Nebraska advertiser., 1869-01-14

FruAt Growing
IN keeping with our fruit mania, we
shall continue urging farmers in Ne
braska to plant fruit trees, and TO give
ali the evidence we can get bold Of in
favorof this enterprise. An old friend
and schOOl-mate Of ours, DR.. II. l..
Hartes, stu residing in q native
town, Troy, Ohio, made q visit the
past fall to Egypt Illinois, and writes
home to the paper Of his town, the
Mama Union, from Odin, H., under
date Of December q, 1858, a lengthy
and interesting letter in regard TO the
county. The greater portion Of his
letter e devoted to giving an account
Of the success and extent Of fruit
growing. We copy that portion Of it
entire, hoping u readers viii read it
with as much pleasure and encourage
meut a. We did. The charactero Of the
country he describes as producing such
magnificent results Is the same as that
along the Missouri river in our State
known az "Blufs." Trees planted
here in this town twelve years ago,
have given like returns. We have no
hesitancy in predicting that now un-
cultivated, rough lands, as we term
them, along the river, will eventually
be the most valuable and productive,
because Of their adaptability to fruit
growing.
The following is an extract from DR..
Harter's letter:
"About forty miles north Of Cairo
"chain Of hills" nearly sixteen miles
wide runs from the Ohio river on the
east to the Mississippi river on the
wast. These hills are covered on eth
er side Of the railroad with as thrifty
growing and as fine a variety of fruit
trees and grape vines as can be found
in the United States. All the lands,
hill and prairie, from Villa Ridge,
twelve miles north Of Cairo, TO Cen
tralia, one hundred and twelve miles
on the Illinois Central are more or less
planted in fruit trees and are prOduc-
ing annually immense crops Of APP
pies, pears, peaches, grapes, raspber-
nes, currants and strawberries.
The soil Of the prairies is q rich black
loan. That of the hills is a rich clay
loan, resting on a drift deposit of light
friable clay, rich with all the mineral
constituents that support vegetable
life. Fruit trees and vines grow and
mature with unparalleled rapidity,
and produce large crops of fruit when
young, differing in this respect from
ell Other1oeahties. The healthfulness
OF the trees and the perfection Of the
wood growth is remarkable and &C
counts for their early bearing. For
early apples three varieties are cult
vated with great profit viz The
CeIoiina Red June, Red Astraehan,
and Early Harvest. The apple and
pear orchards have been planted from
ten TO fourteen years. The peach,
grape and strawberry fnoms six to eight
years. Now more than five hundred
acres are planted An strawberries
The greatest fruit region in Egypt is
from JonesbOrO to CarbOndale. on the
Illinois Central, q distance Of nearly
twenty miles. / viii give YOU the
amount Of fruit shipped from a few
stations in 1886, copied from the rail-
road agents books. CObden-peaehes
six hundred tons; strawberries. one
hundred and seventy tons, eighteen
tonsin one day, more than eight thou
sRnd-buahels. Raspberries, ninetOns.
Blackberries, two tons. To tell of one |
hundred and seventy tons Of strnwber-
Ttes shipped from one little station. Is
q ''big thingp to say Of Egypt to the
people OF Troy who measure berries
by the Qu0rt.
at Makanda station. six tons Of
peaches four hundred barrels OF an
Piles, one hundred and fifty bushels ofl
pears, ten tons of grapes, three thou
SAND bushels Of straWberrfes eight TONS
Of raspberries. At CarbOndaIe. seven
thousand boxes of peaches, one thou
sand i've hURdred barrels Of apples
three hundred boxes Of pears, two
thousand one hundred bushels of
strawberries. AtJonesbOro. fortv-fve
tons Of strawberries, thirtY-One tons
Of peaches. At South Pass ten thou-
sand bushels Of Strawberries. Re
member the above extraordinary
amounts were all shipped during one
season from q few points In close prOx-
imityl / viii give the statistics Of the
number Of trees growing in the vicin-
ity0f some Of the stations. Golden,
one hundred and thirty-one thousand
peash1treos, forty-0ne thousand pear
trees, dfty-seven thousand apple trees.
At Makanda station, one hundred and
sixty thousand peach trees, two hum
dred and twelve thousand grapes. OF.
grapes, the Concord, NortOnis Virgin
ia, Clinton, CataWba, Delaware, &c.,
come to great perfection.
During the long, dry, warm season,
peculiar 70 this locality, the grapes
fully mature, and Thoroughly ripen be-
fore chilly nights or early frost8 cheek
their growth. This accounts for the
size, the unusual amount of sugar and
rich aroma of the grapes.
1hn profession OF fruit growing Is
refining as well as enrichlng in q
healthFiving atmosphere, IN 3 mild
genial climate. / am told that $50 to
$50 viii plant an acre Of straw berries,
and so VIII cultivate It the first year.
The next spring win yield one hum
dred bushels of berries. The second
year viii produce two hundred bush
els which Danbe sold readily ass per
1ehel.