68 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



did he himself plant, but by his precept and example he fostered forest 

 planting by others. So, at his home, he made extensive plantings, with a 

 view to demonstrate that within the shelter of tree-belts orchards would 

 bow their branches under the weight of full average, annual fruitage, and 

 that fruits became kindly, and flowers blossomed, that without their 

 influence would be exotic ; that when trees 



" Wave their giant arms atlnv.iit the sky," 



then, 



"All meek things, 

 All that need home and covert, love, soft shade, 

 Birds of shy song, and low-voiced, quiet springs. 

 And nun-like violets, by the mind betraved,'' 



might nestle, live, bloom in beauty, or in fragrance, there. 



Mr. Dunlap was a self-made man, and hence the vein of plain prac- 

 ticality that incited all his actions, and accompanied him always. Hence 

 his writings, like his works, though often polished, were always pointed 

 and always practical. 



Matthias L. Dunlap was born in Cherry Valley, New York, 

 September 14, 181 4, and consequently at the time of his death was 

 sixty years and five months of age. The farm on which he was born was 

 owned by his father and his grandfather before him, who settled upon it 

 under a Crown grant, and while yet that whole country was a wilderness. 

 He came to Illinois in 1836, and for a time taught school in LaSalle 

 county. After that he was employed in Chicago as a dry goods clerk, 

 and later was with Hugenin & Brown, a firm connected in the construc- 

 tion of the Illinois and Michigan canal. In 1838 he purchased a farm at 

 Leyden, in Cook county, then known as Dunlap's Prairie, and followed 

 the business both of farming and surveying. In 1846 he started a nur- 

 sery, but the railroads built about that time did not afford him an acces- 

 sible depot or desirable transportation. He therefore purchased a farm 

 near Champaign, in 1855, before the Illinois Central was completed. 

 In 1857 Mr. Dunlap and his family removed there and settled upon the 

 spot chosen, where he resided until the day of his death. 



While in Cook county he was a member of its first and several sub- 

 sequent boards of supervisors. He was also elected to the State Legis- 

 lature from that county in 1855, when it had but four members. His 

 devotion to agriculture and horticulture is well known. He aided greatly 

 in securing the location of the Industrial University at Urbana, and was 

 one of that institution's first board of trustees; and no man has done 

 more than he in moulding that institution to the true status which it is 

 now occupying. 



Mr. Dtmlap was a contributor to many agricultural and horticultural 

 periodicals, East and West, and for six years edited the Illinois Fanner, 

 published at Springfield. No one man has probably done more in the 

 West to advance the cause of his chosen profession than Mr. Dunlap. 

 We might look far to find one more simple and hearty in his manner, 

 earnest and assiduous in his labors upon the farm, prolific and practical 



