226 ILLINOIS STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



to pursue in order to obtain, in the shortest time, at the least expense, and 

 with the greatest economy, the object desired. We realize that our work, 

 beyond the pleasures and luxuries afforded us as individuals, is one of 

 self-sacrifice. We give our time to the cultivation of the orchard and 

 vineyard because it not only affords us pleasure to watch the growth and 

 development of the plant and the ripening of the fruits in their season, 

 but adds much to health-giving luxuries with which to supply our tables, 

 make glad the hearts and rosy the cheeks of the little ones that make 

 merry around our homes. 



I will not stop to name varieties or discuss the merits of the various 

 kinds of fruit best adapted to our respective localities, or the best methods 

 of cultivating on the various soils embraced within the limits of this So- 

 ciety. The subject has often been considered in your discussions, and 

 will continue to demand your attention from year to year, that it may be 

 kept before the people in such a manner that even the blind may not 

 stumble. 



There are many obstacles continually arising to discourage the horti- 

 culturist in his work, and many of our more enterprising and enthusi- 

 astic brethren have come far short of realizing their expectations, and we 

 are sorry to say that, after years of anxious, persevering toil, they have 

 been compelled to yield to bitter disappointment of hopes unrealized, 

 and fortunes, apparently within reach, vanish as the vapor before the 

 morning sun. 



The army of insects that prey upon the plants and fruit ; the frosts 

 of winter that destroy ; the blighting storms of spring time ; the heat 

 and drouth of summer, are all causes that aid in destroying our golden 

 hopes and blasting the bright future for which we have so long toiled. 



Notwithstanding all these discouragements, we have much to be 

 thankful for. Realizing full well that many of our efforts have not been 

 without success — and we believe that in our own district a majority of 

 those devoting their attention to horticultural pursuits are meeting with 

 fairly satisfactory results — and although we have not been considered as 

 occupying the favored fruit district of the State, it must be admitted that 

 we have met with less disappointments than many of our brethren in 

 localities considered more favorable. 



This fact is certainly encouraging, and should incite us to renewed 

 efforts, greater energy and zeal in the good work in which we are engaged, 

 believing as we. do that all the sacrifice we make in this labor of love will 

 be ten-fold repaid, by the benefits bestowed upon the generations which 

 shall succeed us. 



The subject of Forestry has received no little consideration in the 

 discussions of your Society, and the action you have taken on this subject 

 alone has given to us a prominence of which we may well be proud. The 

 importance of this great interest cannot well be over-estimated, as long as 

 a prairie home in the Great West remains destitute of shelter and protec- 

 tion from the fierce storms of winter and scorching sun of summer. 



But few realize the comfort that a judiciously planted grove affords 

 to both man and beast ; and how easy, and in what a short time, groves 



