262 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMER. 



Sept 



pear trees of any variety that I am acquainted 



■with. The following varieties succeed as well in 



this part of the State as any with which I am 



acquainted : 



White Doyenne, Bartlett, 



Seckel, Flemish Beauty, 



Winter Nellis. 



Of Peache?, the best six are: 

 Large Early York, Crawford's Early, 



Crawford's Late Heath Cling, 



Hayworth's Early, Troth's Early. 



Best twelve : 

 Troth's Early, Crawfords Early, 



Large Early York, Red Cheek Melacaton, 



Hayworth, Coollages Favorite, 



Old Mixon Cling, Old Mixon Free, 



Early Tillottson, Lagrange, 



Ilenth Cling, Crawford's Late. 



Fruit culture is making rapid progress in this 

 part of the State, and hundreds of acres of or- 

 chards are being added annually. 



On the Missouri side of the river, nothing is 

 being done in th's direction, though the country 

 is well adapted to fruit culture." 

 Mr. S. S. Minklee says : 



"I have resided here for twenty-eight years, 

 during which time I have seen many attempts at 

 orcharding, and most of them failures, for the 

 want of proper care and knowledge of planting, 

 mode of training after culture, aud proper varie- 

 ties adapted to this climate. And here I may say 

 that a large percentage of the failures have been 

 in consequence of trimming too high — they say 

 so as to plow close to them — consequently, in this 

 windy country, planted without staking, they 

 lean to the north-east ; the hot sun in summer 

 and the warm sun in winter kills the bark on the 

 south-west side of the tree, and hence the trees 

 die, and people conclude that this is not a fruit 

 country. 



Another cause of failure is planting an or- 

 chard in one corner of a field, then suffer cattle 

 to have full sway and to horn prune at their 

 leisure. 



Another criminal failure is seeding down or 

 sowing small grain in the orchard under tea 

 years, and then if seeded at all after that age, 

 it_&hould be with clover and that not taken from 

 the ground. There i^ just as much sense in 

 seeding down a cornfield directly after planting 

 as an orchard under the above age. The trees 

 become stunted and lousy and live a while at a 

 poor dj'ing rate, and they are led again to con- 

 clade that this is not a fruit country. 



But since the North- Western Fruit Grower's 



Association sprang into existence, and the State 

 Hortici'ltural Society shedingits savory influence 

 over the land, we see a decided difference through- 

 out the limits of its sphere. People thereby 

 have learned the varieties adapted to ther soil 

 and climate, aud the necessity of adopting the 

 low head system. And now *he Society has an- 

 other important point to bring the minds of the 

 people to, and that is to teach them to think as 

 much of a fruit tree as they do of a hill of corn. 

 When I think we can safely sr.y. We have a fruit 

 country. 



In regard to the list. You require that those 

 in it must be generally and successfully cul- 

 tivated for a considerable period of time ; hence 

 this list. There are some varieties that I know 

 to be valuable, but not by my own experience, 

 for I have not fruited them" yet, though planted 

 extensively of them: the Jonathan, White Peppin, 

 Carolina and Fulton. 



The above varieties all stand transportation 

 well. The ratio of early fruit might be greater 

 if near market, as early fruit yields a greater 

 profit. 



I wish to be excused from pears and peaches, 

 as I have tested but few varieties of pears and 

 less of peaches." 



From the Country Gentleman. 



Depth for Planting Seed. 



A great deal depends on the right depth for 

 planting : eed. It must vary somewhat with the 

 nature of the soil, its condition as to moisture 

 and pulverization, and other causes. If every 

 farmer would spend one day in each year in ex- 

 periments to determine the best depth, theknow- 

 ledge thus gained would soon be worth hundreds 

 of dollars to him. Five dollars worth of labor 

 expended in such experiments would doubtless 

 return five thousand per cent, dividends. It 

 would be well therefore to make the investment. 



In illustration of the importance of the right 

 depth, we mention a single experiment. A hired 

 man was directed to plant some beet seed, but 

 instructions were omitted as to the right depth. 

 It was found afterwards, that, determined to do 

 the work well, he buried the s^ed three to four 

 inches deep. The error was corrected in time to 

 have a part planted an inch and a half or two 

 inches. The first did not come up at all ; the 

 second but feebly and sparingly, and "bad seed" 

 and "dishonest seedmen" were suspected. Hav- 

 ing a little seed and a strip of spare land left, 

 the rest was planted some time afterwards. Lit- 

 tle pains were however taken with supposed bad 

 seed, and it was scattered carelessly on the sur- 

 face, and covered an inch or less in depth. It 

 came up profusely ; and s lesson was learned as 

 to depth, and the character of the honest seed- 

 man retrieved. 



