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110 



THE ILLINOIS FARMER. 



April 



In setting out a plantation of blackberries the 

 land should be drv and rolling, of hazel brush or 

 mulato soil is the best. Trench plow a foot deep 

 and lay off in rows eight feet apart ; in these rows 

 set the pliints two feet apart ; keep down nil suck- 

 ers except for a width of six inches in the row, 

 which will soon form p perfect hedge. When the 

 plants attain about four feet cut the tops with a 

 pair of hedge shears, and "3 the new tops shoot 

 above this line cut them off. This will irake stocky 

 branching plants, that will need no st iking or trel- 

 lis work to keep them in place. The space between 

 the rows can be planted with cabbage the first 

 year and worked in the usual way, and tlie follow- 

 ing season with a double shovel plow or cultivator. 

 The rows should have an occasional side trimming 

 with the bhide of an old scythe or corn cutter to 

 keep them in place. 



VVe are setting two acres in the manner describ- 

 ed al)ove, being oliliged to abandon the old phinta- 

 tion where the rows were set four feet wide, as the 

 plants filled the space so completely tliat a horse 

 could not go tlirough, and the whoh.' was given up 

 to the plants. Witli rows of eight feet, some three 

 or four feet will be retained for a passage-way for 

 the fruit-picker and the hor.-e for the purpose of 

 cultivation. 



The Lawton has two faults : one is that it winter 

 kills, and the other that it is too spreading in its 

 habits, and a more upright grower is desirable. — 

 We therefore use plants selected from the woods 

 when in bearing. At this time our plants look as 

 though they are considerably irgured by the hard 

 freeze of January 1st, and of course it is not safe 

 to say they are perfectly hardy. In the woodland 

 the blackberry is if possible in a woise condition. 

 It is possible that the lower part of the plant not 

 injured may produce a partial crop. Too little is ! 

 as yet known of field culture of this fruit to lay 

 down positive ruics in rciziard to pruning and the 

 hardiness of varieties. The mode of planting as 

 above is pretty well settled, as well as the fact that 

 we should look for a more hardy variety than the 

 Lnwton. It is supposed that several of these have 

 been found, but planters should not too implicitly 

 rely ("n the statements of interested parties, as it is 

 possible that the past winter may have sent some l 

 of them up. 



The Dorchester and Newman's Thornless are of 

 little value, and it is useless to throw away time 

 and money with them. 



CHERRIES. 



Crete, Will Co., Feb. 20, '64. 



Mr. Rural : — During the past eight years we 

 have planted hereabouts a large number of cherry 

 trees of the sorts from New York, but most of the 

 trees winter kill. A few trees of the May or Early 

 Richmond have been planted and produca fine 

 crops. Two years since a farmer here grafted two 

 large Morello cherry trees, and last year they pro- 

 duced a peck of fine fruit. Now there is a great 

 excitement in regard to this cherry, and one man 

 has contracted to set over five thousand grafts in 

 these large Morello trees, some of which are twenty 

 years old. Up to this date he has set tw« thousand 

 grafts. 



I wish to know if it is not too early to set grafts, 

 and next in regard to the suckers about these Mo- 

 rello trees. If they will do to set out and graft, I 



can soon get up a cherry orchard. Is there not 

 some stock that will Hot sucker that can be had 

 that is well adapted for that purpose ? J. B. 



It is a better practice to graft after the buds be- 

 gin to swell, but grnft+of the cherry and plum can 

 be set much earlier. The Mazzard cherry, which 

 is used for stocks at the East, is too tender for this 

 climate, nor is the Malwleb any better. We have 

 seen nothing equal to the common Morello for a 

 stock on which to graft the May cherry. The 

 spi-outs of those can be grafted where they stand, 

 or set out in the orchard. In resetting it is bettor 

 to set them four or five inches deeper than they 

 grew, and to have the land deeply plowed, when 

 tiiey will be less inclin.'d to sucker, but when they 

 do they must be treated as weeds. 



In almost every neighborhood arc thousands of 

 these Morello trees which seldom produce any fruit 

 in this country, but which are valuable for stocks 

 for the May cherry. 



This cherry is attracting considerable attention 

 in the Eastern States from the fact of its hardiness 

 and great crop-!. 



In grafting the clicrry do not split the birk, as 

 is done with the apple, but cut it with a thin, 

 sliarp-bladed knife ; the small shoots are not split 

 in grafting but chip l;ip{)ed, wound v.iih thread 

 and waxed. 



The May cherry begins at Crete about the 20th 

 of June and at this point the 10th. Rural. 



-*9*~ 



Sages in Council. 



The New York Farmers' Club, as U well known 

 i.) the readers of the New York Tribune and other 

 ciry papers, is a great institution, brim full of 

 knowledge on all subjects pertaining to rural af- 

 fairs. The machine is run by prominent men, with 

 an occasional turn of the crank by visitors from 

 abroad. The most difficult subjiicts are discussed 

 nnd final decision made, from which appeal is use- 

 less — in fact It is a sort of weekly Congress, sitting 

 for the express purpose of settling all rural ques- 

 tions. Here is a sample of their wisdom : 



" At a regular weekly meeting of the Fruit 

 Growers' Club, Feb. 18, the first business trans- 

 acted was to test a bottle of wine sent in by Geo. 

 Dunlap, from Ovid, Seneca county, N. Y., who 

 says : 



' It is made from the pure juice of the Oporto 

 grape, so called in this region, with the addition of 

 three pounds of good sugar to a gallon of the juice, 

 and nothing else. The sample is three years old. 

 Please let me know through the lYibune what you 

 and your Club think of it.' 



The verdict was unf ivorable, as it must be of all 

 grape juice of too low a quality to make wine with- 

 out the addition of sugar. The German proverb 

 is, ' God makes the wine, man never,' that is, wine 

 grows, and man has only to squeeze it from the 

 grape 



Dr. Ward said he was not acquainted with this 

 grape, but, judging from this sample, it does not 

 contain wine. 



Another sample of wine was presented by Mr. 

 Williams of New Jersey, and some of the gentle- 

 men present, who did not appreciate the Oporto, 



