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SPECIAL COMMITTEES. 

 The following committees were announced by the President : 



Auditing. — A. C. Hammond, Wm. Stewart, J. Periam. 

 President's Address.-— \)r. B. F. Long, J. S. Johnson, A. C. Ham- 

 mond. 



Fruits on Exhibition. — T. McVVhorter, D. B. Wier, A. A. Hilliard. 

 Final Resolutions.—]. W. Cochran, Robert Douglas, J. T. Johnson. 



REPORT ON GENERAL HORTICULTURE— FIRST. DISTRICT, 



JONA'iHAN Pekiam, Committee on General Horticulture "for the First 

 District, presented the following report : 



The last four seasons, preceding that of 1S75, were those of extreme 

 drought, with surface sufficiently frozen in winter to prevent what little 

 rain that fell in winter and spring from penetrating the earth ; conse- 

 (juently, the subsoil became dry to great depths. 



The winter of 1874-5 was marked with exceeding low thermometer 

 at times, but the buds of trees, having gone into winter in a thoroughly 

 ripened state, and the soil having been somewhat moistened by the 

 autumn rains, the destruction to buds and branches proved far less than 

 might naturally have been expected from a superficial observation. 



In my own immediate section of country, the north half of Cook 

 county, there have, on suitable soils, been fair crops of fruits natural to 

 the climate, with the exception of Early May or Richmond cherries. 

 These have been a total failure — natural enough when we take into 

 account the extraordinary and uniform crops of the two preceding years. 



The crops of Morello cherries were good where planted, so far as 

 my observation extends, probably from the fact that, the orchards being 

 young and only just coming into bearing, they had not been weakened 

 by serious overbearing, as had Early Richmond, the only other variety 

 cultivated. Apples bloomed well, and when not killed by frosts at the 

 time of blossoming, have matured good crops ; excellent ones in the ex- 

 treme northern portion of Cook and in Lake, which section is attracting 

 more and more attention, as a fruit district, from year to year. 



All small fruits have done well, when properly protected from the 

 winters, strawberries especially giving a most abundant crop. Insects 

 have not been abundant as a rule, nor particularly destructive. In some 

 portions of the First District, west, I have heard of considerable destruc- 

 tion by the Canker-worm. The absence of serious depredations by 

 insect enemies I attribute to the alternating temperature of the winter, 

 but especially to the low summer temperature, which was about 3° below 

 the usual average summer heat, and the abundance of rain during the 

 spring and summer months. A marked feature of this low temperature 

 was that it prevented the ripening of grai)es. Even Delaware and Con- 



