20 TRANSACTIONS OF TfTK TLLTNOTS 



needs to be renewed often. The fruit will not sell like the Downing. 

 The Downing is large and productive. It is more trouble to get it to 

 market, to be sure, but when there in good condition it will sell for more 

 money. I understand Mr. Stewart, of Alton, to say that when his Wil- 

 sons brought him thirty-five cents, his Downings brought sixty-five. 



Dr. Humphrey — Mr. Leslie says the Downing is the best berry to 

 can. He has put up seven fhousand cans of them the past year, and he 

 gets one or two pickings more from them than from the Wilsons. We 

 have got to turn our attention to utilizing our fruits in this and other 

 ways. 



The President — Mr. Oscar Taylor, of Freeport, has good success 

 with the Charles Downing. 



The Secretary — The fruit growers of Central and Northern Illinoisg 

 have long been looking for a blackberry which will stand the cold of our 

 winters and give us crops of fruit, and have been testing different varie- 

 ties ; but I know of no variety which has been at all satisfactory until the 

 Snyder was introduced. This variety has been thoroughly tested at 

 Bloomington, and to some extent at other points, and has, I believe, 

 been satisfactory wherever the genuine variety has been planted. I took 

 pains to examine the plantations of Mr. Vickroy and Mr. Gaston, at Nor- 

 mal, (near Bloomington) this year, at different stages of growth and fruit- 

 ing, and I am satisfied that this variety is an acquisition. While at this 

 point the Kittatinny and other varieties failed, being dead to the ground, 

 the Snyder bore a good crop, the canes nearly all having passed through 

 the winter in good condition. I discover but one fault with the plant — 

 it fruits uniformly too heavily. You do not get sufficient size in the 

 last pickings. The berry is fair in quality, I can not say it is first-rate 

 — it has no central core, and is of medium size. I have considerable 

 hope that we have in this berry something that we can rely upon to give 

 us fruit. 



Mr. Starr — Do you say it bore a crop this season? 



Mr. Galusha — Yes, a good crop. 



Mr. Starr — I want it then. 



Mr. Galusha — I ought perhaps to say, while on this subject, that 

 there is danger of getting spurious plants. The plant has some peculiari- 

 ties of leaf which distinguish it from other varieties. I did not refer to 

 the plantations of our brother members, at Normal, to advertise them ; for 

 while on the one hand we should not grind our own or other people's 

 axes here, on the other hand we should not withhold any fact which fruit 



