TRANSACTIONS OF HORTICULTURAL, SOCIETY OF NORTHERN ILL. 283 



and best boys and girls on our farms we must make our farm-homes 

 attractive — these attractions must be more potent than those which allure 

 to mercantile and professional pursuits. 



5th. We agree fully with our President in the recommendation to 

 publish at least 10,000 copies of the Transactions of the State Horticul- 

 tural Society, and for the reasons given in his address; and recommend 

 that the President and Vice-President of this Society for 1880, who are 

 members of the Executive Board, be instructed to confer with other 

 members of the Board to secure their co-operation in bringing this matter 

 before the next General Assembly of this State. 



6th. We heartily indorse the sentiments of the President in relation 

 to the multiplication of horticultural societies; and recommend the 

 members of this Society to follow out this suggestion each in his own 

 town or neighborhood, as there may be opportunity; and suggest that 

 local clubs or societies, in which agriculture, horticulture and home 

 adornment shall each have a place, will prove most valuable agencies in 

 accomplishing the desirable results contemplated in the first point 

 named. 



(Signed) O. B GALUSHA, ) 



CYRUS THOMAS, [ Committee. 

 D. C. SCOFIELD, ) 



DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT. 



Mr. Minkler spoke with much earnestness upon that part of the 

 report and address which relates to a wider distribution of the Horticul- 

 tural Reports of the State, urging the points of the economy of educa- 

 ting the people in the direction of tree-growing and fruit-raising; that 

 the cheapest and best way to do this is to publish enough of these reports 

 so that all owners of the soil who wish to read them may have the oppor- 

 tunity of doing so. 



Prof. Thomas. — The appropriation by the State for publishing 

 these reports should be much larger. It is in the wide diffusion of such 

 knowledge as these reports contain that the prosperity of the people, and 

 consequently the State Government and State institutions, depend. I have 

 carefully looked over the agricultural and horticultural reports of nearly 

 all the States whose Legislatures publish such reports, and find none which 

 contain as much valuable information as those of the Illinois State Hor- 

 ticultural Society. And I am not alone in this opinion ; these reports 

 are frequently mentioned by educated and practical gentlemen in other 

 States as invaluable contributions to industrial literature; and some of 

 the leaders in horticulture pronounce them the most valuable works of the 

 kind published in America. These reports should not be circumscribed 

 in their circulation; I am convinced that an appropriation sufficient to 



