SOCIETY OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS. 183 



well with the horticulturist? Caudor compels us to admit that such 

 is not the case. Our fruit trees that survived the terrible ordeal of 

 the late cold winters, are bare of fruit; our berry plantations have 

 not paid expenses, and our fruit gardens have failed to furnish the 

 expected supply. 



The season has been phenomenal, and the meteorological condi- 

 tions that have caused the wheat and corn crop of many portions of 

 Central Illinois to be one of the best ever grown, has made the apple 

 and small-fruit crop almost a failure. But we should not be dis- 

 couraged by this disaster, and whatever may be our opinion of the 

 commercial side of the question, all will agree that planting orch- 

 ards, fruit and vegetable gardens for home use, and trees for shade, 

 shelter and ornament, should be increased ten-fold. 



I do not wish to be understood as discouraging planting com- 

 mercial orchards and vineyards and plantations of small fruit, but, 

 on the other hand, believe that now is the favorable time to engage 

 inr the work. There is scarcely' an orchard in Central Illinois over 

 twelve years of age that will ever again produce a profitable crop 

 of fruit, and unless we replant we shall soon be compelled to depend 

 on importations for our market supply. 



The successful horticulturist will hereafter plant less acres, fer- 

 tilize and cultivate better, and fight insects with greater persistency. 

 Experience has taught that the same amount of money and labor 

 that has heretofore been expended on twenty acres will yield a 

 greater profit if concentrated on five or ten. 



These and many other equally important questions, such as the 

 probability of securing regular crops of plums by judiciously inter- 

 mingling different varieties, the advisability of continuing to plant 

 peach and pear trees, and the adaptation of Russian fruit to our soil 

 and climate, demand and doubtless Avill receive, our attention. 



Years ago scientific men predicted that the perihelion, through 

 which we have just passed, would be accompanied with great atmos- 

 pheric disturbances — scorching drouths and disastrous floods, un- 

 usual degrees of heat and cold, fearful tornadoes and earthquakes, 

 swarms of insects, and great fatality to animal and vegetable life. 

 How fully these predictions have been verified you all know ; but 

 now that perihelion has passed, may we not take courage and again 

 plant those delicious fruits that have of late mocked the hopes of 

 the horticulturist, with the confident expectation of growing them 

 in as great abundance and perfection as in the days of yore. 



A generation ago the irrepressible Yankee came to Illinois to 

 make on these grand prairies a home for himself and children which 

 should be supplied with all those things that minister to the moral, 

 intellectual and esthetic wants. 



Who ever knew these hardy sons of New England to be dis- 

 couraged by adverse circumstances, or having put "their hand to the 

 plow to look back?" May we not, therefore, conclude that Illinois 



