STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 45 



It would pay for any man, in comfort to his stock (if in no other 

 way), to plant timber-belts. 



Plant on all our prairie farms timber for fuel and for use in the arts. 

 For fuel plant soft maple ; for the arts, black walnut, hard maple and 

 chestnut. Soft-maple seed, planted and well tended, will make in two 

 years a growth of ten feet ; then transplant and tend well for two to four 

 years, and in twelve years you will have trees from twelve to fifteen 

 inches in diameter. 



For ornament, a few in the yard, planted not too thick, of the ever- 

 green varieties, and a few clusters in the background of the same, make 

 the premises look home-like and cozy at the same time. 



I find, by actual tests, that a double row of pines, cedars or arbor 

 vitjes mark a difference of five to eight degrees in winter; stock of all 

 kinds will take advantage of it, if you will but give them a chance. Oh, 

 yes, give the poultry such protection, it will pay in egg-fruit. 



Plant for ornament. No person should build a house, improve a lot 

 or farm without ornamenting the same, if he expects to make his sons and 

 daughters satisfied with home-life. 



A great amount of advice has been given in regard to setting ever- 

 greens. 



My opinion is, when you let the sun strike the roots of an evergreen 

 (as will be the case when shipped a long distance, and sometimes when 

 purchased near home) you will be subject to loss, for the sap in the 

 evergreen contains a gum, and when once hardened there is no possible 

 way of softening it to make it flow through its pores again, and it must 

 die. My advice would be to purchase trees near home, keep the roots 

 damp and set the same day taken up, cultivate well, and you will raise 

 ninety-nine out of every hundred. 



I submit the following two sub-reports, which are the only ones I 

 have received : 



REPORT OF MORGAN COUNTY— Bv A. L. H.w, J.a.cksonville. 



J. S. Johnson. — Dear Sir, — In compliance with a request from O. B. Galusha I 

 send the following report upon the Horticultural interests of this county : 



While partially following the line of topics suggested by him, 1 will not confine 

 myself wholly to them or attempt to cover the entire list. 



yirst. — The severe cold of- the past winter was accompanied with a heavy fall of 

 snow which thoroughly protected the Strawberries and the roots of all other plants, but 

 the entire canes of the Blackberry were killed, and all prospects for a crop of course 

 destroyed. 



Raspberries were considerably injured and the crop shortened at least one-third, 

 but the Turner cecovered sufficiently to hurden the market, and for the first time in its 

 history forced its market value down to a level with the black-caps. 



Many trees were baaly damaged either from the effects of the severe winter or the 

 unprecedented drouth of the past summer, and have gone into bankruptcy. This is 

 especially the case with the Mountain Ash, of which many beautiful specimens in this 

 vicinity are dead. 



Owing to the late spring the blossoming of all fruits was from two to three weeks 

 later than the year previous ; however, a late frost in May very materially damaged the 

 Strawberry crop, and in connection with the protracted drouth, which began in April 



