357 



THE ILLINOIS FAKMEH. 



Dec. 



and parts of Indiana and Illinois, Reine 

 Hor'ense, English Morello, etc. Where ihe Ma- 

 haleb proves hardy, we are not disposed to find 

 fault -with it as a stock, though we think it has 

 no advantages over those enumerated. 



The Early May we believe to be the only cher- 

 ry that has been sent to the Chicago market from 

 the prairie orchards, and hundreds of bushels of 

 them have been sold within the past five years. 

 These have been worked and treated as standards 

 grafted on Morello stocks, three or four feet from 

 the ground. 'low. if the dwarfs have any value 

 in supplying the market with fruit, why have 

 they not done something in that line ? It is well 

 known that most of the May cherries came from 

 the vicinity of Cottage Hill, and we venture to 

 say that as large a number of the so-called 

 dwarf cherry trees have been set in the vicinity 

 of Cottage Hhill, as is contained in bearing 

 orchards of the May cherry. No one now 

 thinks of setting out the dwaifs at all ac^ 

 quainted with this variety. Within the past two 

 years, this variety has been largely woiked on 

 Mahaleb, both at Cincinnati and among some of 

 our own nurserymen, and as the tree has a 

 spreading, dwarfish habit, and being worked 

 near the ground, will be sold as dwarf trees. 



All we have learned in cherry culture of any 

 value, is the unpleas-ant truth that only a few va- 

 rieties, among the hundreds tried, have proved 

 of any value, and among this small list but one 

 has become a profitable market cherry, and that 

 is the Early May, or May of Kentucky, and not 

 the Early May as described by Downing. We 

 observe that some of our nurserymen and tree 

 planters have purchased and are propaga- 

 tiog this last named variety, supposing it to be 

 the same, bat to their bitter disappointment they 

 will ac an early day learn that there is a wide 

 difference. From fifteen to twenty miles west of 

 Chicago are large orchards of this cherry, that 

 will in a few years send thousands of bushels of 

 fruit to market. The fruit is very excellent for 

 cooking, and when dead ripe, tolearable for eat- 

 ing, but not to be compared ti the valuable table 

 sorts, such as White Ox Heart, Tarterian, &c., 

 but as these will not flourish with us, treat them 

 as we may, we must be content, and feel thank- 

 ful that we have one good cherry ihat is hardy, 

 at all times, and reliable in all parts of the 

 State. We advise our cherry tree planters to 

 throw away no more money on the i/o-called 

 dwarf cherries. 



THE DWARF PEAR. 



F Perhaps no subje3t has been more generally 

 discussed than the value of the dwarf pear as 

 compared with the standard, and yet without 

 any decided advantage to either side. The ex- 

 traordinary yield of pears the past season has 

 given to pear culture a stimulus such as it has 

 never before had in the West, and next spring 

 will witness the planting of an immense number 

 of pear trees, both dwarf and standard. The 

 mania at present is mostly for dwarf, as we have 

 had good opportunity to know in our visit through 

 the State as a member of the Farm Committee of 

 the State Agricultural Society. The best pear 

 orchards are standards, and in a few years wo 



have no doubt that standards will be used almost 

 exclusively for orchards, though for small gar- 

 dens the dwarf will for a long time continue 

 popular. We would not advise any person to 

 invest largely in pear orcharding, unless he has 

 plenty of funds, in case of failure, for we con- 

 sider it one of, if not the most uncertain branches 

 of farming, and it may well be called the "lot- 

 tery of Pomona." In some cases the profits will 

 be large, while others will reap a perfect f .ilure. 

 Unlike the apple, the pear is wayward, and sub- 

 ject to casualities. It is true that we are learn- 

 ing m ich in regard to the varieties adapted to 

 our soil and climate, but much will depend on 

 shelter, soil, aspect, manures and culture. We 

 visited one pear orchard of twenty-four hundred 

 (rees, all dwarfs, but the selection of varieties 

 was in the main badly made, and in all the dwarf 

 pear orchards that we visited, more than half the 

 varieties are worthless, but in the case of stand- 

 ard orchards, this was not the case, and the com- 

 mittee awarded the premiums in both cases to 

 the standards, though some of the competitors 

 had orchards of both. The best and most prom- 

 ising pear orchard in the State is underdrained 

 and mostly set to Flemish Beauty, with one or two 

 other kinds on pear stocks. In our ow. grounds 

 wo have about one hundred dwarfs set in the 

 fruit garden, while our pear orchard is of stand- 

 ard trees, set sixteen feet apart, and trained with 

 low heads. Next spring we shall add to them 

 mostly of the Bartlett and Flemish Beauty, with 

 a few of Osbands Summer, White Doyenne, Mad- 

 aline, Fondante de Autome. Louise Bonne de 

 Jersey, Onondaga, Stevens' Genesee, and Winter 

 Nellis. Louise Bonne de Jersey is probably the 

 most valuable of all on the Quince. The varie- 

 ties above enumerated are all early bearing sorts, 

 and among the most hardy and valuable lor the 

 prairie. The Bartlett. so much lauded on the 

 quince, is full as early on the pear stock, and is 

 more productive and hardy. The truth is, this 

 variety does not unite well with the quince, and 

 the trees at best are short lived, often breaking 

 olf at the point of junction. The Flemish Beau- 

 ty the most productive of the large, showy pears, 

 should never be worked on the quince, but graft- 

 ed at the ground on the pear stock. It is useless 

 to plant pears except en dry land, either natural- 

 ly or artificially underdrained, and they must be 

 sheltered from the severe winds. The pear tree 

 will endure an immense amount of cold, but 

 muse not be exposed to severe winds eitlier of 

 summer or winter, nor to sudden changes of tem- 

 perature. More ihan half the pear trees now in 

 the nurseries, both east and west, are worthless 

 sorts, and some nurserymen very much piefer to 

 make their own selections in filling orders. In 

 this case you had better pay an extra price for 

 what you want an 1 what is of real value, than to 

 fill your grounds with trees that will only return 

 you disappointment. 



DWARF PLUMS. ^ 



Plums are dwarfed on the Mirabella, a small Eu- 

 ropean stock, but now thepracticeis tograft on the 

 wild plum. There is no question of the value of 

 this stock, as they are hardy in all parts of the 

 country, and really dwarf the large, fast growing 

 kinds, and thus render them more productive. 



