26o ILLINOIS STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



spend with us may be pleasant, as also that your deliberating together 

 may be the means of awakening a new enthusiasm in the industry which 

 your Society represents. 



And here I would say that the people of Elgin are not only in sym- 

 pathy with your efforts, but they have given practical expression of their 

 zeal in this direction, as may appear from the trees that adorn our streets 

 and public grounds ; some standing in rows like sentinels and others in 

 groups like a great congregation, and it seems to me that even these 

 express their silent welcome, while with their branches, like arms extended 

 heavenward, they invoke benedictions on your Society. 



With our words of welcome we have to offer you our congratulations. 

 We congratulate you that the financial cloud which for the past six years 

 has hung like a pall over our land has at last been lifted. 



In a community like ours, where the theory that "the nimble six- 

 pence is better than the slow shilling" forms the web and woof of our 

 financial and commercial system, it is easy to perceive that an industry 

 like yours, which in its scope must take in the results of years, must have 

 suffered more than any other from this long-continued financial depression. 



We trust that the season of prosperity upon which we have just 

 entered may give a new impetus to the business in which you are engaged. 

 Living, as we do, in a land more highly favored than any other, with the 

 blessings of civil and religious freedom, it may be truly said of us, that 

 every man may "sit down under his own vine" — if he will but plant a 

 vine — and under his .own "fig-tree" — if he can grow a fig-tree — and 

 enjoy the fruit of his labors without molestation and without fear. 



We therefore bid you God-speed in your noble work. Go on, then, 

 ye men of courage and energy and faith ; persevere in your efforts until 

 every hill top shall be covered with noble forests, around whose giant 

 trunks the storm-cloud shall gather and break in abundant showers, and 

 under whose dense shade shall be formed and preserved those cooling 

 springs whose waters shall flow forth to fill our streams and fertilize our vales. 



Slacken not in your endeavors until all our plains shall be studded 

 with fruit and shade, furnishing refreshment and protection for man and 

 beast ; for be assured it requires no prophetic vision to foresee that, in the 

 years to come, unborn generations, as they behold the results and enjoy 

 the fruit of your labors, will "rise up and call you blessed." 



RESPONSE BY THE PRESIDENT. 



President Periam responded in the following words : 

 Mr. Mayor, — It is with pleasure that I am permitted, in behalf of 

 this Society, to thank you for the very pleasant and cordial words of 

 greeting you have tendered us. It is pleasant to us to meet in this, one 

 of the oldest as it is one of the most beautiful cities in Northern Illinois, 

 and situated in the midst of a fine fruit region, and being, as the world 

 now knows, the headquarters of Dairy products in the Great West. It 



