1863. 



THE ILLIlSrOIS FAEMER. 



m 



degrees in the annual average temperature they 

 have over the inhabitants of the northern limits of 

 their own State, is well worthy of due apprecia- 

 tion; but they too, it appears, are subject to cli- 

 matic casualities. 



In the Prairie Farmer, P. S. & S. S. Lawyer, 

 writes from South Pass, March 14th, 1863 : 



" Weather is now settled. We have had alter- 

 nate thawing and freezing, and so it has been all 

 winter, with the weather very mild and open. * * 

 Peaches nearly all destroyed. Some of our apple 

 trees started their leaves two or three times this 

 winter, thinking spring liad come, I suppose, when 

 " Jack Frost" made his appearance and cut them 

 off. * * * Our gardeners are now removing 

 tomato plants from hot beds into cold beds, and 

 commencing to prepare the sweet potatoe plants.' 



N. C. M., Dongola, June — , 1863, says: 



"We will have from a fourth to a third of a 

 crop of fruit. The October freeze did the busi- 

 ness, not only for much fruit, but such trees as 

 were thrifty. This may explain why peach leaves 

 curl." 



F. K. Phoenix, in " Fruit Notes in Central and 

 Southern Illinois," in a recent number, writes : 



"About Centralia the peach crop was light, and 

 much mischief done to the young orchards by the 

 terrible freeze last fall, about October 20th. In 

 Jackson and Union counties, where the largest 

 fruit interest has commenced, the peach crop was, 

 as near as we eould judge, scarcely one-quarter, in 

 some cases not one-twentieth what it should have 

 been. As to the cause, all now agreed that much 

 mischief was done by the unparralled October 

 freeze ; then after the open winter, swelling the 

 blossom buds nearly to bursting. These was the 

 coldest snaps of the season, about the middle of 

 February, which weakened the buds still more, not 

 killing them outright, but rendering them subject 

 to subsequent and repeated causalities, in the shape 

 of severe late frosts and very wet weather through 

 Jane and July. * * * So, notwithstanding, 

 there was a fair crop of bloom on many places, and 

 a good show of setts; the fruit kept dropping off 

 and rotting until it made out a practical failure." 



.Were we an Egyptian florist or market gardener, 

 we should read with much pleasure and satisfaction 

 the following extract from a communicition of L. 

 Stewart, Memphis, to the Horticulturist, in 1851 : 



" To be a plantsman here, you must be directed 

 by natures' laws, paying the closest attention to 

 the great excesses of temperature, which belong to 

 a climate partly temperate and partly tropical. 



The winter division here, that is, after the heat 

 of summer declines, and before it regains its power 



in the spring, is to a certainty, of all ihe climates 

 I have practiced in, the most favorable. We can 

 pat, repat, reduce balls of earth, shake them to 

 pieces, or whatever else necessity and proper man- 

 agement directs. Nature assists at this seaso*, 

 and everything prospers well and grows luxuri- 

 antly. A charming sight certainly, is a well kept 

 and well managed green-houso, all throughout this 

 season. Next comes the summer division, the sea- 

 son of extreme heat, with strange contrasts in its 

 effects." 



The writer goes on to describe the injurious 

 effects of excessive heat on soft-wooded plants, 

 and then remarks : . 



" Your hard-wooded plant?, and all that are not 

 the growth of a few months, will not be effected so 

 visibly." 



Winter forcing in the northern States in houses 

 with glazed exposures equal to seven-eights of their 

 entire dimensions, is an expensive business, requir- 

 ing a heating apparatus, and fuel in some propor- 

 tion to the large engines necessary in manufactur- 

 ing establishments. The products of such houses 

 are necessarily rare luxuries, and command extra- 

 ordinary prices. 



If Egypt cm establish a fair character for 

 bright skies, she will develop not many years hence, 

 a large and important interest in forcing fruits and 

 vegetables, principally by sua heat. 



James Weed. 



— Dr. Weed writes ua that he has made impor- 

 tant improvements in his tree protecter, and prom- 

 ises us drawings of them within a short time. We 

 shall therefore delay our remarks on this subject 

 until all of the facts are before us. The Dr. is a 

 close observer, and we trust will add something 

 valuable to fruit culture in the north-west. — Ed. 



From the Rockford Register. 

 State Horticultural Fair. 



The Second Annual Fair of the State Horticul- 

 tural Society, was opened in this city on Tuesday 

 last, ©n the splendid Fair Grounds of our County 

 Agricultural Society, the Halls connected with 

 which are admirably adapted for the purpose. The 

 Fair opened under auspicous circumstances, with 

 every prospect of a splendid exhibition, a large 

 attendance and complete success. So far as the 

 exhibition is concerned, this has been largely real- 

 ized ; but the storm of Wednesday night and Thurs- 

 day interfered greatly with the attendance on that 

 day. Thousands who designed attending on Thurs- 

 day were prevented by the succession of violent 

 showers of rain which prevailed nearly all day. It 



