296 ILLINOIS STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Mr. Beatty said the good and bad are so mixed that it is hard to 

 distinguish them. All birds were useful to him as a citizen. The blue- 

 jay eats more worms than any other bird. He is a perfect gentleman, 

 holds up his head and does no one harm. The robin, whom some con- 

 demn, eats worms enough to more than pay for all his depredations ; and 

 there is a whole class of birds that work industriously all summer, eating 

 worms and insects. In the plum orchard, the hen would probably stop 

 the curculio pest. Many of our birds are game birds in New York city. 

 They are caught by thousands in the South, and shipped to the New York 

 market for the table ; and we may have to send missionaries to that city 

 to educate them on the subject of birds. 



Judge Kitchell had no feeling like Mr. Hale in regard to birds. 

 He could not sit down and see them destroy fruits, and bear it, because 

 some one thinks it a sin to destroy them. The worms destroy our fruit, 

 and we destroy them, and he would serve the birds the same, when they 

 commit their depredations. He had no doubt hens would do good in a 

 plum orchard, but not the first year. The fruit must be eaten to destroy 

 the curculio, and then the next year the crop will be plentiful. Pigs are 

 serviceable for this purpose. 



President Standish said his sympathies were with the birds. Some 

 insects multiply by the hundred thousand to each pair, and a bird that 

 destroys a few of these insects of course checks their enormous increase. 



MARCH MEETING. 



At a meeting of the Society, held at the residence of Hiram Mars, 

 Esq., on the 21st of March, the subject of " Parks " was discussed. 



Mr. Hale, in opening the discussion, stated that some system should 

 be adopted in the care of a park. The grass plats and lawns should be 

 protected. People should understand that they are not to walk on the 

 grass. Walks should be provided ; places excavated, and mounds formed, 

 to make the parks ornamental ; and if we must provide for loungers, let 

 provision be made for them alongside of the walks, and not allow them 

 to stroll over the grass at will. The trees should be kept trimmed, and 

 the whole put under the supervision of a competent person. He depre- 

 cated the planting of soft maples. Every breeze breaks them down, and 

 they are constantly dying out. He strongly recommended the Norway 

 maple for park purposes. Mr. Hale then offered a resolution to the effect 



