16 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



TUESDAY AFTERNOON. 



The meeting was called to order by the President at 2 o'clock. 



THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 

 President Hammond addressed the Society as follows : 



Fellow Members of the Illinois State Horticultural Society : 



Time, with ceaseless flight, has brought us to-day to the twentieth 

 anniversary of the organization of our Society, and we rejoice that we 

 are privileged to grasp, in joyous greeting, the hand of those who welcomed 

 the smiling infant when it first saw the light, who rocked the cradle of its 

 childhood, rejoiced in the promise of its youth and the strength and vigor 

 of its early manhood. 



But, while we are proud of the progress we have made, and the 

 position we have attained, we are reminded of other changes that have 

 occurred since its formation. Where are the absent ones ? Of those 

 who assisted in its organization, and others who have taken an active part 

 in its work, many have fallen by the way. We feel that it is cause for 

 gratitude, that we have been permitted to enjoy the friendship of so many 

 good and true men. We admired them for their skill as horticulturists, 

 but still more loved and honored them for their integrity as men. And 

 now that they have departed, we would cherish their memories and strew 

 flowers upon their graves, fondly hoping that, after a few more storms 

 shall have beaten upon our heads and a few more gleams of sunshine 

 brightened our pathway, we shall meet them in that better land, 



'• Of fairer valleys and streams than these, 

 Where the river of God is full of water, 

 And full of sap are His healing trees." 



It is, however, more appropriate that the Society should pay its 

 tribute of respect to these departed loved ones through its older members, 

 who are to follow me. I shall, therefore, leave it in their hands, and 

 now briefly address you upon the subject of home ornamentation, and 

 attempt to show why every farmer, as well as every mechanic and laborer 

 who owns a town lot, should be a practical fruit grower and ornamental 

 horticulturist, and how this noble art may become a great national 

 educator. 



Perhaps the most alarming feature of the present age is the tendency 

 of the most intelligent portion of our rural population to forsake the 

 dull, routine life of the farm for the glitter and excitement of the city. 

 And perhaps there is no one cause that contributes so much to this end, 

 and creates such a spirit of unrest, as the uncomfortable and uncongenial 

 homes of the great mass of agriculturists. 



