306 



TKA^SACTIONS OF THE CENTRAL 



Grand Prairie Horticultural Society— to meet the conteniplatctl re-districting of the State into seven 

 instead of three fruit districts. The first annual meeting, held at Decatur, Feljruary 10, 'fi9, amended 

 the constitution by changing the name to " Central Illinois Horticultural Society," so as to embrace 

 tlie central portion of the State lying between tlie uorthern and soutliern districts. 



Tliat meeting also authorized the Secretary to issue a sei'ies of questions and send a copy to some 

 suit;ihle person in each county within our boundarj', requesting answers to be returned to liiin so 

 that he could make a consolidated report— which is to be a substitute for an ad interim committee's 

 report at this meeting. 



It will be observed at once that we have extended our boundary over quite a diversity of soil, 

 which must necessarily produce a corresponding diversity in the reports from the different sections 

 and localities within our limits. 



While our portion of the State Is not subject to the extreme cold from which they suffer in the 

 uorthern counties, and yet not blessed by the balmy breezes that fan our enthusiastic colaborers in 

 the mild climate of Egj-pt, we can certainly boast of as many changes, or, in the language of another, 

 assert that ours is the most " vicissitudinous climate." 



The sudden changes to which we are liable— esiiecially during the autumn and winter— subject the 

 HorticiUturist to great care in the selection of varieties, and a vast amount of extra labor in the pro- 

 tection of the more tender trees and plants whicli are wont to be cultivated in our orchards, lawns 

 and gardens. 



But the unparalleled fertility of our soil, and the beautiful surface of our portion of the State, fully 

 counteract anj' feelings of discontent with our locality. My observation has also induced me to 

 believe that no one localitj' or section of country possesses many vei-j' great advantages over 

 another; but that every locality has good and bad qualities, so tliat in the aggregate we may be con- 

 tent that we have no more advantage over our neighbors than they have over us. For j'ears i^ast, 

 fruit growers have looked to the southern portion of our State with great interest; but remoteness 

 from market subjects onr friends of Egypt to the merciless monopoly of railroad companies for long 

 transportations, which greatlj' reduce net profits. Experience indicates also that the mildness of 

 the autumn in that locality induces a late, or second growth in many trees, that subjects them to 

 damage by severe freezing before the wood is well ripened. 



We have spent another year in experiment, and labor, and toil, and study, and observation, if we 

 have filled our mission as fruit growers and Horticulturists. And now we ai-e assembled to report 

 progress and interchange opinions upon the results. This is a school in which all are pupils and yet 

 all may be instructors if we report the experience of the past, whether it be success or failure. 



Our failures or successes with the causes which brought tliera aljout are just what we want in Hor- 

 ticultural meetings. Theory is of little value, and the less we have of it without the practice to 

 prove it, the better. 



Our theory and experiments should always look to improvement in the way of producing new 

 sorts, or changing the quality and character of old imperfect ones by different modes of propagation 

 and culture. 



If we could produce an apple tree of the best vigor, symmetry, hardness, early and annual pro- 

 ductiveness, to give us fruit of the best size, shape, color and flavor, embodying all the good quali- 

 ties of our best sorts, we ought to feel that we had achieved a victory; but such sorts are not known 

 exoeiJt in humbug advertisements, or the fertile brain of humbug biped pedestrians. 



Great confusion exists in the nomenclature of our fruits. Some well known fruits are known by 

 different names in different sections of the country. 



In my own county I have found an apple with a name for each side of the county, and yet I took it 

 twice to the meetings of the State Horticultural Society and found no one to Identify it as a known sort. 

 Mucli of this confusion no doubt is caused by the purchase of trees from ignorant and irresponsiljle 

 parties, who purchase any kind of rubbish or unknown sorts they can get cheai), and then label the 

 trees to suit the orders of their customers. The carelessness of planters who neglect to plant and 

 make a i-ecord of their orchard, even when the trees purchased are labeled cori-ectlj'— tends to con- 

 fuse names of fruits, from the fact that when tlie trees begin to bear they make a guess at the names 

 from the recollection of their purcliase, or of fruits they saw many years before. Sometimes such 

 orchardists have kind neighbors who volunteer to assist in this guessing process. In which they dis- 

 Ijlay such a knowledge of fruits as Warder, Downing or Tlionias might be proud of. Such knowing 

 persons liave a name each for red and yellow apples, and apply it almost indiscriminately to each. 

 Tlri; name, pippin, is also very convenient, and the adjectives red, yellow, green, striped, fall or 

 winter are very convenient when making a display of their extensive horticultural knowledge. 

 They have not the most remote idea of the length of the list of varieties; but can embrace the entire 

 collection with a dozen names. It is better to let a fruit go without a name tlian to make a guess at 

 it without some good assurance that it is correct. 



Allow me to suggest that a committee miglit be appointed, who are competent to take charge of 

 the fruit at our meetings, and when the name of an apple is called for discussion, present a specimen 



