Daily Democrat and news. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1859-1864, 1860-03-30
8Osl for trait Trees.

He reviews Al some Icngth the severe
winters Of few years ago. which
proved 30 disastrous to the fruit trees in
a large portion of the Northwest, and
| he thinks the bad success of those who
have since planted orchards, is owing to
having planted young trees that were
injured in the nursuries in those winters.
The trees may have been injured though
| neither the purchaser nor the nursery
man could discern the injury.
Mr.. Murdoch has one of the bes,
orchards in the West, and he thinks
| there is no reason why other farmers
may MT succeed just as well as himself.
And, in order that our readers may
have the benefit of his experience,
(which is far more valuable than any
theory, we copy those portions OF his
letter which treat of his own experience,
and Of the kind OF soil best suited for
apple trees, and con mend the subject to
the consideration Of our readers. lie
says:
"Fortunc smiled upon me, during
those wear, of Gals nifty to fruit trees,
aud left me the ! est show for an orchard
that have since seen in any part OF the
Wet. | have nearly two hundred good,
sound trees. most of them bearing, that
have stood and thrive1 through ali de-
vrees Of heat and cold, and still bid far
to reward me for all my toll and ex-
pensc, a thousand fold.
II can raise them with such success,
Why can not others do the same? True,
| have lost many good and valuable
tree but put others in their places,
and will continue to do so so long as
they die out during my lifetime. The
soil where my trees are set Is dry,
Burr Oak soil, which Iregard as the
best. without reference to exposure.
Our prairie sol is very rich and grows
apple trees very fast, when they do
grow, and the wood of such trees is
always soft and spungy and more liable
to contain large quantity OF sap,
which remains in the trunk during win
ter, to be frozen by extreme cold, and In
this manner they often d g in the spring.
To those who have such soil, and
none other, | would recommend them to
save all the dirt which they throw out
while digging their cellars aud wei S, the
lower down the better the dirt, draw
this into the field and set the trees
in it.
The SOL ten feet below the surface
has more of the tree bearing qualities
about it than the loose top alkaline soil
of our praires; aud what is still more,
an apple tree Will never bear, upon the
prairies, until its roots have penetrated
the sub-soil below. have seen trees
| upon the rich bottom land bloom and
blossom like the rose but never bear. |
have seen apple trees set near a house
where the dirt had been thrown when
the cellar was dug, grow and thrive,
year after year, the bark on the trunk
looking bright and red, and producing
beautiful fruit; while only short dis
lance from it, stood trees growing on a
prairie soil, with the bark on the trunk
looking black and dark, with here and
there small patches of moss,-and pro-
ducing little or no fruit. Now | learn =
lesson from these observations, and
when look at my own soil | see the
same principle at work in rearing my
trees, for Burr Oak land is always thin
soil. ! look over into Wisconsin,
among our neighbors in Grant county,
and | find they not only send a better,
brighter and more solid wheat to market
than we do, but they succeed much better
in raising apple trees. They are no bet
ter farmers, nor have they secret in
raising fruit trees; the mystery is in the
soil.-Ther soil is thinner, and has not
the loose, black appearance that ours
has; it is harder and more compact
soil-even the gopher knows this, and
comes into our soil to burrow, where he
knows he can do double the amount of
work in given time that he can there.
LOGICAL INFERENcEs.-The Harris
burg Sentinel, a rabid Douglas organ,
thus reasons:
Douglas wac born the 23d day Of April
The Charleston Convention will be held on
the 2Sd day Of April.
Therefore Douglas will be nominated at
Charleston.
The same journal thus reasons fur
Their:
Seward was born on the 10th day of May.
The Chicago Cow ention will be held on the
18th day of May
Therefore Seward will be nominated at
Chicago.
We make the following suppositious
reasoning:
The editor of tho Sentinel was born on the
let day Of April.
The lst day of April is All Fools day.
Therefore the said editor is fool
Ice IN GREEN BAy.-The Green Bay
Adcocate OF Thursday, contains the fol-
lowing paragraph:
"Wednesday noon, as we write, the
river III front of the city is free from ice,
except the little strips near the banks.
The steam ferry has commenced run.
ming between this city and Howard yes.
terday. A gentleman who came ND from
down the Bay Yesterday, reports the ice
In broken condition as far as Sturgeon
II