248 ILLINOIS STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



World, Galena Advertiser, Colorado Farmer, Western Agriculturist, Cali- 

 fornia Farmer ; also apples by Hammond, Calkins, Hathaway and 

 McCuNE, among which Lady's Sweeting, Canada Red, Wythe, Ben 

 Davis, Pryor's Red and others were noted for their sound condition, size 

 and excellence ; also cider of harmless qualities, very pleasant. 



The minutes of last meeting were approved. 



■Mr. W. N. Grover announced the death of Mr. Charles Willis, 

 a member of this Society, and spoke of the deceased as one of its most 

 efficient members, in precept and example. At the close of his remarks 

 he offered resolutions, pending the adoption of which several of the 

 members, among whom were Dr. Hollowbush, Messrs. Piggott, Tay- 

 lor, B. G. Grover, Hathaway and Whitaker, added their testimony 

 to the moral worth, industry and efficient labors of the deceased. 



The appropriate resolutions adopted upon the occasion corresponded 

 with the sentiments of the preamble. 



Esq. Piggott, the essayist, said he had not had time to commit his 

 thoughts to paper, on account of pressing duties and the funeral of Mr. 

 Willis. He was more and more convinced that land, continually taxed 

 with heavy crops taken from it, required fertilizing. The idea that our 

 soils are inexhaustible must be given up ; the application of manure, 

 clovering, grass, and some system of rotation, were among the modes 

 recommended. With him corn and hay were the most profitable crops. 



Mr. Grovl^ inquired of him what was a full yield of corn. 



The answer was sixty, while the general average was thirty. 



The discussion, by Messrs. Grover and Piggott, took a general 

 range upon practical agriculture, when Mr. Hathaway made the fol- 

 lowing remarks : 



At our last three monthly meetings the subjects for discussion have 

 been virtually ignored. A great variety of subjects were broached, inter- 

 esting and more or less profitable no doubt, but I think we should first 

 dispose of the subject set for the meeting especially. 



Now, I think that we need not go for commercial fertilizers for our 

 county ; clover and salt are all we need to make our soil as rich as we 

 desire. Sow clover on our winter wheat in the early spring, say March, 

 . with one bushel of salt to the acre, and three months after the wheat is 

 harvested you have an abundant crop of grass to turn under, that will fit 

 your land for a good crop of corn, if you choose, or any other crop you 

 may desire the next season. By this process you not only keep up, but 

 increase the fertility of your land. 



One word for clover — it being a perennial, with a strong tap-root 

 penetrating deep into the soil, decaying leaves a hole by which light, 



