1862. 



THE ILLINOIS FAKMEE. 



101 



some a winter apple, and doubtless will so prove 

 at the north, but it is seldom that specimens are 

 seen at this date, and then of little value. Its 

 season is from October to January — at this point. 

 Of winter varieties he has had long experience 

 with the White Winter Premium, and esteems it 

 among the best. Four years since, he had eight 

 large trees grafted with the Esopus Spilz nburg, 

 and last sea-^on gathered from these trees over 

 fifty bushels of most superb fruit. It is possible 

 that this popular eastern fruit may prove pro- 

 ductive on these hills. The Little Romanite is 

 productive and always sells well. The Yellow 

 Bellflower also, promises well. Winsap is a'ways 

 a fine and valuable variety, while the Paldwin is 

 of no value. Mr. Vancil has a peach orchard of 

 some twelve hundred trees, mostly seedling 

 cherry trees from the Rochester nurseries, now 

 promise well, but too young yet to determine 

 their value. The plum crop is always ruined by 

 the curculio, which also does a large amount • f 

 damage to the peach crop. Pears promise well, 

 but the orchard is too young to decide on this 

 point ; certainly the trees are very thrifty. Out 

 of 280 dwarfs, three years set, one hundred of 

 them fruited the past season. Mr. V. has quite 

 a plantation of Houghton gooseberries which 

 produce well, and for which a ready market is 

 found in Cairo at two dollars a bushel. We 

 should have said that the Rho. I. Greening 

 promise to be profitable here ; it is an early win- 

 ter fruit In his orchard are some twelve hun- 

 dred apple trees, embracing seventy varieties, 

 two thirds of which have fruited. No person 

 visiting this point for its fruits, should fail to 

 call I this venerable pcmologist, whose grounds 

 teem with an almost endless variety of valuable 

 fruits. 



Casting y^ur eyes to the east from the station, 

 far up the rocky fronlet of Mount Tabor, and em- 

 bracing its summit, is seen the plantation of Col. 

 Bainbridge. The Union cause has broken his 

 heart. His neighbors have no sympathy with 

 secessia, and the booming of cannon at Forts 

 Henry and Donelson which came likedistant thun- 

 der to these grand old hills, bearing in each echo a 

 shout of triumph, was the last feather that broke 

 the camel's back. The sacred soil of his native 

 place was invaded, and his kindred were being 

 involved in their own traitorous meshes — he 

 would sell his homestead and retire to a farm 

 of his in southern Missouri. Ten thousand dol- 

 lars was quickly offered and as quickly taken, 

 for these one hundred and twenty acres of frui 

 a uds are the best in all this region. The orchardst 



in their infancy, gave an income last year of over -:] 

 two thousand dollars. Tlie fortunate purchasers j 

 are the Brother Evans' of Makanda, whose cul- ' 

 tivated taste and energy will make this planta-. ? 

 tion a paradise of the beautiful and the useful. • 



The orchards on this planta,tion contain four 

 thousand peach trees of the best varieties for 

 bearing; two huudred dwarf pear, four hundred 

 apple, one hundred of which is the Keswick Cod- 

 lin, one hundred Early Harve^it, and one hiiudred 

 Yellow Bellflower, and the remainder White 

 Winter Pearman and Buckingham. It may ap- 

 pear strange to many to know that the Codlin, 

 though only a cooking apple, yet is the most 

 profitable for market ; what it lacks in high price 

 it makes up in steady productiveness. In the 

 vineyard there are five thousand bearing vines of 

 Catawba and Isabella, but the fot nearly de- 

 stroyed the crop last season. The sides of this 

 hill, in common with others in the vicinity, is oc- 

 cupied in part, with masses of sand stone, known 

 among geologis^ts as cilicious conglomerate. This 

 belt overlie? the shale, which in turn rests on the 

 mountain's limestone, and the south and west 

 side of this hill is largely occupied vith this 

 rock. The base of the orchard and vineyard 

 rest upon this bed of sandstone, and passing 

 over the summit of the hill, is lost in the wody 

 slope on the north and east. The next hill to 

 the east is Mount Lookou', whose summit con- 

 tains the orchard of Mr. C. Colby, and contains 

 fourteen hundred bearing peach free^ of tne best 

 varieties; four hundred peais dwarf and stan- 

 dard, set alternately. One hundred of the May 

 Cherry of the v"est, and which is doubiless, 

 identical with the Kentish of Downing, but not 

 the E-^rly May or Richmonl of the New York 

 nurseries. T Lis cherry p-omisesto be valuable 

 as the fruit is S3 early, being ripe the last of 

 May. This fruit is soon to become abundant in 

 the Chicago market, from the last of May to the 

 last of Augus , the first f om this point and the 

 last from northern Wisconsin ; it is one of th se 

 fruits which are at home in a wide range of cli- 

 mate. Mr. C. has one hundred of the Quince 

 which are growing thrifty, and judging from 

 specimens seen at Jonesboro, we think they will 

 succeed One hundred and fi ty grape vines of 

 several varieties, are very promising. But the 

 most interesting feature of the grounds ol Mr. 

 C, is four acres of Willsuu's Albany Strawberry, 

 set last year and ready for a good crop. They 

 were set too wide apart to be worked to advan- 

 tage ; the rows are four feet instead of two, and 

 20,000 instead of 40,000 set on the four acres. 



