2G8 ILLINOIS STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



A good sized and well kept orchard speaks much for the owner. 

 Orchards, as well as woodlands that extend to the highway, should have 

 depth to make them interesting. Pleasing effects can be produced by 

 arranging the trees so that the higher colored fruits will have the most 

 prominent places. The condition of the surface of an orchard has much 

 to do with its attractiveness. 



The condition of the highway, also, has much to do with the appear- 

 ance of one's premises. A deeply plowed and badly washed road-side, 

 with unsodded banks, mars the beauty of the adjacent grounds. There 

 should be some protection against the lawlessness and stupidity of some 

 road-masters. 



The thought uppermost in many a farmer's mind, after he gets out 

 of debt and has some money ahead, is to build what would be called, in 

 the estimation of the world, a beautiful house. It must be put where the 

 public will have a full view of it. So three sides, all blossoming in 

 wooden contrivances, are held out for our admiration, while the fourth 

 side, being designed for the pigs and poultry to look at, is left somewhat 

 modest and decent. Pretentions to show usually prove a deformity. 



Build the house rather " low and rambling," well hooded by a steep 

 roof, projecting eaves and wholesome chimneys. We want to see evidence 

 of home shelter and home fire. Why should the roof and chimneys be 

 so constructed as to appear subordinate to the rest of the house ? If the 

 walls be of stone, they will, grow handsomer with age. Build so that the 

 house will show care for home convenience and home comfort. We 

 don't care how many gables there are, if they express farm and family 

 needs. Let the house lead a retiring life in the arms of its trees and 

 broad fields. Make the house neat, convenient — elegant, if you choose — 

 but never gaudy or pretentious with wooden trinkets. Its beauty should 

 be enduring, like the beauty ot the hills and prairies. 



If the farm be properly ornamented by tree and vine, green slopes, 

 autumn-tinted groves and sheltering firs, it were best that the house, the 

 work of man, be modest as its owner should be, in the midst of these 

 rich blessings from the hand of God. 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON ORNITHOLOGY. 



Mr. A. L. CuMiNGS presented a report, which was read by the Sec- 

 retary, entitled 



OUR WINTER BIRDS. 



Nature delights in contrasts. Summer comes clothed in all the colors 

 that most delight the eye; and in the profiision manifested by the fruits, 

 the fields and flowers, we are, perhaps, less appreciative of the bright- 

 winged, many-hued, semi-tropical birds that flit across the landscape, than 

 their exceeding beauty demands. But when the flowers are faded and the 

 fruits gathered, when the crimson of the oak and sumac grows brown and 

 sere, when the gold of the ash and hickory turns to copper, and the bright 

 flame of the maple and ivy becomes ashes, what enhanced beauty do we 



