38 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



grown in the nursery, all from Russia or the great eastern plain of 

 the old world. There are also growing upon the grounds many 

 pears, cherries and plums, as well as shrul)s, timber and ornamental 

 trees from the same far-away land; and peaches from the Minnesota 

 end of China that the professor thinks thirty per cent, hardier than 

 those grown in this country. And among all this mass of stock 

 there was no sign of winter-killing. Everything looked as hardy 

 and robust as the box-elder, except a few cherry trees that had been 

 shipped by mistake, or were on the Hazard stock. They had been 

 killed or injured by the cold. 



As to the impressions made upon my mind by this visit, touch- 

 ing the ultimate success of this new departure in horticulture, I must 

 say that what has already been accomplished, coupled with the per- 

 fect faith of the professor, has, in the success of his undertaking, in- 

 spired, in my mind, not only a strong hope, but a firm belief that the 

 profitable growing of apples and cherries throughout the wide expanse 

 of the Northwest, is only a question of time. 



And my mind was strongly impressed with another thought, one 

 that I am sorry to say is mortifying in the extreme. I refer to 

 the fact that the great State of Illinois, that should be a leader and a 

 pioneer in horticulture, sits supinely down, amid the ruin and deso- 

 lation of her orchards, calmly folds her hands, and by her action 

 says, the growing of the apple in a large portion of the State has 

 been weighed in the balance and found wanting, henceforth wa will 

 import our apples or do without. And this, while her sister states, 

 younger and less pretentious, are going right along with their exper- 

 iment stations, scouring the whole civilized globe for fruit adapted 

 to their locality, and soon will have their hillsides covered with new 

 orchards of hardy trees, bearing fruit of quality equal, if not superior, 

 to the old. 



If Illinois would redeem herself, let ner hasten to establish an 

 Experimental Station, second to none in the land, let horticulture, in 

 a practical and scientific manner, be taught therein, and let every 

 tree and shrub, that is good for fruit, beautiful to look upon, or use- 

 ful for shelter or timber, and will endure our climate, find a place in 

 the arboratum ; then, if any portion of our State is treeless, because 

 no known sorts will flourish there, let us improve on nature, and, by 

 careful crossing, breed up a class of trees that shall be to the manor 

 born, and at home in our peculiar climate. More than this we 

 cannot expect, with less than this we should never be content. 



Adjourned to 7 p. m. 



