164 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 



REPORT OF FRUIT COMMITTEE FOR ILLINOIS TO THE 

 AMERICAN POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Mr. President and Gentle?ne7i : 



As chairman of your Fruit Committee for the State of Illinois, I 

 associated with me Hon. A. M. Brown, of Villa Ridge, Pulaski county, 

 for Southern Illinois ; E. Daggy, of Tuscola, Douglas county, for Central 

 Illinois ; and T. McWhorter, of Aledo, Mercer county, for Northern 

 Illinois ; and the assistance they have kindly rendered will appear below. 

 Each gentleman was furnished with a list of items by your chairman of 

 General Fruit Committee, P. Barry, of Rochester, New York. 



Upon mature reflection, and for peculiar reasons, which will appear 

 further on, I have decided to depart somewhat from the course suggested, 

 and, personally, report mainly upon the present status of horticulture in 

 the State, prefaced by a brief review of its 



HORTICULTURAL HISTORY. 



In October, 1851, the Northwestern Fruit Growers' Association 

 was organized, and held meetings each year thereafter, excepting 1854, 

 for discussions, addresses, etc., on pomology and general horticulture, 

 until the year 1857. This association, though in name a Northwestern 

 society, was almost wholly sustained by residents of the State of Illinois ; 

 and, accordingly, when, in 1857, its meeting was held at the same time 

 and place with that of the Illinois State Horticultural Society — organized 

 the previous year — that association, by vote, merged itself into the Illinois 

 State Society. This Society has held meetings of four days' continuance 

 each year since, and published its transactions annually. Previous to 

 1867, the proceedings were published in pamphlet form, by contributions 

 from its members; but, in the year 1867, the General Assembly of the 

 State made an appropriation of two thousand dollars per annum, which 

 has been continued from that time to the present, enabling us to publish 

 our transactions in full, putting them into book form. These volumes, 

 entitled "Transactions of the Illinois State Horticultural Society," 

 contain about four hundred pages each, and embrace lectures, essays, 

 and discussions upon practical horticulture, and also upon meteorology, 

 geology and soils, vegetable physiology, and other subjects which under- 

 lie or are directly connected with scientific and practical horticulture. 



