i'<[) TRANSACTIONS OF THE U.MiXOlS 



the decease of one who, though not so widely known, was most liighly 

 esteemed and beloved by those who knew him best — a member of one of 

 our standing committees, an earnest worker in the horticultural ranks — 

 Frank Starr, of Alton. Lastly, and so recently that our bereavement is 

 still fresh in all our hearts, casting a shade of sadness over all our acts, 

 came the ruthless destroyer and took away our head, our guide — him 

 whom we had so recently, and for the second time, honored with the 

 highest place in our gift. 



It is allotted to others to speak of all these, our honored dead, 

 putting into language the thoughts of all our minds and the deep feelings 

 of all our hearts; therefore I will refrain. 



All these afflictions came upon us in a season when we were 

 depressed by disappointment in our early hopes for fruit — a year unpre- 

 cedented in the history of this Society in the failure of orchard fruits. 

 Yet we have, perhaps, great reason for gratitude to the All Father for 

 causing the blossoms to fall, or blasting the fruit when small and before 

 it had drawn exhausting draughts upon the trees ; for so enfeebled had 

 our orchards become, by excessive droughts and fruitage, that a repetition 

 of these conditions this year would, doubtless, have proved fatal to a 

 large portion of them. 



The excessive rains of the past season have replenished the thirsty 

 soils and subsoils of our orchards with water, causing the trees to 

 recuperate to a degree we had not even hoped for, and have cheered us 

 with the hope and prospect of a fruitful year in 1876. 



Another event which makes the year 1875 ^ memorable one in the 

 history of this Society is the 



MEETING OF THE AMERICAN POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY, AND EXHIBITION OF 



AMERICAN FRUITS. 



By invitation of the this Society, the fifteenth biennial meeting of 

 the American Pomological Society was held in Chicago, September 8, 9 

 and 10, 1875. The committee appointed to secure a suitable hall or 

 halls for the meetings, and for the exhibition of American fruits, after 

 several meetings in which the whole subject was thoroughly canvassed, 

 and after considerable deliberation, decided to accept a proposition from 

 John B. Drake, of the Grand Pacific Hotel, in which he offered the use 

 of a most elegant hall in that building, to be seated to accommodate five 

 hundred people, j^r*?/ the consideration being that the officers of the 

 Society should make this hotel their, head-quarters during the meeting ; a 

 reduction of fifty cents per day from regular rates of fare was also 

 pledged. 



This arrangement, as I have been assured by the officers of that 

 Society, was highly satisfactory and gratifying to them. The meeting 

 was a large one, and, although deprived entirely by my duties in the 

 Exposition Building from being present, I can only report, that the 

 general sentiment of those in attendance was that it did not fall behind 

 its predecessors in interest and profit. 



