STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 5 



meet your expectations, I will tnist that the same spirit of liindncss and persona] 

 respect that have ever been manifested towards me, will induce you to bear with my 

 incompetency. 



We are assembled together to hold our foiu'tcenth annual meeting, here in this inter- 

 esting town of Ottawa, sm-roiuided by the picturesque scenery of timbered bluffs and 

 rocky promontories, that call to mind the memories of Indian legendary. ' 



With the older members of this association it is but natural to recall the fact, that 

 the original foundation of our present Society was the Northwestern Fruit Grower's 

 Association, organized in the autumn of 1851. 



Sitting before me are some familiar faces of those who were among the founders of 

 that primiti\'e organization ; and inadvertently the mind recalls the memory of those 

 who then participated in oiu- gatherings, but have since passed away. 



In looking back over the field of our past labors, we have abundant reason to con- 

 gratulate ourselves on the practical progress we have made. A spirit has been awak- 

 ened in the public mind until tree planting and fruit growing have been carried to an 

 extent that at that time no one could have anticipated — even in some instances the 

 spirit of planting has out run people's judgment. Over the broad prairies where the 

 wild winds and prairie tires had free sweep, we have lived to sec it dotted with valua- 

 ble homesteads, surrounded with groves and orchards and lines of hedges. We see an 

 increasing tendency to improvement in homestead arrangements, in which the rich and 

 enlivening effect of evergreens begin to appear. Lauds formerly deemed worthless, 

 have been brought i)ito valuable requisition, and extensively applied to fruit culture. 



During the fruit season, loaded fruit trains are moving over our railroad lines, until 

 well filled boxes and baskets are heaped and piled in the markets of our larger towns, 

 and the markets of nearly every railroad town in our State are perfumed with the aroma 

 of our fruits! Grape culture, from a state of nonenity, has been sprung into being, 

 and by a spirit of enthusiasm is being extended over our whole country ! 



But it is not to regale ourselves over what we have accomplished, that we are come 

 together ; but to consider earnestly the work that is before us. Too well I understand 

 the character of the men whom I address, to suppose I can satisfy you with floiu'ishes 

 of rhetoric. You will expect from me practical suggestions on the subjects of our 

 investigations. 



As a horticultural society we have a field of investigation scarcely equaled by any 

 other State. True, we have not the diversity of mountain ranges or inland lakes. 

 The hilly range extending across the southern portion of our State, the lowness of our 

 river bluffs, the changes in our underlying geological formations, the diversity of our 

 black prairie soils and thinner soils of our rolling lands, constitute the principal topo- 

 graphical features, having any local influence on horticultui'al pursuits. But the fact 

 that our State has an extent of nearly four hundred miles of latitude, gives to our Hor- 

 ticultural Society an extensive field of labor. 



Again, the climatic character of our inland region, the extreme vicissitudes of our 

 changing seasons, constitute for us a si)ecial subject of inquiry. Some seasons we have 

 continued rains and cloudy skies, favorable to the spread of the fungus family, greatly 

 aflecting the products of our orchards, vineyards and gardens. Such has been the pre- 

 ceding season. Other seasons we have extreme drouths extending into autumn ; so 

 that trees close their growth in mid-sunmier, circulation ceasing before the essential 

 elements ai-e elaborateil to sustain and perllH-t the next year's crop. Such was the 



