8 



THE ILLINOIS FARMEK. 



Jan. 



State it was valuable and should be in their list, 

 but north it must give place to a better apple. 



Mr. Murtfedlt — It is a good apple with me. It 

 is productive. Its chief merit is that it blossoms 

 late, and is sure to escitpe late spring frosts. 



Mr. Whitney — It b ars well with me. The great 

 trouble is that it overbears. 



Mr. Minkler — That is precisely its character with 

 me. 



Mr. Galusha — There are lots of money in it. 



Mr. Dunlap— Coe says that the trees should be 

 root-griifted — my trees are top or stock-grafted ; 

 that m:iy make the difference. 



Mr. Whitn'='y — My trees are both root and top- 

 grafted. It does equally well on both. 



Mr. Redfield — It bears better if it is top-grafted. 

 It is a poor fruit unless well cultivated 



Mr. Dunlan withdrew his motion. 



G-ilpm or LHtle Romanite, &c — Mr. Galusha — I 

 move than it be struck from the list. It has a rich 

 juice and the property of keeping well. But it is 

 not fit in its raw state, to put into the hnman 

 stomach. 



Mr. Murtfddt — tt is an excellent baking npple, 

 good for sweet pickles, and an excellent market 

 apple. 



Mr.^^VTiHqey — It is one of the best apples, if not 

 the best for spring ci(ier. Cider manufactuied 

 from it in the spring will sell at a dollar per gal- 

 lon, and it keeps-w^I till spring. 



The motion was lost. 



Paradise Winter Sweet — Mr. Muitfeldt moved 

 that they be added to the list of wintei- apples for 

 general cultivation. It was so added. 



EVENING SESSION. 



Mr. Galusha moved the appointment of a com- 

 mittee for each division of tlie State, to report a 

 list of apples : 1st for market purposes ; 2d for 

 family use ; 3d for trial. 



Messrs. Galu.^ha, Whitney and Murtfehit, for 

 Northern Illinois ; Messrs. Stewart, Hull and Over- 

 man for Central Illinois ; and Messrs. Baker, Flagg 

 and Wright for Southern lilinois. 



PEACH CULTURE. 



Dr. E. S. Hull, of Alton, read an essay on peach 

 culture. The Dr. is one of the most successful and 

 intelligent cultivators of the pe ich, and the essay 

 attracted no small attention, as will he seen by the 

 discussion. We prefer to let tlie Dr. speak for 

 him-'elf, and therefore copy his essay : 



*'It may be considered an axiom in horticulture, 

 that all of our cultivated [il uits do best in a soil 

 and atmosphere that most nearly resembles that of 

 the countries of which thev are natives; and that 

 any great removal from these conditions will re- 

 quire some difference ©f treatment at the hands of 

 the cu'tivator. 



It is true that the peach will exist within wide 

 StEiits of latitude ; that in almost all sections of the 

 "world, whi-re the severity of winter does not kill 

 ■the trees, or wherever the cold of the southern 

 wntfcrs is sufficient to give the trees a period of 

 rest, the peach tree will grow. There are facts, 

 liowever in vegetable physiology that are of the 

 highest importance to the horticulturist. To learn 

 the eondJtions of success in the prosecution ef any 

 objeet, is a.-atep in the direct path. Merely empir- 

 ical >«ffQiitSiadd nothing to the general store of I 



knowledge where many conditions are combined, 

 and it can be of no permaneet value to be able 

 from actual observation to record all the changes 

 of phenomena of a seed by the peach from the pe- 

 riod of germination and growth ; to give the ele- 

 ments that ohtei- into its sti ucture ; or to be able 

 to state with accuracy the several ingredients and 

 the exact proportions of each of which the soil is 

 composed, — so long as the real cause of the action 

 is unknown or unexplained, or the natural struc- 

 ture of plants are disregarded. Various results 

 are produeed by a deviatioii from the laws which 

 regulated the formation of vegetable secretions. 

 Light and heat are the agents, though not the only 

 agents, upon which all plants dipend ; and as light 

 and heat increase or decrease, so must the treat- 

 ment of plants be varied to suit the altered condi- 

 tions to which we would subvert them. 



The peach is generally considered to be really 

 indigenious only to parts of Persia or China ; and 

 from the former country to have been early intro- 

 duced into Italy; thence to different p«rts of Eu- 

 rope and into England about the year 1550; thence 

 to Spain and France, and by the colonists into the 

 United States. But whether the peach is really 

 indigenious only to the countries first named, is a 

 qu stion we consider open for investigation. It 

 was recorded by Father Hennepin, who was the 

 first who has given us a description of the regions 

 of Louisiana as it then was. In his voyage down 

 the Mississippi river, he describes the peach trees 

 discovered by him in all those regions as being of 

 great size. Father Hennepin's statements, taken 

 in connection with recent observations of the 

 Creole or native sorts, by which it is known that 

 the trees of the more southern portions of Alabama, 

 Mississippi and Louisiana bloom from two to three 

 weeks earlier than cither the seedling or improved 

 Virii'ties of the North when removed to those 

 States, has led to the belief that those sections of 

 country may justly claim the peach to be a native 

 habitant of those parts of the world also. 



Botanists regard the peach and nectarine as only 

 slight varieties of each other, differing only in the 

 skin, with a perctpitable Prussic acid flavor in the 

 neetarine not contained in the former fruit. Many 

 insfances are recorded of both peaches and necta- 

 rines growing on the same tree and branch, with- 

 oit artificial aid. Horticulturists are, I believe, 

 agreed in considering them one species of fruit 

 which they have arranged in four divisions, viz: 



1. Peaches — those whose flesh separates freely 

 fnim both skin and stone. 



2 The Free-Stone smooth peaches or necta- 

 rines. 



3. The Cling-Stone peach, the flesh adhering to 

 the stone and skin. 



4. The Smooth-Skinned peaches, or nectarines 

 the flesh adhering to the stone. 



There are other divisions necessary to be under- 

 stood before any -certain progress can be made in 

 id'-ntifying varietieshf the peach. These relate to 

 the leaves, and are divided into three classes : 



1. Trees whose leaves are crenated or sawed to 

 a moderate depth, or have globular glands on the 

 foot-stalk. 



5. Those whose leaves are crenated and have ear 

 or kidney-shaped glands. 



3. Those whose leaves are deeply sawed or tooth- 

 ed, and are without glands on or near the foot- 

 stalk. 



