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1864. 



THE ILLINOIS FARMER. 



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to procure all in the city. It is estimated that 

 over 100,000 barrels of apples have been stored 

 for winter use, and perhaps 50,000 more kept for 

 spring sales. This, with those sold, makes a total 

 of 525,000 barrels of apples grown in this county 

 during the present year. Worth the princely sum 

 of §853,120. The entire apple crop of this county 

 for the past year, has probably reached a value of 

 not less than $1,000,000 ! The crop has been sold, 

 a large portion of it, in New York, Philadelphia, 

 Baltimore and Washington. Large quantities have 

 also found markets in Boston, Hartford New Ha- 

 ven and other New England cities. Forty or fifty 

 thousand barrels have been shipped to Montreal, 

 and several thousand barrels to Toronto, thus af- 

 fording an immense freight traffic to the Ontario 

 line of steamers. 



The prices realized have been quite satisfactory 

 to the producers, and much above the average of 

 former years. A large proportion of the early 

 fruit realized $2 per barrel. The price of winter 

 apples has ranged from $1 50 to $1 '75 per barrel. 

 The heavy, crop and ready demand for applc^? has 

 Ftimulated the barrel trade, and our barrel manu- 

 facturers have received high prices for all they 

 could manufacture. At times the demand for bar- 

 rels has far exceeded the supply, so that shippers 

 have been obliged to procure barrels elsewhere. 

 Large lots of the latter were brought from Canada. 

 The price of barrels has ruled from 33 to 50 cents 

 each, with 40 to 45 cents as the average. The 

 whole number of barrels of apples s^hipped from 

 this county is 3*75,500. We doubt if any county 

 in the United States can show a greater amount of 

 sales. In fact we think Monroe county beats the 

 world, not only in the extent of her nurseries, but 

 also in the production of fruit. 



The Orleans Republican of Albany, gives the to- 

 tal sales of apples from the county at 278,000, and 

 challenges comparison with any other county in 

 the State, The sales from this county exceed those 

 in Orleans county nearly 100,000 barrels. The 

 garden county of the State is yet ahead, and de- 

 fies competition as a fruit growing county. Her 

 agricultural wealth and resources, the fertility of 

 her soil, and the vast extent and variety of her 

 productions cannot be exceeded in any section of 

 the country. — Rochester Democrat. 



— The above gives us some idea of the value of 

 fruit growing in connection with farming. There 

 are few counties in the State that cannot make 

 more or less in this way, and in most of them cov- 

 er larger profits, as the price is much better than 

 at the East. — Ed. 



How I Protected my Peach Trees. 



In the fall of 1862 I had eight fine thrifty peach 

 trees, four years old the coming spring. I had ta- 

 ken great pains to "head "■ them low, (not more 

 than a foot from the ground,) and to " shorten-in, " 

 so in fact they were " regular pyramids, " about 

 five feet in diameter at the base, and eight feet 

 high. Now, peach trees in our vacinity are called 

 poor property, not having borne any fruit for the 

 last ten or twelve ■ years, I had observed that my 

 trees were " literally covered" with fruit buds, and 

 having heard and read a great deal about protecting 

 peach trees, I concluded to protect mine. 



I bad heard from some source, that to lay them 

 down and cover them with straw or hay, was an 

 excellent method, so I would protect mine in ac- 

 cordance with this plan ; the way I did it is as fol- 

 lows : I took my spade and dug a semicircular 

 trench eighteen inches deep about two and a half 

 foet from the tree, cutting the roots that were in 

 the way. I then cut under towards the centre, 

 severing all the roots to that depth, (IS inches,) on 

 the trench side. I then pulled the tree over and 

 fastened it flat on the ground one half of the roots 

 unmolested, except being bent to conform to the 

 new position of the tree. I had a heavy stick of 

 wood across the branches to press them "down flut, 

 and then covered three or four inches deep with 

 damaged prairie hay. The roots that turned up 

 out of the trench I covered with earth thoroughly, 

 then a coat of hay over that, so that the tree was 

 covered entire. The way I protected the others, 

 excepting one is as follows: I put a rope with a 

 noose on one end, around the outside branches, 

 and drew them up to the centre of the tree, into 

 as close a bunch asj)Ossib!e, and tied them in this 

 position by means of crushed sorghum stalks, wet 

 SO that they could be tied. I then covered them 

 about two inches thick with w^heat straw, from the 

 ground to the tops laid on similar to thatching, and 

 bound with cru.>hed sorghum stalks. The other 

 one I left exposed. I accomplished all this myselj 

 in half a day. Now for the result. I had expect- 

 ed a rich return of lucious fruit the coming autumn, 

 but alas ! I was sadly disappointed. When the 

 balmy air and genial showers of spring had begun 

 to awaken sleeping nature into active life, I went 

 forth and divested them of their strawey coverings, 

 expecting in a few days to see them "covered" 

 with rose tinted promises of luscious fruit. Judge 

 of my surprise on uncovering them to find the bark 

 on the branches shriveled up and apparently half 

 dried. The buds were so dry that I could pulverize 

 them between my finger and thumb. The branches 

 had lost their fiexibiliy, and remained after being 

 disengaged, in nearly the position that I had bound 

 them. The one that I laid down appeared "all 

 right" when I uncovered and set it upright, but it 

 never opened a blossom nor started a leaf. So I 

 have the seven protected trees all dead, and the un- 

 protected one alive and doing well. It had a few 

 blossoms but no fruit. 



There, readers, you have my experience in pro^ 

 tecting peach trees. Will some kindreader inform 

 me why they died under this treatment, and oblige 

 a young farmer ? 



North Henderson, Mercer Co., 111. Marion • 



In Country Gent. 



Scarcity of Nursery Stock — Ths Advance ik 

 Ageicultitral Products. — A writer in the Genese 

 Farmer says that a nurseryman from the West 

 was recently in his offiee, who eame to Rochester 

 to buy peach trees. He said that the nurserymen 

 here could not supply him. The^ had no more 

 than they needed for their own customers. He 

 offered $100 per thousand for them, but they were 

 not to be had. A few years ago they were bought 

 for $40 per thousand. Cherry trees are equally 

 scarce. The nurserymen anticipate lively sales the 

 coming spring. 



As to the efifect of the war on agricultural and 

 other products, the same correspondent says : — I 



