308 ILLINOIS STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



with unfeigned regret that I noticed the absence of Prof. Turner, of 

 Jacksonville; Prof. Riley, State Entomologist of Missouri; Dr. Gregory, 

 of Champaign; Prof. Tice, of St. Louis; Prof. Burrill, of Champaign, 

 etc., etc. These are representative men, and, if they had been present, 

 would have added much to the pleasure and interest of the meeting. To 

 compensate in a measure for these failures, I am told that these gentlemen 

 will furnish valuable papers to be published in the Report of the State 

 Horticultural Society. 



The twenty-first annual meeting of the Illinois State Horticultural 

 Society marks an important epoch in its history. It has done much for 

 our Prairie State. Much yet remains to be done. It came into being 

 when this Garden of the West was almost an unbroken wilderness. From 

 Freeport to Cairo, from Lake Mighigan to the Father of Waters, scarcely 

 was there a trace of civilization. Here and there the smoke curled from 

 the farmer's cot, giving evidence that the wild beasts had been frightened 

 from our borders, and that the Indian camp-fires had gone out and that 

 the war-whoop had ceased. To-day we are in the midst of grand im- 

 provements, surrounded by the richest blessings that Heaven ever vouch- 

 safed to any people. And as the rolling years shall come, each laden 

 with new life, new hopes, new aspirations, so may the State Horticultural 

 Society renew its life and vigor, giving us a foretaste of the useful in the 

 beautiful, and the beautiful in the useful. 



J. V. N. STANDISH. 



