TRANSACTIONS OF NORTHERN ILL. HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 261 



are designed more particularly to benefit the rising generations, than for 

 your own immediate profit. 



But we should bear in mind that it is our mission here to provide for 

 the rising generations, so "that the world may be the better for our hav- 

 ing lived in it." 



Let us take a view of what horticulture has done for this our adopted 

 State. What is a country without fruit? And who have brought about 

 the present condition of things? Gentlemen, you who are members of 

 this Society have been the instruments in effecting the improvements we 

 now see. 



A little over forty years ago, I came to this State, and settled on Fox 

 river, when this and that beautiful country belonged to the Pottawat- 

 tomie Indians ; with no roads, no towns, no survey, no railroad ; all a vast 

 extent of treeless, fruitless prairie. And it was thought, by the few inhabi- 

 tants who were scattered here and there about the groves, that trees would 

 not grow upon the prairies, "because they never had." 



But among the sturdy yeomanry of the frontiers-men were some who 

 had the taste and spirit for tree planting, and, thank God, some of them 

 are with us to-day. Others have fallen asleep, " but their loorks do fol- 

 low them." 



In the year 1851, there was a company of horticulturists gathered in 

 a town — now a city — east of us (Dixon), under the name of the North- 

 western Fruit Growers' Association — the venerable and lamented Dr. 

 Kennicott as its President. Though this was not their first meeting, it 

 was the first one I attended. The spirit of horticulture burned within 

 them ; and not horticulture alone, but that of agriculture also, for there 

 was the first conception of the State Agricultural Society. And they went 

 forth about the work of tree planting, and what has been the result ? 

 Fruit of all kinds, not by the bushel only, but by hundreds and thousands 

 of bushels ; not enjoyed by the few only, but by the masses ; and so 

 plenty that it can be enjoyed at every fireside, to gladden the hearts of 

 every household, promoting health and haj)piness. 



Though we made many mistakes, others have profited by them; antl 

 it is now demonstrated that fruit and ornamental trees will and do gro7v 

 upon the prairies, as we not only have luscious fruits for our daily food, 

 but they have become an article of commerce. These changes — the pro- 

 duction of fruits and the adornment of prairie homes by deciduous and 

 evergreen ornamental trees — have been brought about through the influ- 

 ence of horticultural societies. Then let us look to the hope of our call- 

 ing; it is a laudable one. Horticulture, or the love of it, is refining ; it 

 subdues the harshness of our natures; it has the same refining influence upon 

 minds that religion has ui)on morals. Allow me to illustrate : A gentle- 

 man came to my house one day, and expressed much admiration for some 

 plants which my daughter was cultivating. After the gentleman left, a 

 little granddaughter, five years old, said, " I think that man loves his 

 mother.'' "Why?" asked her grandmother, " what makes you think so?" 

 "Because," said she, "he loves plants and flowers." And I think the 

 child was not much out of the way. 



