STATE HOKTICULTURAL SOCIKTV. iSl 



Messrs. Dennis and Minier thanked the gentlemen who placed them 

 in nomination and declined in favor of Mr. Earle, whereupon the Secre- 

 tary was directed by unanimous vote to cast the vote of the Society for 

 Parker Earle for President. 



The same unanimity prevailed in the election of the other officers, 

 Mr. Robison casting the vote of the Society for Secretary. 



The following officers were then declared unanimously elected : 



President — Parker Earle, of Cobden. 

 Vice-President — James T. Johnson, of Warsaw. 

 Secretary — O. B. Galusha, of Morris. 

 Treasurer — S. G. Minkler, of Oswego. 



REPORT UPON ORNITHOLOGY. 



G. W. Minier, of Minier, Tazewell county, from the Committee on 

 Ornithology, reported as follows : 



Mr. President, Ladies atid Gentlemen : 



With the return of our annual conventions we are always glad to 

 greet the laborers in this useful, civilizing and ornamenting art. It is 

 one of the fine arts, and ought to be so considered. Horticulture is not 

 merely ornamental and civilizing; it is over and above these grand ideas, 

 it is as well among the most useful employments of man. It is not 

 merely agriculture refined; it is the religion of agriculture. 



The Illinois Society has taken hold of it in its most extended sense; 

 not content with the cultivation of groves, lawns and gardens, you have 

 extended your labors to schools ; the common schools of your State are 

 indebted to you for the introduction of the material sciences; or, to 

 quote your own words, "those sciences which underlie the arts of agri- 

 culture and horticulture." Of this consummation, so long labored for 

 by Professor Turner, Mr. Pennell and others, and so devoutly wished for 

 by many of us, you may well be proud. 



But, my friends, our labors are by no means ended ; there are many 

 rough places to be made smooth, many farms to be beautified, and I trust 

 many firesides to be made happy, through your efforts. 



Nor is it inanimate nature alone which pleads. The insect, the 

 quadruped and the bird need your care, and your fostering and discrim- 

 inating labors, to bring them to the aid of man, and add utility and 

 beauty to our earthly heritage. 



You have seen fit to appoint myself and two others to report, that is 

 to write something on Birds, which it is to be hoped may call out a dis- 

 cussion which will be useful to this Society. My associates will doubtless 

 present something worthy of themselves and of the fairy-like creatures, 

 which seem almost possessed of the power to scorn the force of gravity 

 itself, and to lift themselves on joyous wings above us, poor things, which 

 are bound to earth. 



