■ .r?? 



148 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMER. 



May 



production of a very inferior article of wheat while 

 manv of our farmers feared that much of the wheat, 

 as a result of winter killing, would turn eutirely to 

 " chess. " 



From the Working Farmer. 

 Salt as Manure. 



According to an experiment made by Mr Lawes, 

 of England, wheat, on his land, received no bene- 

 fit whatever from the application of salt, either 

 in grain or straw. He had always used 4 cwt. of 

 sale per acre, with other fertilizers, upon his man- 

 golds, in the regular course of farm practice, but 

 was led, by the failure to derive any benefit from 

 it on wheat, to test with care the yield of this root 

 with and without j^alt ; and evidently to his own 

 surprise, land without salt yielded 31 tons 2 cwt. 

 of mangle roots per acre, while that to which 5 cwt. 

 of salt per acre had been applied, produced only 

 20 tons 10 cwt. of roots, and that which had 

 received 10 cwt. of salt per acre, produced only 18 

 tons of bulbs. As to tops, " where there was no 

 salt, the produce of tops was 7 tons 6 cwt, where 

 the smaller quantity was applied it was 8 tons 5 

 cwt, and where the larger quantity of salt was 

 used it was 7 tons 8 cwt Therefore the result was, 

 that where the smaller quantity w;is used, there 

 was more top and less bulb, and where the larger 

 quantity was used, less top and less bulb. " 

 Although he does not appear to claim this as a 

 decisive experiment, nor that the wheat experi- 

 ment on his farm would necessarily apply to all 

 England, still he did not hesitate to assert with- 

 out qualification the belief " that the large amount 

 of money which is expended on salt as a miuure 

 throughout the British Isles is not returned in the 

 produce." — Knowing that a commission on the part 

 of the French Government had been engaged in 

 investigating the subject, he also communicated 

 with M. Barral, whose reply shows that that com- 

 mission reported that salt was no value as a manure. 

 In this report M. Barral states that he agrees, in 

 80 far as regards the application of salt alone, but 

 it is uncertain whether this can be said of it as 

 applied in connection with other fertilizing mate- 

 rials. 



Alton Horticultural Society. 



Saturday, April 2, 1864. 



The Society met at the residence of A. and F. 

 Starr Present— Dr. E. S. Hull, J. Curtis, F. Curtis, 

 D. Williams, C. W. Dimmock, H. G. McPike, A. 

 Starr, F. Starr, D. Brown, J. Newman, and quite 

 a number of ladies. 



The Secretary being absent, Mr. Dimmock pre- 

 sented copies of Agricultural Reports for November 

 and December, from the Commissioner of Agricul- 

 ture, apd letters received by the Secretary. 



Ist. A letter from Isaac Newton, Commissioer of 

 Agriculture, stating that flower seeds were not yet 

 ready for distribution, and that there would be no 

 grape vines to distribute among societies the 

 present season. 



2d. A Hote from George Husmanu, of Hermann, 



Mo., giving his definition of a reserve bud : — "I 



call the reserve bud the two small buds above and 



elow each fruit bud on any strong cane. There 



is a small bud above, and one below, each large or 

 fruit bud, which will very often n main dormant, 

 if the principal fruit bud stans in spring; but if 

 that is killed, they willgenenJIv push and produce 

 some fiuit ; though not us much or as fine as the 

 principal bud." 



On moiion of Mr. Dimmock the letter was filed 

 for publication. 



A cane was brought in and no such buds could 

 be detected, and many membirs seemed inclini d 

 to dispute Mr. Hu mann's opinion. 



3d. A note from Mrs. Annie C. Trible, of Upper 

 Alt(m, giving the minimum temperature of '55, '56, 

 '57, and '64, as follows : 



December 80, 1855 8° 



Januiiry 9, 1856 18- 



January 18, 1857 15 =' 



January 1, 1864 22 ° 



From which it appears that the present year ex- 

 ceeds any previously observed, and that next to it 

 comes 1856, a _\ear very dertructive to fruit trees. 



The following t»ble from Blodgt t's Climateology 

 shows the extreme cold of a series of years at 

 Highland, in this county : 



1841 2® 1847 50 



1842 30 1848 5^ 



1843 4° 1849 3=> 



1844 6° 1850 8° 



1845 7® 1851 4=> 



1846 1© 1852 150 



The thanks of the Society w.re tendered to Mrs. 

 Trible for her kindness iu furnishing a copy of the 

 record. 



Dr. Hull having lost his paper upon " Roots, " 

 favortd the Society with his views orallv. He 

 believes the spoi gioles are like the leaves and 

 perish every year and that the large roots are more 

 important than the very r.mall ones. 



On motion of F. Starr, a committee consisting 

 of Mr. Dimmock was appointed to obtain the books 

 belonging to the Society. 



Mr. Daniel Williams was proposed and elected a 

 member. 



On motion of F. Starr, members were requested 

 to collect insects injurious and beneficial for a 

 Sociitv's Cabinet Also to investigate the real 

 benefit or injury occasioned by birds. 



" Birds " were made the subject for discussion 

 at the next meeting. 



The time of meeting was made the first Friday of 

 each month, instead of Satuiday as heretofore. 



Adjourned to m< et at D. E Brown's on Friday, 

 May ijth, at 10 o'clock, A. M. 



After a t-umptuous dhmer, at which a superior 

 article of currant wine, of home manufacture, was 

 procured and tested, a thorough survey of tb* 

 premises was made by the ladies and gentleman of 

 the society. 



The residence and grounds of Messrs. Starr 

 were formerly occupied by Dr. E. S. Hull, and were 

 the field of his early efforts and success in horti- 

 culture, .^he large peach orchard of 3,000 trees, 

 which has so long made Alton famous for choice 

 fruit, has suffered much from the severe winter, 

 and will doubtless, ere long, give way to new treea. 

 The magnificent evergreens, surrounding the un- 

 pretending stone house attract the eye from a great 

 distance, and guide to the premises without tke 

 necessity of making inquiry. These large ever- 

 greens, some twenty, were planted twenty y&u$ 



