Hiiwthornden, Keswick Codlin, Yellow In estrie, 

 Fanieuse, etc., were especially productive. In 

 the grounds of W. C. Poirsall, near Port Byion, 

 with trees set some eight feet apart, and with 

 dwarf training, that is, low heads, almost all va- 

 rieties were in bearing; while in an orchard of 

 some hundred dwarf apples, treated in the same 

 manner, and of. as good size, in the grounds of 

 •T. S Bradford, at Springfield, tlirre was n.it a 

 single specimen of fruit. Our eastern friends 

 te'l us the tr^ es bear well with them, but will 

 they grow thrifty with us, they do not bear fruit. 

 In our own grounds the trees bloosom freely, but 

 we have never had the first sample from them. 

 We have yet to see the fitst dwarf apple tree in 

 even moderate bearing on the prairie, and l\ave 

 seen but few out of a large number on timber 

 land in full bearing ; in this respect fall in sr far 

 behind the standard when treated in the same 

 manner. Thomas says the best stock for the 

 apple is the common seedling apple. Downing 

 and other prominent writers say the same, and 

 we are led to infer that it is the interested nurse- 

 rymen that have made up public opinion on the 

 subject of dwarfs, without any better or more 

 substantial reason than tli.at they profit by it. 

 Certainly they have thus fir fii'ed with the ap- 

 ple, and if there is no remedy, it is time that an 

 end was made to the deception. Mr, Douglas, 

 of Waukeg-m, suggested to us that the fault was 

 in the setting ; th it like the pear, the tree ehould 

 be set jast below the junction with the paradise 

 stock, but in this we can see no particular ad- 

 van! age, for the paradise, unlike the quince 

 stock, is hardy, consequently this cam. t be 

 urged .'^giiiist it. To further test this questions, 

 we h^ve since examined a large number of trees, 

 and can see no diiference in their fruitfulness. 

 As Mr. Douglas has been the most successful 

 with the dwarf apple of any of our friends, we 

 can only attribute it to his closely sheltered 

 grounds, the winds of the lake, and his peculiar 

 soil. 



Benjamin Vancil, near Cobden, in TJnion coun- 

 ty, has for a number of years friited the Para- 

 dise itself, and sells the fruit in the St. Louis 

 market. The fruit ripens there in July, and as 

 ti.ere is at th^t lime little good fruit in market, 

 this variety commands a ready sale at a good 

 price, often at one dollar and a half a bushel. 

 The quality of the fruit is inferior, giving one 

 an idea ot cork, leather and India rubber, yet 

 they do for cooking; but the Keswick Codlin, 

 which is n(iW introduoed into that section, will 

 drive them ou' o) m-i'ket. Within the past five 

 years Mr. V. has extended his dwarf orchard 



