1864. 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMEE. 



179 



this willow for fence-making purposes by the State 

 Horticultural Society, are on file in the Secretary's 

 office probably. Robert Douglas, of Waukegan, 

 who has no superior in North Illinois as a well 

 informed horticulturist. And yet Mr. Bragdon is 

 alone ! 



6. Again in answer to Mr. Phcenix's renewed 

 query at the close of his article, he has seen and 

 examined the White Willow plantations of North- 

 ern Illinois thoroughly, and that said examination 

 did not suggest the changing of a single word he 

 has written concerning this willow. And, further, 

 Mr. B. has no motive nor interest, nor has he had 

 any, in his course with reference to this willow, 

 which did not grow out of his convictions of duty 

 to those whom bis writings might influence. He 

 has been offered a great deal more money to pursue a 

 different course to that which he has pursued! The 

 trouble is with Mr. P., probably, as we know it to 

 be with other willow dealers we might name, that 

 it is not found an easy matter to sell willow cuttings 

 to a Rural reader, without some guarantee that 

 they are genuine White Willow cuttings. And it 

 is found difficult to make a Rural reader believe 

 all that their agents choose to assert concerning 

 this wonderful willow. And it is found that too 

 many farmers take and read the Rural ! This is 

 precisely what is the matter, and it will continue 

 to trouble the venders of willow some time yet, 

 probably. 



T. Having answered Mr. Ph(knlx;'s questions 

 fully and faithfully, Mr. Bragdon wishes to ask a 

 few. Will Mr. Ph(enix inform the readers of the 

 RuRTL in the West, whether he employed men, in 

 the winter or spring of 1863, to cut willows at, or 

 near, or in the region of Peoria Lake ? If so, how 

 many men did he so employ, and how long were 

 they so employed ? And will he tell us whether 

 those were White Willows — Salix alba — or not ? 

 If not, what did he do with those willows? — 

 whither did he ship them ? 



Perhaps Mr. Phcenix will call these impertinent 

 questions. Perhaps he will refuse to answer them 

 on that account. If so, we may, probably, be 

 induced to give our reasons for asking them. And 

 we may ask others. — Rural N. Yorker. 



We give up a large amount of space to the above. 

 We look upon this question in all its aspects 

 with no small amount of interest. Mr. Phcenix 

 will thank us for an opportunity to set himself 

 right in the matter which we hope he will be able 

 to do. We are satisfied that a large amount of 

 swamp willow has been sold, and all parties trying 

 to sell again have been liable to the imposition. 

 If Mr. P. has been dealing in that way it is possible 

 that he may have made some bad purchases in this 

 way without his knowing it. We gave an account 

 of a swindle attempted here with the head nomin- 

 ally located at Carbondale. Since then our letter 

 addressed to the reputed parties at that point has 

 been returned from the Dead Letter Office, which 

 indicates where the swindle was located. 



We have more faith in the willow than our friend 

 Bragdon, but agree with him that as a hedge plant 

 it is of little value but for live fence in our low land 



when shelter is also an object it is highly valuable. 



Messrs. Brtajjt and others do not deny that it 

 will make a fence but that it will not be found 

 durable for that purpose, all of which may prove 

 true. 



The Controversy between P & B, we trust will 

 prove valuable as both weild ready pens — and both 

 have pluck. It is the truth that "we want, and we 

 are disposed to give our readers b«th sides. 



Influenee of Climate on Plants- 



Indian corn, or maize, was first found in the 

 West Indies, by Columbus. There it grows thirty 

 feet in hight, and each stock, (or tree, as Grant 

 Thorburn would call it,) contains only a single ear, 

 that produces only a few soft kernels on a spongy 

 butt, which is used only for rough fodder. Pro- 

 ceeding northward, in Alabama it reaches fifteen 

 feet, and there yields thirty bushels to the acre. 

 Advancing still further this way, in Kentucky and 

 Ohio, it produces fifty bushels to the acre ; but 

 here in New England and in Maine, where it only 

 attains eight feet in hight, agriciiltural societies 

 have not unfrequently awarded premiums for 100, 

 and even in remarkablle cases, 150 bushels to the 

 acre. The heat of a more southern sun developes 

 the juices of the pl^nt too quickly ; hence it runs at 

 the South into stalks and blades, to the neglect of 

 the seeds or grain, and dries up before fructifica- 

 tion becomes complete. Hence here, in its most 

 northern limit of success, we can raise large crops 

 per acre, and secure a heavier and more valuable 

 g ain than in fcitates further south. 



Wheat is another important cereal. Its native 

 country is said to be the valley of the Euphrates, 

 in Mesapotamia ; but on tracing its progress north- 

 ward you will find it growing more and more pro- 

 lific and farinaceous, till you reach the Russian do- 

 minions on the Baltic sea, where wheat is more per- 

 fect than in any other part of Europe or Asia. — 

 Wheat is a rarity in our Gulf States. It is in the 

 Northwestern States, in Canada, in northern Maine 

 and New Brunswick, that this important grain 

 grows the most luxuriently, and makes the best 

 flour. The reason is that the hot sun too early 

 forces the plant to head before its farina can be 

 concocted. The oame is true of oats and barley. 

 Wild oats are found in the southern country, but 

 the grain is not worth threshing. Who does not 

 know that the oats of Canada and Aroostook jield 

 more per acre, aflbrd a heavier grain, more suitable 

 for mealing and bread than the oats of the South 

 and West ? Before oats could do the world any 

 good they had to come north and get acclimated 

 to these high latitudes. The barley, too, of Maine 

 is superior to barley in the Middle or Southern 

 States ; a cold climate gives the surest grain. 



Onions, beets, turnips, parsnips and other nutri- 

 tious roots, are sadly aflfected by a hot southern 

 sun, and are hardly worth cultivating at the South, 

 which must always depend upon us for all such ed- 

 ibles. There they fructify before they form perfect 

 roots, go to seed the first year, and make foliage 

 at the expense of the tubers. 



The grasses are perhaps the most valuable crop 

 in the United States — irore so even than cotton. 

 These are proverbially in perfectiou only in north- 

 ern and cold regions. 



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