VALLEY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 293 



DECEMBER MEETING. . 



One of the best attended annual meetings ever held by the Kan- 

 kakee Valley Horticultural Society convened at the pleasant hall of 

 Whipple post, G. A. R., Saturday, December 1st. Dinner was served 

 in the hall by the lady members of the Society. At 1:30 President 

 Mortimer called the meeting to order. 



J. B. Wakeman, essayist, read an interesting and thoughtfully 

 ])repared paper entitled "The Seed and the Scion,'' in which he gave 

 a very feasible reason for the decline of our apple trees — that of 

 poor pedigree. 



Leon Hay brought up the subject of entomology as connected 

 with horticulture, the work being accomplished by the Experimental 

 Station and the advantages to be derived by the Society taking more 

 interest in the subject. Mr. Hay also spoke of the inabilily to de- 

 vote sufficient time to the discussion of floriculture and mentioned 

 the importance of founding a floral society. At his suggestion the 

 president read a report of the " Ladies' Floral Guild " of Hancock 

 county. 



Mrs. Eggleston stated that the fruit of an apple orchard near 

 their place had been almost free from worms this year, that the pro- 

 prietor attributed it to his sowing wood ashes among the branches of 

 the trees while in bloom. 



THE SEED AND THE SCION. 

 BY B. J. WAKEMAN, CHEBANSE 



Two simple words, yet had they been properly united, our 

 orchards would not be in the condition they are to-day. 



The apple, the oldest and best of all fruits that God gave to us, 

 has been the most abused. Go where you will, both in Europe and 

 the United States, where the apple has been extensively propagated, 

 and you will find it is not what it once was. In our own State, we 

 see, year after year, the decline of our orchards, and the young trees 

 we plant do not possess that vigorous constitution they once did. 

 Our long keepers are no longer winter apples, but will hardly stay 

 with us through autumn; our orchards that once were good for forty 

 years or more, now leave us at twenty, and the fruit they produce 

 is not as good as it once was. What is the cause of this decline? 



