TRANSACTIONS 01" NORTHERN ILL. HORTICULTURAL SOCIF.TV. 279 



early, and that their leaves ceased to act early, I will agree with that ; but 

 if we nican that they became fully j^repared to resist the rigors of winter, 

 and to resume growth next spring, I do not think that was so. I think it 

 was only in specially favored spots, where from some cause there was the 

 most moisture, and enough to furnish the wants of the tree, that true 

 ripening of the wood took place. It may be that trees thrive in soil as 

 "dry as dust," such as Mr. Meehan asserts is found in forests, while the 

 soil outside the forest is damp. But if that is so, it must be in a region 

 far from ours, both in miles and characteristics. This " dry as dust" 

 condition, which Mr. Meehan has described as the normal condition of 

 forests, has given us a most woful crop of tree corpses all over the West. 

 Minus, 22)°, it seems to me, should not harm most of the trees that we had 

 been depending upon as hardy, if only those trees were in a really thriv- 

 ing condition ; but if they were sick with hunger or thirst, why should 

 not that minus 28° kill them ? 



From these premises, I draw the conclusion that the peculiar pheno- 

 mena of the action of the last winter, upon trees and ])lants, are not due 

 to the unusual severity of the cold, nor yet to the sudden adverse changes 

 of temperature, but to the fact that the matter of hardiness, as previously 

 tested, seemed to have little to do with the results, which fact points to 

 the adverse influences of the previous season as the true cause of the de- 

 plorable results. I do not believe we should make such an abnormal sea- 

 son the basis upon which to predicate hardiness or tenderness in any tree ; 

 for if a tree is short of nourishment, it is also short of endurance, and un- 

 less we calculate upon dry falls, followed by cold winters, we need not 

 pick out tlie trees which stood last winter as hardy, and those which failed 

 as tender. 



I am not prepared to prescribe measures to avert a calamity like that 

 of last winter, in any specific manner. But I will offer the idea that our soils 

 are gradually growing more and more deficient in humus and in all organic 

 substances, which, as the years progress, are slowly decaying and losing 

 their organic character. Thus where the new i)rairie of twenty-five years 

 ago was so much supplied with organic remains that the mechanical con- 

 dition of the soil suited it to retain moisture a long time, it was much better 

 than it is now : that some prairie, though not broken or disturbed till now, 

 shows qualities very inferior to what it did twenty-five years ago. It is as rich, 

 but it is dryer, and will not, except in very favorable years, produce the 

 grain crops it did then. The humus which then played the i)art of the 

 sponge as to moisture, and in whose interstical spaces all chemical combi- 

 nations took place more readily than they do in soil, is gone ; its mineral 

 parts alone remain, and the soil lacks that sponginess and porosity which 

 allows it to retain moisture a long time, and to inii)rison and retain the 

 gases of the air. There is little doubt that much of our soil, if not most 

 of it, is deficient in organic substance, and I think we may seize every 

 economical way of sujjplying the organic elements needed, with benefits 

 to our soil, and eventually to our finances. It may be that our fruit trees 

 do not need the ammonia of stable manure, and perhaps they do not need 

 all of its carbonic acid gas, but they do need it in its rotten, well divided 



