STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 15 



departure in this direction in the devoting of one whole session to 

 the younger members. I trust their interest will not stop there but 

 continue through all the sessions and manifest itself by an active 

 part in the discussions. 



The past season has its lessons, and not the least of them is 

 the renewal of faith in fruit growing by the people of Central and 

 Northern Illinois, caused by the bountiful crop of fruit, especially of 

 apples, in those sections of the State. A remark in open meeting by 

 a prominent member of this Society that the " people in Central and 

 Northern Illinois would have to depend on Southern Illinois in the 

 future for their apples," seems to have been rather premature. The 

 good effects will be seen in the increased number of trees that will 

 be planted this coming spring. In view of this fact we can see the 

 importance of recommending, so far as practicable, a good fruit list 

 at this meeting for the several districts of the State, as a guide to 

 the planter. A committee might be appointed to report such a list 

 to the Society for discussion. 



The most important matter of the year is the beginning of 

 horticultural experiments at the State Experimental Station at 

 Champaign. Each of the three important agricultural interests of 

 the State, viz: the Horticultural, Agricultural and Dairying interests 

 have a representative on the board of directors of the station. This 

 action of the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois in 

 securing the cooperation of these Associations was a wise one, and 

 deserves the thanks of this Society for recognizing the importance 

 of horticulture in the State and the State Society as the representa- 

 tive of that interest. The importance of this work to the fruit 

 grower can scarcely be overestimated, and when the subject comes 

 before the Society, through the report of the committee, I trust it 

 will receive the attention it deserves. The horticultural part of this 

 work should receive the cordial support of this Societ}- and the indi- 

 vidual members. Instead of paying fabulous prices individually for 

 every new variety that comes forward, they should be referred to this 

 station for testing and the fruit grower could demand of the ''meek 

 and lowly" tree agent a certificate of character from this station 

 before investing two dollars in his ever-bearing strawberry, curculio- 

 proof plum or iron-clad apple. The reputation of this experimental 

 station should be such as shall commend it to the fruit growers of 

 the State. Let the experiments carried oa be of live, practical 

 questions, and not of dead issues, and success is assured. 



The many questions of interest to fruit growers are well covered 

 by the programme and I will not trespass upon your time further. 



This Society has now completed a third of a century of its history 

 and it is a history of which its members may well be proud. Here 

 in the city of its first inception it has come to hold its thirty-third 

 annual meeting; here where it began to creep it has come as a 



