STATE HOUTICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 



227 



Allow me to conclude this little offering of mine with the closing 

 sentence of President Marshall P. Wilder's last address to the American 

 Pomological Society: 



May the success of the past cheer and stimulate you to greater exertions in the 

 future, and although you may not live to reap the rich harvest which you are now 

 planting, your children and your children's children shall rejoice in the result of your 

 labor long after you shall have passed over the river to those celestial fields 



Where the verdure of spring-time forever shall reign, 

 And the perfume of flowers float o'er the bright plain, 



Where the noontide of summer and autumn shall blend 

 In the harvest of fniits that never shall end. 



At the close of the reading some discussion was held relative to a 

 joint meeting with the Iowa State Horticultural Society one or two days 

 during our next annual meeting, which resulted in referring the matter by 

 vote to the Executive Board. 



On motion, adjourned to meet in the Assemby Hall at seven o'clock 

 this evening. 



THIRD EVENING— CLOSING SESSION. 



At seven o'clock on Thursday evening the Society assembled, as per 

 adjournment, in the large Assembly Hall. 



J. M. Gregory, LL. D., Regent of the Illinois State University, was 

 introduced to the Society and the large audience present by President 

 Burrill. 



The lecture upon the Parks of Paris, which was the first entertain- 

 ment of the evening, was illustrated by a large colored map of that city, 

 and to which frequent references were made during the progress of the 

 lecture. 



The following is the address: 



PARKS OF PARIS. 



Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Illinois State Horticultural 

 Society : 



I am aware that this is a practical association, and has done good 

 practical work towards beautifying the homes of the people of this great 

 State. In speaking to you upon the parks of Paris, I believe I shall not 

 be found to depart from the practical aims of the association. 



The French people have a genius for decoration. They are dramatic 

 by nature. Life and history are to them but prolonged dramas, and great 

 events show themselves to the French mind as a scenic display. It is 



