PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



Elmwood Horticultural Society, 



FOR THE YEAR 1887. 



REPORTED FOR PUBLICATION BY W. J. HUMPHREYS, SECRETARY. 



The Elmwood Horticultural Society was organized in Elmwood, 

 Peoria County, Feb. 19, 1887. 



officers: 



President — D. H. Gray. 

 Vice-President — James Davidson. 

 Treasurer — E. R. Brown. 

 Secretary — Wm. J. Humphreys. 

 Librarian — G. J. Pringle. 



JULY MEETING. 



FRUIT AS A DIET. 

 BY J. -T. LOBAUGH. 



Life is a continual round of eating and drinking. We begin 

 our earthly career very much as young birds, by opening our mouths 

 and swallowing whatever goes therein, be it milk, catnip tea or, per- 

 chance, a shirt-button or slate-pencil which may happen to lie 

 upon the floor; not omitting now and then to worry down a pin or a 

 needle to the great alarm of our more experienced friends. We have 

 at that time only the animal instinct to swallow, an instinct that is 

 mighty with all animated creatures. The stomach, located in nearly 

 the centre of the body, is an almost insatiable organ, and is not long 

 satisfied to rest; but at least three times a day it raises its still small 

 voice, which cannot be ignored nor misunderstood, and imperiously 

 demands of the hands, however little they are inclined to exert them- 

 selves to provide more provender, and the stomach has a way of enforc- 

 ing its demands that is peculiarly effective, for it stands between the 



