ILLINOIS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 211 



VINEYARDS. 



President Pearson reported that some grapes had rotted in the 

 bags, but thought they had not been put on as early as they should 

 have been. 



Mr. Browne said that it seemed to be a fact that the rot was 

 worse on grapes in bags than on those exposed if the rot had got into 

 the bunch before the bags were put on; to be a sure preventative, 

 the bags should be put on as soon as the grapes are out of bloom. 



" Do fruit trees and plants fail and become diseased because of 

 exhaustion in the soil of the elements necessary to their growth?'' 



This subject was thoroughly discussed by Messrs. Pearson, Jack- 

 son, Hilliard, Browne, Hollard, Tindall and others. 



Messrs. Jackson and Hollard thought that the failure and poor 

 success of old plantations was due to the exhaustion in the soil of 

 elements necessary to healthy growth. 



The majority of the speakers, while admitting that the crops 

 grown reduced the fertility of land, attributed the failure of old 

 plantations and orchards not to soil exhaustion, but to the age of the 

 plantations and to insects and diseases that creep in and multiply, so 

 as to injure the health of plants and trees, and reduce the crops in 



quality and quantity. _ 



SEPTEMBER MEETING. 



The Alton-Southern Illinois Horticultural Society met on the 

 grounds of Prof. Wyman, in Upper Alton, Thursday, September 

 16th. The morning was cloudy, with light rains, so that but few 

 except near-by members attended. The show of fruits, flowers and 

 vegetables was fine, the best that we have ever had; in flowers, par- 

 ticularly, the show was excellent. 



Of grapes there was a fine show, including seedlings from Dr. 

 Schroeder. 



Also a lot of seedling grapes from Theo. Hu])er, of Illinois City. 

 The question for the day: 



