little trouble and expense, grapes enough for a family's use. Plant such
hardy sorts as Moore's Early, Worden, Concord, and Martha, in rows seven
or eight feet apart, and same distance in the row, give good cultivation
the first year, cut back to two or three feet in autumn, lay the short
canes on the ground and hold down with a spadeful of earth. Plant posts
four feet high and stretch two No. 15 wires along them--the upper one on
top--and in the spring, as the vines grow, tie to the wires, keeping one
cane only for fruit this year and two new ones for next year's fruiting;
and a crop is as certain as a crop of corn. Cut out weak canes every
year, and encourage those starting nearest the ground, cutting back each
autumn one-half or two-thirds the growth; cut out old canes. It is not
necessary to lay the canes down and hold them to the ground or cover in
this latitude, though this work will pay well.
In two weeks orchards will be discussed.
ILLINOIS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
The annual meeting of the Executive Board of the State Horticultural
Society was held in the agricultural rooms at Springfield, January 9th.
Present: John M. Pearson, Godfrey, President; A. C. Hammond, Warsaw,
Secretary; S. M. Slade, Elgin, Arthur Bryant, Princeton, Dr. A. G.
Humphrey, Galesburg, H. M. Dunlap, Champaign, and E. A. Reihl, Alton.
A large amount of routine business was transacted, not of public
interest, after which the board proceeded to arrange for a grand fruit
exhibition, to be made by the society at the next State Fair. This
collection will not be entered for a premium, but only to show the
diversified horticultural products of the State.
The public-spirited citizens of Illinois, and particularly of Chicago,
have decreed that the State Fair of 1884 shall eclipse anything of the
kind ever held in the Northwest, and the State Horticultural Society,
desiring to keep abreast of the times, will make a display of fruit that
the State may well be proud of.
It was also decided to offer liberal premiums for horticultural products
to be exhibited at the next winter meeting, which will be held in the
Industrial University, at Champaign, the first or second week in
December.
After some discussion as to the best method of interesting the students
in our work, it was decided to offer premiums, first and second, for the
best essays on horticultural subjects. The board and members of the
society hope that this offer will be the means of bringing out a number
of papers from the young gentlemen and ladies of the institution.
There seems to be a determination evinced by the members of the board
and society to make an aggressive, vigorous campaign the present year,
and to bring our work more prominently before the people than ever
before.
The following are the standing committees for the year:
Orchard Culture--B. F. Johnson, Champaign; Henry Mortimore,
Manteno.
Forestry--Thomas Gregg, Hamilton; L. C. Francis, Springfield.
Vegetable Gardening--A. L. Hays, Jacksonville.
Grapes and Grape Culture--Ayres, Villa Ridge; M. A. Baldwin,
Jacksonville; D. J. Piper, Foreston.
Strawberries--J. G. Bubach, Princeton; Henry Wallace, Villa
Ridge; O. B. Galusha, Peoria.
Raspberries, Blackberries, Currants, and Gooseberries--H. G.
Vickroy, Normal; Wm. Jackson, Godfrey; D. Wilmot Scott, Galena.
Pears--C. N. Dennis, Hamilton; Parker Earle, Cobden; W. T.
Nelson, Wilmington.
Peaches--J. B. Spaulding, Riverton; H. C. Freeman, Alto Pass.
Plums and Cherries--Dr. A. H. Sanborn, Anna; L. C. Francis,
Springfield.
New Fruits, Trees, and Plants--J. T. Johnson, Warsaw; E.
Hollister, Alton.
Gathering and Marketing Fruits and Vegetables--R. W. Hunt,
Galesburg; Ed. Rogers, Upper Alton.
Utilizing Fruits--G. H. Clayson, Crystal Lake; ---- Roberts,
Godfrey.
Floriculture--Thomas Franks, Champaign; Joseph Heinl,
Jacksonville.
Landscape Gardening--J. P. Bryant, Princeton; Prof. Standish,
Galesburg.
Vegetable Physiology--Prof. Burrill, Champaign; G. H. French,
Carbondale.
Entomology and Ornithology--Prof. S. A. Forbes, Normal; Miss
Alice Walton, Muscatine, Iowa; Miss Emily A. Smith, Peoria.
Geology and Soils, as Affecting Plant Life--Wm. McAdams, Alton;
Henry M. Bannister, Kankakee; Henry M. Shaw, Mt. Carrol.
Horticultural Adornment of Home--Mrs. Lavina S. Humphrey.
Galesburg; Mrs. H. N. Roberts, Alton; Mrs. P. V. Hathaway,
Damascus.
The appointment of ad-interim committees was referred to the members of
the board from each horticultural district. A portion of them asked time
for consultation, which was granted. When the entire committee in
appointed, the names will be reported to THE PRAIRIE FARMER.
A. C. HAMMOND, Sec'y.
DIOGENES IN HIS TUB.
And first, Diogenes would discourse of that remarkable polar wave that
struck us on Saturday the 5th of the year, and its probable effect on
the fruit product. Great fear is manifested on all sides, and not
without grounds: yet the conditions, it seems to me, have been so
favorable that there is cause for hope. Remember that there was no very
sudden change, the temperature having been low for two or three weeks
before, and no sudden rise since. The sudden changes seem to be the
ones--coming in the midst of winter--that are the most destructive to
our fruits. So I conclude there is ground yet for hope; and unless some
future disaster should occur, Dio., if living, will expect to eat of
several sorts of fruit this year grown on his own grounds. Keep in good
heart, brethren; Providence will send us all we deserve.
But hasn't that man at Cape Girardeau a level head? Dio. himself could
not have given as many sensible suggestions concerning farmers'
libraries, as he did in No. 1. All farmers and horticulturists can not
go as deeply into periodicals as he, but they can profitably go much
deeper than they do. Take a farmer's home provided on his plan, and then
imagine, if you can, sensible sons running off to breaking on freight
trains, or selling soap and candies behind counters! Improbable.
And then, again, in No. 2, his thoughts on naming country houses. How
suggestive!
The Editor in No. 1, favors interdiction of French liquors, etc., as
retaliation for their interdiction of American pork. Dio. says interdict
them as a matter of protection to ourselves, without regard to hog or
hominy.
"Man of the Prairie" was looking out for a little colder weather. Did he
find it--and is he satisfied?
An extremely suggestive paper that, of Prof. Budd's on the "Cherry
Possibilities." Further investigation in the wide field of European
horticulture is demanded, not only in regard to this but to most other
fruits. Even unpromising sorts, not prized there, transplanted here, may
turn out to be the most valuable of any. I fear the agricultural
colleges are not taking as much interest in this matter as they ought.
Our State Society ought, and doubtless does, feel thankful to Prof. B.,
for his presence and wise counsel at its late Bloomington meeting. His
remarks will be found valuable reading in the forth-coming volume of
Transactions.
Seedsmen's catalogues will soon be floating around thick as autumn
leaves, and planters will be puzzled what to buy. My experience may be
worth something: Of tomatoes, I know nothing better than Acme and
Trophy, and I think favorably of the Golden Trophy--though with some the
color is objectionable. The Short-horn carrot can't be beat for table
use, nor the Egyptian beet. Of the former, planted pretty thick in good
soil, in rows two feet apart, 400 bushels per acre can easily be grown;
and besides being good for stock, they are mighty good for men and
women. In squashes the Hubbard and Boston Marrow are standbys, and that
little Perfect Gem is likely to prove A No. 1. And give me the Stowell
Evergreen sweet corn and the Winningstadt cabbage yet all the time. But
Dio. will not be fooled with so many new sorts in 1884 as he has been in
former years.
Yes--increase the tax on dogs, and collect it; so say the Iowa
stock-breeders, and so echoes every sensible friend of the farmer and
his interests.
Next time Dio. proposes to call up a subject of much importance to
everybody, and one that badly needs ventilating.
DIO.
POSSIBILITIES OF CHERRY GROWING.
The insertion of one little word gives too unfavorable an idea of the
best varieties of the Griotte cherries, grown all over the interminable
steppes north and east of the Carpathian mountains in Europe.
As printed the paragraph reads: "Some of the thin-twigged Griottes, with
dark skins and colored juice, are as large as the Morello and nearly or
quite as sweet."
The copy reads--or should read--"as large as the English Morello and
nearly or quid sweet."
As you say my object in talking the matter up is the hope of interesting
some of the large nurserymen, like those at Bloomington, in the
desirable work of importing and propagating the Griottes, Amarells, and
the Asiatic sweet cherries known as "Spanish," of the East plain, on a
large scale.
Why should our Western propagators permit our importing of fruits,
ornamental trees and shrubs, to be done by the nurserymen of the Eastern
States.
If we turn to a good map of Europe we will see at a glance that the
importing of fruits so far has been from the west coast of France,
Belgium, and Holland, or from the south of England. As with our west
coast, this whole region has been made a land of verdure by the soft,
humid air of the Gulf stream. Tracing on the map the line of the
Carpathian and Caucasus mountains, we find three-fourths of all Europe,
north and east of these ranges, without a mountain or hill traced on the
great expanse except the Valdai hills, and these are only bluffs not as
high or extensive as those of our rivers and dividing ridges. It is the
greatest plain section of the world, and is the ancient home of the best
fruits of the temperate zones. Common sense should lead us to give trial
to the horticultural products of this plain. To find apples, pears,
cherries, and plums as hardy, and as well adapted to the hot summers and
cold winters of Illinois and Iowa as the Fameuse apple, we need not
enter the empire of Russia. Northeastern Austria has a variable summer
and winter climate, which will not permit the growing of apples of the
grade of hardiness of the Ben Davis, Stark, Jonathan, and Dominie; of
pears of the grade of Flemish Beauty, or of cherries of the grade of
Early Richmond as to foliage and ability to endure low temperature. The
commercial nursery-man who will visit the "King's Pomological
Institute," at Proskau, in North Silesia, will see at a glance, as he
wanders over the ground, that the fruits, forest trees, ornamental trees
and shrubs of the nurseries of England, France, Belgium, etc., suddenly
disappear with the Carpathians on the edge of the great steppes.
J. L. BUDD,
AG. COLLEGE, AMES, IOWA.
Prunings.
The soil for window boxes is the same as for plant culture in pots; the
best is that formed by rotted sods with a little well decomposed stable
manure mixed with it.
Rhubarb requires deep, rich soil. A good dressing of well-rotted manure,
put on the ground this winter when it is not frozen, will start off the
plants briskly in the spring. The same is true for asparagus.
Mr. Russel Heath, Carpenteria, Cal., has an "English walnut orchard" of
two hundred acres of rich, level land, near the sea-shore. The trees are
from ten to twenty-five years planted. His crop in 1882 was 630 sacks of
70 pounds each; this season he expects the harvest will aggregate about
one-third more.
Gardener's Monthly: The writer found among the gardeners in Canada, when
in that country recently, that the English plan of preserving grapes in
bottles of water was in not uncommon use. The bunches are cut with
pieces of stems, and then so arranged that the ends are in bottles of
water. By this plan the grapes can be preserved far into the spring
season.
The American Cultivator: "Can you tell we what kind of weather we may
expect next month?" wrote a farmer to the editor of his paper, and the
editor replied: "It is my belief that the weather next month will be
like your subscription bill." The farmer wondered for an hour what the
editor was driving at, when he happened to think of the word
"unsettled," and he sent a postal note forthwith.
The Farmer and Fruit Grower: Mr. Willis, Lamer, a prominent fruit grower
of the Cobden region, says he very distinctly remembers that the freeze
of 1864 killed young fruit trees to the snow line, and that he cut his
peach trees to that line, and saved that much. In 1864 the temperature
was about the same as it was on January 5, 1884--in the neighborhood of
21 degrees below zero. Mr. Lamer thought no damage was done to
strawberry plants.
A pomologist gives the following excellent advice in regard to
maintaining the fertility of fruit lands: "Encourage the utmost variety
of vegetable growth near and upon your orchard lands, and never rob the
soil of its honest dues. Give judicious and thorough cultivation and
pruning; and with our generous soils and climate, I do not believe the
child is yet born that will live to see our orchards languish on account
of poverty of soil, or any necessity arise for the importation of
fertilizers."
The Country Gentleman says two things are necessary for the growing of
good asparagus, namely, plenty of room for the plant to grow, and
copious manuring. The latter is best applied to thick beds by covering
the whole surface with manure two or three inches thick, late in autumn,
and forking it in very early in spring, before the new shoots start.
Thick beds, however, should not be planted, but the plants allowed three
or four feet each way to each. Three by five is a common and suitable
distance, and large stalks may be obtained in this way.
Charles Merritt, of Battle Creek, has been very successful with
strawberries. His plan is to plant rows about two and one-half feet
apart and plants nine inches in the row; he prefers the spring time. He
manures highly, cultivates thoroughly and mulches with clean straw late
in the autumn. The next season he gets a large crop, and, while he is
taking it off, another patch is being treated in a similar manner for
the next year's crop. The second year with any bed he simply pulls out
the weeds, and after picking turns it under. This plan proves to be
satisfactory.
T. F. Leeper, of Warsaw Horticultural Society, says: I have been greatly
interested in the condition of orchards this season, and have examined
quite a number. One orchard in my neighborhood died during the summer--I
supposed it was winter-killed, but an investigation showed that the
roots had been destroyed by mice. Last spring I reported a number of
trees in my orchard, winter-killed. These trees have been dug up and it
appears that they too, were killed by mice. In my orchard the greatest
injury by winter-killing has occurred in the draws or low places and I
would not plant another orchard without tile drawing such places.
[Illustration]
FLORICULTURE
Gleanings by an Old Florist.
THE PANSY.
Gray, in his Manual, says: "Viola tricolor (pansy or heart's-ease) is
common in dry or sandy soil. From New York to Kentucky and southward,
doubtless only a small portion of the garden pansy runs wild.
Naturalized from Europe."
Seen in this condition the flowers are very small, not more than
one-half an inch across and oblong in shape. Cultivated at its best it
has a flower two inches in diameter, almost an exact circle in outline.
All this has been brought about by lovers of flowers during a long
period of years, by saving the seed of only the best, a sort of survival
of the fittest, and only to be kept up by rich soil and constant
cultivation, for if left to itself the pansy dwindles back into its
original nature.
It has another peculiarity also: the young plants always bring the
largest flowers, so that if the extra large flowers are wanted they can
be obtained only by seed annually, or a division of the old roots by
cuttings. The latter is too much trouble for most cultivators in the
country, and named kinds are never thought of, while in the old they
used to be; perhaps it is still common for the pansy grower to name his
pets, and reproduce them each year by cuttings or division of the roots.
The seed that brings the largest and best flowers generally come from
Germany, although some of our own florists save them themselves for
several consecutive years. I was a long time before any fixed character
was maintained in color in this flower, but now seed from certain kinds
will mainly reproduce its like, hence are often so used for massing
kinds of a color. The plant being a native of the cooler and moister
parts of Europe is better adapted to their climate than ours, and hence
as our spring weather is more nearly like their original climate than
our other seasons, they luxuriate in it; it is the only season in which
the florist finds much of a market for his goods, and even then he
receives some round abuse for selling very large noble flowers that
quickly deteriorate after leaving his hands. This, however, is not his
fault, the hot weather being one cause, the other that the plant refuses
to produce large flowers except in its young state.
There are two methods adopted by a florist in the preparation of his
stock; one, by sowing the seed in the fall and wintering the young
plants in cold frames, or even by means of a slight protection of brush.
The other by sowing the seed on a bench in the green-house in January.
If sown in the fall early enough to get well into rough leaf, if they do
not flower in the fall, which they usually will do, they are ready to do
so at the first peep of spring, as they flower at a comparatively low
temperature. If sown in January, they are transplanted once on other
benches, from which they are lifted and transferred either to the
outside borders or to other cold frames as the case may be. It is not
best to keep them in a green-house longer than necessary, say the first
of March, as the conditions of a green-house will bring about the small
flowers similar to the hot weather of the summer.
[Illustration: THE PANSY.]
By the different systems the market florist can have his goods always at
their best during the selling season, which ranges from the first of
March up to the first of June. They are so easily grown he can afford to
sell cheap, even if his goods are of the very best, and will usually
bring about seventy-five cents by the single dozen, down to as low as
three dollars by the hundred. Enough sod should hang to the roots to
keep them fresh, and they will, after planting, go on flowering just as
though they had never been disturbed. Nothing can be done with this
plant, at least worthy of the name, in the window, hence it should not
be attempted. To enjoy the large flowers as long as possible during
summer, if there is any choice of position, give them the coolest and
moistest place in the garden, not forgetting plenty of watering in dry
spells. A rich, loamy soil, inclined to be porous, will give the best
satisfaction, but almost any garden soil will grow them.
EDGAR SANDERS.
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