STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 101 



on foliage or fruit so far as I could see. I feel sure this will pre- 

 vent rot. As I have some Telegraph vines that rot every year, I 

 gave one vine live sprayings with the Bordeaux mixture, and the 

 adjoining vine I did not spray ; there was not a sound grape on 

 this vine except six bunches which I had sacked early; they were 

 line, and the vine sprayed had not a] rotten berry on it. If 

 anything could be conclusive by one year's trial I think that 

 would. 



' It may be expected that I will say something about varieties ; 

 this I must respectfully decline, as each locality must find out 

 by experience what will suit them best. I will say, however, that 

 many of the new kinds are very promising here. And my 

 honest belief is, after visiting nearly all the grape exhibitions in 

 the Mississippi valley for the last ten years, that Villa Ridge can 

 eclipse any exhibit grown between the Rocky and Allegheny 

 mountains. 



Next in order was the election of officers, which resulted as fol- 

 lows : 



President — Jabez Webster, Centralia. 

 Vice-President — H. L. Doan, Jacksonvil'e. 

 Secretary — A. C. Hammond, Warsaw. 

 Treasurer — II. K. Vickroy, Normal. 



The President announced that the next business in order would 

 be the location of the next Annual Meeting. The Secretary read 

 the following invitation : . 



To the Members of the Illinois State Horticultural Society assem- 

 bled at Hamilton — Greeting : 



On behalf of the fruit growers of Southern Illinois in general, 



and Villa Ridge in particular, I heartily extend to your Society a 



special invitation to hold your next Annual Meeting at Cairo, 111. 



I think our people will make it pleasant for all visitors to the 



uttermost parts of "Egypt", and if we fail to show you the 



"Queen of Sheba" you can at least say that you have been to a 



country where one little railroad station can load and ship fifty 



car-loads of tomatoes in one day, and another one makes a daily 



shipment of forty tons of grapes, while Cairo is ready to show 



you the longest steel bridge in the world. To say more would 



be superfluous, so after my best wishes to your Society I will 



again kindly invite you to come. 



Geo. W. Endicott. 



