REP0KT3 OF AUXILIARY SOCIETIES. 307 



all right now, the buds being iu good condition when cold weather commenced 

 and no warm spells to swell them and no extreme cold, ten degrees below 

 zero being the coldest. There will be more peach trees and grapes planted 

 this spring in this place than ever before in one y(?b,r. 



The annual festival of the Pomological Society was held as usual and 

 there was a large attendance of fruit growers and their wives and children, 

 who came well laden with baskets of palatable food. Happiness beamed from 

 every countenance of the one hundred and more who were present, and per- 

 haps in no former year did the Society hold such an enjoyable festival. 



After President Phillips had called the meeting to order, he stated that a 

 matter of business concerning the proposed amending of the by-laws required 

 attention. 



On motion of Mr. Gully it was then resolved to change section six of the 

 by-laws so as to make the term of office of the society officials and the mem- 

 bership commence and end with the calendar year. 



This finished the business and the intellectual feature of the evening com- 

 menced. The president called upon Mr. Henry King, who read the following 

 essay on ' • 



THE HEMLOCK SPRUCE. 



Upon occasions of this character it is probably expected that topics pertain- 

 ing to fruit growing shall be presented. If I deviate from this custom per- 

 haps the briefness of the article will be accepted in excuse. 



Allow me for a moment to ask your consideration for one of our evergreen 

 forest trees, the hemlock spruce — a tree regarded by many as standing with but 

 few rivals among the list of coniferous trees. A wealthy farmer in the interior 

 of the State whose grounds are filled with beautiful trees, has made more than 

 one journey into this county to procure small trees of this variety, taking them 

 home, placing them in nursery rows, and, after cultivating one or more years, 

 then transplanting where they are to remain permanently as single trees or in 

 ornamental hedges. A short time ago a gentleman living near one of the finest 

 towns in this State, engaged in growing and handling evergreens, called my 

 attention to an ornamental hedge formed of the hemlock, which he described 

 as one of the finest in that town noted for its beautiful trees and ornamental 

 hedges. It is often said that we do not prize our privileges until deprived of 

 them. However this may be, I think one realizes the beauty of our forest trees 

 as never before, after a sojourn on the treeless prairies. The dwellers in those 

 regions, aware of their privation, are earnest in their efforts to supply the 

 deficiency. As an evidence of this, I may mention that I saw in a western 

 prairie town a couple of Korway spruce evergreen trees, but little higher than 

 a man's head, which the owner procured from a distance of sixty or seventy 

 miles at an expense of fifty dollars — such trees as we can have almost without 

 money and without price. Perhaps there is no tree that flourishes under more 

 diverse circumstances than the hemlock. We find it in a state of nature on the 

 highest and most barren soils ; upon the deepest and most fertile ; upon the 

 dryest hills and iu the wettest swamps. This community is keenly alive to a 

 love of the beautiful, as we see attested by the many magnificent trees filling 

 the yards and surrounding the homes of this section ; yet, of all these fine 

 specimens it is sale to say tliat not one in a hundred is of this variety. The 

 question recurs, why is it that a tree so easily obtained, so hardy, so nearly 

 unequaled in form and color, should be so much neglected? Is it because it is 

 so common ? If so, this reason will soon cease to exist, for the woodman's axe 



