102 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMEK. 



April 



At two feet they are easily worked with a horse, 

 and giving a batter opportunity for the pickers to 

 gather the fruit without injury to the plants and 

 the green fru t. 



On a part of the same hill, is the orchard of 

 Parker Earle. He has one and a half acres of 

 the Willson ; these are closely planted and will 

 produce a full crop the coming season. Mr. E. 

 has three hundred peach, one hundred pear and 

 two hundred apple trees, allgrowing exceedingly 

 thrifty; but the strawberry ib his particular 

 hobby, and which he is riding to no small profit. 



A mile north of the station is the extensive 

 orchards of Messrs. Clark & Newhall, containing 

 five thousand bearing peach trees, two hundred 

 of the apple, fifteen hundred pear planted, alter- 

 nate standard and dwarf, one and a half acres of 

 the Willson Strawbery, a thousand grape vines and 

 half an acre of the Lawton Blackbery. These 

 we saw last summer loaded with an immense crop 

 of fruit — far ahead of anything of the kind to the 

 manor born. 



Mr. G. H. Baker, so well known to our State 

 Fair goers as the person exhibiting the immense 

 collection of apples from Egypt, is the owner of 

 Floral Hill, about three fourths of a mile to the 

 west of the village; has sixteen hundred of the 

 peach, six hundred of the apple and one hundred 

 of the May or Kentish Cherry, two hundred dwarf 

 and standard pear, an acre of the Willson Straw- 

 berry, and a small vineyard. 



The other orchards in the neighborhood are. 

 Mr. Hoag; 300 apple just in bearing, 900 peach 

 six years set. The year after this orchard was 

 set, we pointed out its bad locality. A small 

 stream is on the south side of it, which saturates 

 the air at night and is liable to freeze and kill 

 the blossom buds, while the same degree of 

 cold, with a dry atmosphere, would do no injury. 

 The orchard has never produced but little fruit 

 of the peach, but as the surrounding woodland 

 is cleared off, it will improve, but never be de- 

 sirable for this fruit. Apples and other hardy 

 fruits will prove more profitable. Mr. H. has 

 400 grapes, but we fear they will not prove more 

 desirable than the peach. 



J. A. Carpenter, the curiosity man of Egypt, 

 has 1200 peach, 1200 apple, one and two years 

 set, besides considerable small fruits. His place 

 is distant four miles. Mr. C. usually brings to 

 our State fair a full car load of pigs, chickens, 

 dogs, fruits, specimens of timber, etc. 



Dr. Beckwith has half an acre of the Willson 

 Strawberry; David Gow one acre of the same i 



strawbery, besides a large plantation of the peach 

 and apple set last spring. F. A. Nichey half an 

 acre of the Willson Strawberry. T. A. E. Hal- 

 comb, 300 peach and 100 pear. Mr. Eimmell, 

 1500 apples, 200 pear, all dwarf. H. Randleman 

 1100 peach. A. Buck 300 peach, 100 apple. 

 Chas. Musson 1000 apple, 800 of which are in 

 bearing, and a large orchard of seedling peaches 

 many of them fine October sorts Mr. Howlet 

 3500 peach; Mr. Webster 1000 peach, 600 apple 

 100 pear, and 100 gi ape. 



There are now at this point ready to be set, 

 ten thousand peach, ten thousand pear and five 

 thousand apple trees — enough to set one hundred 

 and seventy acres of orchard. Last spring there 

 was seventy thousand plants of the Willson's 

 Albany Strawberry set out in this immediate vi- 

 cinity, and the coming spring, the number will 

 bo quadrupled. 



Mr. Geo. E. Walker, some four miles west of 

 the station, has three thousand peach and apple, 

 and five hundred pears three years set, and just 

 coming into bearing. He has also a small vine- 

 yard. There are a large number of old orchards 

 both of peach and apple, mostly seedling. It is 

 only our purpose to notice tho?e containing graf- 

 ted fruit of the approved varieties, but enough 

 has been given to show that at no distant day the 

 shipment of fruits from this station, will be im- 

 mense. 



TOMATOES. 



It is from this station that the main supply of 

 early tomatoes come to supply the Chicago mar- 

 ket. The plants are now just up in the hot be Is, 

 and preparations are making for the crop, which 

 will be only a limited one, the general impression 

 being that the demand will be light. 



SWEET POTATOES. 



We met Mr. Nesbit, who resides five miles to 

 the east of the station, and has grown sweet po- 

 tatoes for the market for the past seven years. 

 For the past three years he has planted the Yeln 

 low Nansemond, and finds it the most profitable 

 for market on account of its early maturity. He 

 plants about ten acres a year and has an ave- 

 rage of one hundred bushels to the acre, which 

 Mr. N. considers a fine average crop. Those 

 bring on an average, at the station, seventy five 

 cents a bushel and find a market south, being 

 nearly four weeks in advance of the larger va- 

 rieties, usual to the vicinity of Cairo and Colum- 

 bus. But few of these potatoes ever go north. 

 It is evident that this branch of business could 

 be profitably extended at this point. There is 



