Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1861-08-23
For the Journal.
Rock Island County. HI.

FRIEND MAHIN: journey last week to
Rock Island, ON the Illinois side of the river,
and back on the Iowa side, gave me fine OPP
portunity to see the crops of one of the rich
est and most beautiful countries that eyer lay
out Of doors. On both sides, my road was
back of the timber, on the high prairie
The new crop of wheat was mostly in stack
and what fine dry weather they have had to
harvest and stack in! The number of stacks
upon each farm indicate that this is wheat
country; and the quality of the crop also in
dicates that it is tolerable wheat country.
Farmers have got their notions a little too high,
of an average crop, by the extra Of last year.
It is about fair crop this year.
The drouth of the first week in August
pinched the corn about e-fourth. 1t stands
handsome for a fine crop; but many of the
ears have long tips, and many of the stalks of
the later corn have no ears at all. Therefore
we may conclude that corn is a fair crop, about
one fourth less than big crop. There were
llllIuCuSC CllOo VI Olu COlA OIl oil tIlC dISc
farms, with plenty Of fat hogs about the
yards. Now is the time to fatten hogs, on
either old or new corn. One bushel fed now
is worth three or four fed in cold, wet, snow
ing, freezing weather.
Fruit-Nearly all the trees large enough to
bear are full of fruit, both apple and pear.
learned from gentleman who had travelled
quite extensively in Illinois, as q committee
on premiums for the State Society, that the
vicinity about Rock Island has better fruit
prospects than any part of the State. In fact
1 hear from the west of the State that fruit
is nearly failure this year. How often we
hear it said that Illinois is better adapted to
fruit than Iowa; because in this immediate
vicinity our Illinois neighbors have been ia
vored with better crops than we have. Large
bodies of water are modifers of tempera-
ture, both summer and winter; and it is
possible that the small body of the Mississippi
might avert light spring frost, which would
kill fruit blossom here and not there. But
when our river is ice-bound, so we team over
it in zero weather, tell you its influence
on an apple tree, high up on the bluffs, is not
much.
Grapes.-A vine or two occasionally, and
some of the farmers, who like good ripe Isa-
bellas and Catawbas, have planted five or six
vines. At every place I stopped, they, learn
ing that was nurseryman, made inquiry
for grape vines. They had seen or heard of
vines that had been covered up in winter,
which bore full the next summer. They tried
the same last winter, and their vines, although
small, have few fine punches, which pleased
them well. There are two simple yet very i'm
portant things in grape-raising in this climate
-acinter protection, by covering in the soil,
and thorough summer pruning. In the Ian
guage of celebrated fruit man of Illinois,
'Thc grapes are freer from rot in this dry eli
mate, than at Cincinnati, where the Ohio fogs
prevail to rot the grape"
My early grapes are now ripening, Aug. 49,,
and when stewed, like apples or cranberries,
find no greater luxury on my table-lasting
from August to December. They are also the
very best of preserves. hear Of fine crops
of grapes wherever there are vines this year.
SUEL FOSTER.