244 



THE ILLDfOIS FAEMEli 



August 



Detkrioration of Orchards. — Nathan. P. At- 

 kinson, Elm Grove, Ohio Co., West Virginia, 

 writes as follows upon this subject. We particu- 

 larly commend his advice at the close of the letter 

 to those who have old orchards : 



"I came and settled in Ohio county; at that 

 time there were something over twenty full grown 

 orchards within six miles of my residence. At 

 this time, 1864, there is not even a stump left to 

 show that the ground was ever occupied as an or- 

 chard. In more than one-half of the orchards al- 

 luded to, the scattering trees that are left, I think, 

 will not amount to fifty. In 1823, I planted be- 

 tween three and four hundred apple trees ; at this 

 time, which is forty-one years, there are at least 

 one-third of the trees dead, and many still living 

 are encunibered with dead and dying limbs, and 

 every indication of health and thrift has departed 

 from them, and the fruit they bear has become of 

 a worthless charac er. My orchard has heen kept 

 well trimmed, and most of the time it has been 

 plowed, and the ground under the trees has been 

 dug up with a mattock. The old orchards I spoke 

 of were mostly planted on the bottom lands of the 

 Ohio river or Wheeling creek, and were under the 

 operation of the plow more than one-half of the 

 time, hence never suffered for the want of tillage. 

 The conclusion I have come to is, that apple trees 

 have nothing in their character that resembles the 

 cedir of Lebanon or ©ur common oak trees. My 

 experience leads to this conclusion, that where aa 

 orchard has attained thirty years, the owner should 

 plant a young one, and when five years more have 

 elapsed, cut down the old one, for the imperfect 

 fruit obtained from an old orchard is not equal to 

 the use of the ground the trees occupy." 



Large Sale of Illinois Wool. — The Rockford 

 Register of the 9 th ultimo says : We learn that Mr. 

 Shepherd Leach, of Rockford, has just sold his 

 wool clip for this season, realizing for it, at TOc. a 

 pound, |9,540 46. Mr. Leach is the largest wool 

 grower in the country, and has also one of the 

 most extensive farms — cultivating near a thousand 

 acres. During the past year he kept an average of 

 about 2,400 sheep, but has at the present time 

 about 3000. These are mostly grade Spanish Me- 

 rinos, which he considers the best in this section. 



Bess in Louisiana. — A friend in New York sends 

 us the following letter from a correspondent in 

 New Orleans. We piesume that his bees are out 

 of the city. He says : 



I send you by tbe Adams Express Company a 

 small box^of new honey. It may be a novelty to 

 you to get new honey so soon in the season. I 

 have opened one box, and it has the taste of the 

 plum blossom, I presume this box is of the same 

 sort 



I must giv« you a short history of my box ope- 

 rations ; and if any one in the North can beat it, I 

 will give up. About two years since, a friend pre- 

 sented me with an old fiat box, containing a fine 

 swarm. Last year I hived five swarms from it ; 

 but one was in a bad hive and the beee were lost. 

 This year I hived eleven swarms from the five 

 hives, and one swarm I found in the woods, 

 giving me now seventeen fine hives. My hives 

 have three boxes in the lower part, each contain- 

 ing 30 lbs., and three upper boxes, each holding 



10 lbs., the hive will contain when well filled 120 

 lbs. Now in less than two months a single swarm 

 in this hive has filled two lower and two upper 

 boxes, in all eighty pounds. I call this a good 

 yield for these models of industry, and do not think 

 any apiary in the North has ever beat it 



As regards swarms we have never knowu an 

 apiary at the North to exceed the account as above 

 given. — Rural American. 



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Pratt's Ditcher, — Have you heard of, or do you 

 know anything concerning this ditcher, about 

 which considerable was said some years since ? — 

 Mason, Columbia Co., N. Y. 



We do not It was found by those who used it 

 to be a material aid in ditching ; but we suspect 

 the demand is not sufficient to warrant continued 

 manufacture. Its price was an obstacle to its suc- 

 cess, thrugh cheap enough compared with the 

 cost of manufacture, perhaps. — Rural N. Yorker. 



The above are part of the reasons for the disuse 

 of Pratt's Ditcher. An additional and prominent 

 one is that it is a heavy and complex machine, 

 and requires considerable force. As nearly all 

 land is more or less stony, and the weight of the 

 machine gives it much momemtum, striking a great 

 stone racks it badly; and some of its parts cannot 

 fail to be more or less injured. One part being 

 thus deranged, disorders the working of the whole 

 machine ; the consequence is that while the ditch- 

 er works admirably for a short time, while new 

 and uninjured, it gradually becomes unfit for ser- 

 vice and is cast aside for the pick and the shovel. 

 — Country Gentleman. 



Having seen Ihis machine in operation, we con- 

 cluded it could be useful only in land free from 

 stone, stumps and roots. We were favorably im- 

 pressed with the machine for soil adapted for its 

 use. But the small demand at present for such a 

 machine would hardly warrant any one's engaging 

 in its manufacture to any considerable extent, as 

 draining is not very generally introduced. — Boston 

 Cultivator. 



This machine had a pretty thorough trial on our 

 farm, some three or four years since, and pleased 

 us very much. So sooa as we can obtain tile near 

 by, we shall endeavor to get one of these ditchers 

 It appears sufficiently strong for the prairie, and 

 we know that it works most admirably. It is one 

 of the implements that we must yet have on our 

 prarie farms. The time is not distant when tile 

 draining will be resumed and then the ditcher will 

 be wanted. — Ed. 



-*it- 



SwEET Potatoes is Winter. — The operation of 



J. W. Tenbrook & Co., at Cobden, are making 

 steady progress. The immense building which is 

 to store the sweet potatoes, is in a good state of 

 forwardness, and the crop to fill it promising. — 

 Farmers in this county winter the sweet potatoe, 

 and we hope to keep a full supply for family use 

 ourselves the coming winter. 



