1863. 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMEE. 



217 



I 



Orange and Apple 15 



'Cheese and Jellies 15 



Cakes and Figa 15 



Two of our party gobbled down three dollars 

 and sixty cents worth to eke out a breakfast on 

 the luxurious steamer City of Alton, the great 

 crack boat of the Mississippi. 



Editors could not indulge thus, and we had to 

 only read of the good things as above. 



The Fruit Crop and Orcharding. — ^We have 

 before stated that fruit trees entered last winter in 

 a bad condition, with a tall spongy growth, simi. 

 lar to that of 1854, which was followed with such 

 disastrous results, and had we such another win- 

 ter with its sudden changes, orchardists would 

 have been again in mourning. 



We must therefore prepare ourselves for disap- 

 pointment when the two unfavorable conditions 

 arise — that is, a late spongy growth and a winter 

 of severe cold, accompanied with sudden changes- 



The second condition was wanting, and hence 

 the disaster was avoided. But the trees were some- 

 what weakened, and at the time of blooming it re- 

 quired but little unfavorable weather to thin out; 

 the fruit, and this was done pretty effectually in 

 most cases. The blooming was abundant, but the 

 fruit crop on the whole will be below the average. 

 It is true that another year has been added to the 

 young orchards, many of which are bearing for 

 the first time. In our own grounds, nearly all the 

 trees that fruited last year have little fruit this, 

 and though we shall on the we shall on the whole 

 have more fruit, yet a large share of it will be from 

 trees bearing their first crop. This includes the 

 apple and pear; the cherry and peach is very good, 

 though the latter is not overloaded, and will need 

 little thinning out. 



Our orchard at Logan, near Chicago, has on a 

 heavy crop, at least double that of last year, but 

 the varieties are such as have stood almost all 

 vicissitudes of weather. Of fifteen acres set to or- 

 chard in 1844 and 1846 of trees from Buffalo, near, 

 ly all have been replaced by the hardy sort, and 

 now the orchard is in a good paying condition. 



This orchard has been an expensive lesson to us, 

 but of inestimable value, in its results. This year 

 ten acres of it was sown to flax, and the crop of 

 flax was sold on the ground for $110, The same 

 ten acres will yield probably six hundred bushels 

 of apples which will make it pay very well. Two 

 years ago it was heavily manured, and last fall re- 

 filled with trees, the old trees having been set 

 twenty-eight feet apart, we set in as many more, 

 making them only fourteen feet apart one way and 

 twenty-eight the other. The variety set was the 



Keswick Codlin, a very upright grower, and which 

 will need less than the usual space. 



The peach crop is very good and the trees show- 

 no sign of blight as yet, though the Modlin has 

 cracked badly, we have not seen it do so before, 

 the trees are young and healthy and well cultivat- 

 ed, which we supposed conditions to ward off this 

 disease. 



The hard shell almond is loaded with fruit, and 

 we shall have several bushels of the nuts. 



Too little attention has been paid to planting of 

 the Siberian crab; the fruit is valuable for preserves 

 and makes a very superior vinegar' while the tree 

 at all times is highly ornamental. 



The dry weather is having a decided influence 

 on the size of the ajple, and early fruits are not 

 over two thirds the usual size. 



Newly planted trees are suffering badly where 

 not well watered or severely cut back at the time 

 of planting, 



I \A very large^number of orchard trees were set 

 out last spring, many of them we fear will succumb 

 to the severe drouth. 



The autumn is much the best season to set out 

 fruit trees in the central and southern part of the 

 State, but in every instance they should be banked 

 up, to prevent heaving out and from being swayed 

 over by the wind. 



The Prairie Farmer. — Our cotemporary we per- 

 ceive is in a thriving condition, having donned a 

 new dress, and new paper^on the commencement 

 of the half year. This not only betokens an im- 

 provement in the agricultural condition of the 

 country, but in its general business. The demand 

 for new and old implements has called out our 

 workshops to advertise their wares which is one of 

 the supports of a paper. The Prairie Farmer is 

 published weekly at the Commercial Emporium of 

 the West, and has therefore great facilities to gath- 

 er up valuable material for its pages. We are sat- 

 isfied that it would be to the advantage of all eul-. 

 tivators of the soil to invest more in this class of 

 reading. We find most farmers taking one or more 

 political and religious papers, while comparatively 

 few take'more than^one agricultural paper. This is 

 not good economy, for no farmer can take any ag. 

 ricultural paper from which he may not receive 

 more benefit than it cost. The West has six ag- 

 ricultural journals, half of them weekly and the 

 other half monthly. The weeklies indulge in mis- 

 cellaneous reading to some extent by way of varie- 

 ty, while the monthlies have room for only prac- 

 tical rural matters, lihey repi^set the Northwest 

 as a whole, yet the climate and soil is so varied in 

 this large field, c£^ed the Nortb^giSt that they are 



vw: 



