ILLINOIS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 241 



you do not know that in the white, moonlit nights of the last week of 

 May, the Catbird is a real nightingale. T have heard liini sing at all 

 hours of the night from eleven until morning. With the broadening 

 light, high up in the tree tops sounds the hilarious chorus of the Brown 

 Thrushes. 



Away in the woodlands the Wood Thrushes awake in the dim twi- 

 light. Their song is full of quiet joy and pure aspiration. I have 

 known people who could talk the gossip of the hour with the clear 

 voices of these birds about them. There are persons, no rloubt, who 

 would tell idle stories at heaven's gate. The little Nuthatch pipes soft- 

 ly. The Wood Pewee calls sadly, " Pe-o-wee ! pe-o-wee ! " But here 

 comes one with a shining rose leaf on his breast, the Rose-breasted 

 Grosbeak. His rich song, with iust a touch of tender sadness in it, 

 seems to float on the mists of the river. He loves the vicinage of water, 

 and is rarely found far from it. 



We are debtors to the birds. 



On motion, Robert Douglass, A. Bryant, Jr., and A. R. Whitney 

 were appointed a committee on the President's Annual Address. 



Mr. D. C. Scofield read the following paper on Timber planting. 



TIMBER WASTE. 



D. C. SCOFIELU. 



Mr. President, Ladies, and Gentlemen : 



Your Committee fli;irged to report on "ornamental and useful 

 trees" beg leave to present the following. 



This phrase embraces a wide held; in fact .ill thai ui;i\ be said of 

 trees, from the cluster that atlorns the home-lot to the Ijoinulless torest. 



Trees have been the theme which has animated the discussioni^ 

 anfi imparted to this Society an importance and influence for good for 

 which the generations o\ all coming time will ("ill von blessed. 



Your reccjrd is before the world, iiorn in Ml. ( arroll, consecrated 

 in this city to the high oHice of leadershii" in the onward progress of 

 civilization, human happiness, and national prosperity, voii stand Ixffirc 

 vour ( f)untrv iind world as the beacon-light, pointing to innnortality. 



Vou (jccupy to-day another stand-point in relation l(; this*sul)jc( t. 

 from that of five years ago, when you met here in deliberative counsel 

 for the first time, and discussed this great (jucstion ; a (piestion which 

 expands and rises before you, year by year with iina/ingly increased 

 importance. 



Till then, but little had been said, and less done in regard to this 

 matter. r)uring a period of more than thirty years, the lumbermen of 

 the country had sounded the alarm tli;it the forests of this country were 

 fast passing away, and that the requiem ot thrir departing glory would 

 be sung by the next generation. ^ et no remedy was proposed, and 

 none hoped, even for a rescue from the impending ruin. 



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