262 ILLINOIS STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



and careful observation gathered a vast store of practical knowledge, 

 and was, therefore, one of our most valuable and highly esteemed mem- 

 bers, and one whose loss will long be felt. 



For the first time in the history of our Society our ranks have been 

 broken by death, and while the All-wise Father has ordained that all men 

 must die, and we therefore feel that it is in infinite wisdom, yet we instinct- 

 ively shrink from the darkness that broods upon the mystic river, and feel 

 that without a Divine Guide, we shall fail to moor our frail bark upon the 

 stormless shore of the beautiful land that lies beyond. And while it is 

 natural to hope that the messenger may not come, as it did to our brother, 

 in the prime of manhood and the midst of usefulness, but only when the 

 "almond tree shall flourish and the grasshopper become a burden," yet 

 come when it may, may death be to us, as we believe it was to him, but 

 the messenger that should summon us to a brighter and better world — 

 to a land where the "wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at 



rest." 



The Committee on Orchards made the following report : 



REPORT OF THE ORCHARD COMMITTEE. 



Your Committee on Orchards, after long silence, assume with some 

 reluctance the duty of submitting a report on the subject assigned them. 

 The members of this Society do not need to be reminded of the severe 

 ordeal through which our orchards have passed during the past three or 

 four years. To sum the matter up briefly, it may be said of orchard pro- 

 ducts that the years 1872 and 1874 were years of plenty, of both apples 

 and peaches. In the former year, however, a very large portion of the 

 fruit was scabby and wormy, but in the latter year, exceptionally sound 

 and fair. In 1873 and 1875 the peach crop was an entire failure, and 

 the apple crop very light, many large orchards hardly producing enough 

 for family or home use. These alternate heavy and light crops are to a 

 considerable extent due to the tendency of many fruit trees to overbear 

 and then take a year of rest ; but this tendency has been aggravated in 

 our vicinity, by the exceptionally severe winters following each of the 

 above mentioned years of full bearing. Many peach orchards have been 

 nearly destroyed, and perhaps all badly injured. Apple trees have borne 

 the trial better; but many orchards, particularly the older ones, make a 

 sad showing of frost-split, sun-scalded trunks, and limbs broken by storms, 

 and insect depredations. Nursery-stock has suffered perhaps worse than 

 established orchards. Last spring it was almost impossible to get sound, 

 healthy trees to plant. What shall be said for the future? It is bravest, 

 and we trust you will say with us best, to look forward hopefully. Let us 

 take care of such of our trees as are worth saving, dig up the dead and 

 dying and unprofitable, and replant with healthy, well-tried varieties, and 

 go on our way rejoicing in hope. 



The fact that this Society has for the last two years .taken the first 

 premium for apples from our State Agricultural Society, has led orchard- 



