1863. 



THE ILLIlSrOIS FAKMER. 



birds would not find them out, and in all cases it 

 has been done and the worms disappeared. 



That the prairies, distant from the timber, will 

 prove the most valuable for the cherry and the 

 small fruits we are well assured, from the fact that 

 in the breeding season they will flock in from the 

 woodland and thus take more than their share of 

 our fruits. 



We are careful to protect the flocks of quails, as 

 they are sure to pick up beetles that would do us 

 serious damage. We have shook down whole col- 

 onies of span worms, to see them gather them up. 

 The robin is a great eater and where insects are 

 not abundant will take to fruit at a sad rate. It 

 ' would be well to examine into the account current 

 with the cedar bird, and if he don't pay his way 

 set the boys after him. 



Black Caps and Purple Cam Basp- 

 berries. 



Another season'e experience, with these berries, 

 in which we have marketed a small quantity of 

 both, sufficient to give us an idea of their respec- 

 tive value. We can but repeat what we have of- 

 ten said in regard to them. First we will speak 

 of the 



PURPLE CAM. 



This fruit is larger than the blackcaps, of a deep 

 purple and of the same form and habits, both in 

 cam and fruit. It is a more vigorous grower and 

 less effected by drouth. Eipens this year from 

 28th June, and we have them at this writing, July 

 22d, and will bear for a week at least. It is more 

 productive than the black cap, producing a fourth 

 to a third more to the acre, and can be picked 

 much faster than the other on account of size. Th« 

 flavor is delicious, most people preferring it to the 

 black cap. For jelly and wine it is superior. If 

 the weather is warm it must be used within twenty- 

 four hours after picking, consequently they cannot 

 be sent any long distance to market. The canes 

 are hardy and need no winter protection. 



THE BLACK CAP. 



Is fast becoming one of the most important of 

 the small fruits, not even second to the strawberry 

 which it follows in its season. Hundreds of acres 

 of these canes are now in bearing, and other hun- 

 dreds will be set out the coming spring. So rap- 

 idly has the demand for this berry grown up, that 

 it has been sold in our market when brought from 

 a distanc at twenty cents a quart, and nothing like 

 a supply could be had. We recollect a few years 

 ago, when children brought in a few quarts from 

 the groves, that it was dull of sale at six cents a 

 quart ; now the demand is almost unlimited, and 

 hundreds of bushels could be sold at ten or twelve 



cents a quart. Our small crop was sold at home 

 for the latter price, and no small part of it to . 

 farmers. 



PLANTING AND CTTLTURE. 



The plants are to be set late in spring, in well- 

 prepared soil, in rows six feet apart and four feet 

 in the rows, and are to be kept clean with double 

 shovel plow and horse. In March or April the 

 canes are cut back, leaving the two strongest two 

 to two and a half feet high, and the weaker ones, 

 one to two feet, so as to give the stool a rounded 

 appearance ; clear the spaces of the clippings and 

 keep thoroughly cultivated ; no staking is needed. 

 After the crop is taken o5 the old canes are cut 

 out or left to die out, which they will do, and 

 which we are inclined to think just as well, when 

 they can be broken off and thrown out at the time 

 of pruning. ■' ^ :. :"'v ■"'^/'^vli!;''/ ,v' 



A word of caution in regard to the true purple 

 cam, as the tree peddlers will have something they 

 will sell for it. We know of several who have 

 purchased the spurious alraady. One of our ac- 

 quaintances, was somewhat irate when we told 

 him he had not the genuine, and to make it quite 

 plain to him sent him a dozen plants. Since then 

 his eld plants have gone over the garden fence, \^^ 



Peaches an Plum Stocks. 



Here comes Mr. Tree Peddler, with his glass 

 jars filled with Brobdignag peaches, great, coarse, 

 preserving sorts, but as unfit to eat as a raw quince. i 



T. P. — Good morning, Sir — see you have fine 

 ground and orchards ; can you grow peaches ? 



Ed. — ^Yes, Sir ; have had good crops the past ^ 

 three years, and trees well loaded now. We have . 

 listened too much to the tale that peaches are not 

 a certain crop here, and that the south part of the 

 State will glut the market, both of which we now 

 think to be grave errors, and intend to plant more 

 largely. 



T. P. — ^But what of the borer. I find that in 

 this part of the State the trees are all dying with 

 the fruit on, having been girdled by the borer. No 

 use in trying to grow peaches in the old way, it 

 can't be done; and how you manage to get good 

 crops I cannot see. Your trees must be short 

 lived a»y way. .;? 



Ed. — ^Yes, Sir, the peach is a short lived tree, 

 but as it is easily grown, they can readily be re- -; 

 placed; and we thus keep up a supply. We plant 

 our potatoes annually, and do not complain, then 

 why of a peach because it will not live a thousand 

 years? 



T. P. — Well, friend, I do not wish to interrupt 

 you while writing your letter, but I called to see 

 you on a little business. 



J mi il! 1 iLrl i l ii lADi a n 



