1862. 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMEE. 



71 



St. Louis County Horticultural Society. 



Society met on Saturday, Jan. 2.5th, at 10 a m., 

 at N >. 32 North Fifth street, President Mndd in 

 the chair. 



The agent of the American Wine Company pre- 

 sented a bottle of native Champagne which was 

 tested and commended by the members. 



N. J. Colman, of the Valley Farmer, presented 

 to the society some Tennessee upland cotton seed. 

 He said the seed presented was a sample taken 

 from over fifteen hundred bushels, which he ex- 

 peeted to distribute among the farmers of Mis- 

 souri and Illinois the ensuing spring. From all 

 the testimony he could gather, cotton could be 

 successfully cultivated throughout the entire 

 Boutbern half of Missouri and Illinois. 



Dr. Edwards said he had cultivated cotton as a 

 farm crop in Kentucky with good returns. For- 

 merly the crop was cultivated largely in the vi- 

 cinity of his native place, Russellville, Ky. The 

 cotton grew well and yielded well. Some tw nty- 

 five years ago he removed to Edwardsville, Madi- 

 son county, II inois, and for many years nearly 

 every farmer in the vicinity, and throu«hcut the 

 Southern half of Illinois, cultivated enough cot- 

 ton for domestic use. It was worked up alto- 

 gether by the female portion of the household by 

 hand. -T^he culture was gradually abandoned, 

 no because the plant did not succed well, but be- 

 cause the fabric C'u'.d be worked up cheaper by 

 Eastern mills than by ladies' fingers. He thought 

 the seed procured from Tennessee or Arkansas 

 would be far preferable to that obtained from the 

 sea coast. 



President Mudd said that as long ago as he 

 could recol'ect cotton was cultivated extensively 

 in Pike county, Mo. Some of his earliest recol- 

 lections were of fields of cotton. He was but a 

 lad, then, but the white fields of cotton were dis- 

 tinctly impressed upon his mind. The manufac- 

 tured goods finally could be sold cheaper than 

 they could be sold cheaper than they could be 

 made by hand, and consequently its culture was 

 gradually abandoned. He said Pike county was 

 about one hundred miles north of St. Loui^, a'sd 

 he never heard of any complaints of the plants 

 not succeeding well, or that the yield was not 

 good. 



Mr. Bayley said he could furnish the Society 

 with samples of cotton of the growth of 1861, 

 which he raised in this county. The plant seem 

 ed to be perfectly at home in our soil, and ripen- 

 ed its bolls well. 



The question for discussion for the day was the 

 best site for planting an apple oi chard. 



Mr. N- J. Coleman being called upon, said that 

 the apple was a fr'iit that could be planted al- 

 most anywhere with a certainty of good returns, 

 if well planted and properly taken care of. They 

 could be planted on hills or in valleys, and would 

 give profitable returns. When the fruit grower 

 has the choice of slopes he would recommend him 

 to plant upon a rorthern exposure. The sap will 

 not rise so soon, and the blossoms will open from 

 one er two weeks later on a northern exposure 

 than on a southern, and by this means a crop of 

 fruit will be saved frequently on the north side, 

 when the buds in blossom on the south side will 



all bs destroyed by frost. Our climate is very 

 variable, and we frequently have warm weather 

 enough in February or March to set the sap even 

 in the apple tree on southern slopes prematurely 

 into circulation and severe cold weather follow, 

 freezing the tap, rupturing the sa.. vessels, and 

 eventually destroying the tree. For these rea- 

 sons he preferred almost any other exposure to a 

 southern one. He would in all cases prefer a 

 limestone soil for an apple orchard. 



Mr. Kelly thinks the difference in the slopes is 

 of but little importance. He should pay more 

 attention to the training of the tree. 



Mr. E. R. Mason — It is my impression that the 

 northern slope will produce the most fruit, but 

 that the southern slope would produce fruit of 

 the best quality. I reason from analogy. It is 

 well known that the grape for wine purposes is 

 better when raised on an exposure to the sun. 

 The hot suns of summer are necessary to give 

 the grapes # sufficiency of saccharine matter to 

 make good wine. From this I infer that the best 

 apples would be produced on trees fully exposed 

 to the sun on a s'ope facing to the south. 



Dr. Edwards — What is the difference between 

 an eastern and western declivity for apples ? 



Mr. Mason — I apprehend the eastern to be the 

 better. It is shielded on the west from the cold 

 winds and storms. 



Mr. Colman differed from Mr. Mason in regard 

 to the quality of apples being better, on the south 

 side than on the nortSi side of the hill. To prove 

 his position Mr. Mason had introdueed thegr pe, 

 not an analogous fruit, and no way related t} the 

 apple. Because the grape needed a great deal of 

 sun and heat to perfect it, it was no reason the 

 apple did. It is a well kaown fact that apples 

 succeed better in a more northern and cooler cli- 

 mate than they do here. Grapes will scarcely 

 ripen where the apple is perfectly at home. The 

 ct'rrant will not succeed well in this cHnrate when 

 planted on a southern exposure, but planted on a 

 northern exposure it does well It would be just 

 as reasonable to say, because the grape needs to 

 be planted on a south hill side, the currant also 

 does, as to say because the grape doe« the apple 

 does. The apple does not require the heat and 

 sun that the grape does, as is proved by its suc- 

 ceeding so admirably at the North, where the 

 quality of the fruit is better than here, and where 

 the heat of the sun is not as great a-i here. I 

 think the gentleman is more theoretical than 

 practical in his views. 



Mr. Mason — I am accused of being theoretical. 

 It may be so, and yet my theory be a demonstra- 

 tion. Why, sir, it is a well known fact that 

 peaches, pears, cherries, plums, etc , are of far 

 better quality when raised by artificial heat than 

 when grown in the open air. It is heat they need, 

 and the fict that they are better when raised in 

 a hot house is demonstrative of my position. 



Mr. Coleman — I am astonished to hear the po- 

 sition taken by the gentleman. He believes that 

 puny man can rival and surpass the Almighty in 

 ripening and giving quality to fruit. 1 admit 

 that this may be true with tropical fruits, or with 

 fruits not adaped to our climate. But such fruits 

 as peaches, pears, cherries and plums, attain a 

 perfection in the open air which no artificial heat 



