326 ILLINOIS STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



would now give that gentleman a kw moments' time, if he wished to 

 speak ; whereupon, 



Mr. Schuyler said that the objections brought against the Alden 

 Process of drying fruits, in the paper referred to, was no longer an objec- 

 tion, since the company owning the right had abandoned the practice of 

 heating by steam, as too expensive, and were now heating by furnaces, 

 and had so far reduced the expense of fixtures that they were offering to 

 sell heaters and other apparatus for drying seventy-five to one hundred 

 bushels of fruit in a day, including the right to use the same, for ^i,ooo. 

 This, of course, did not include rooms, brick work, etc. He also stated 

 that fruit was often put upon the market as Alden fruit, which was not 

 dried by their process, and that the fruit exhibited by Mr. Spafford was 

 of this character. 



Mr. E. Y. Teas, of Indiana, upon request of the President, read a 

 paper upon the European Larch, as follows : 



SOME POINTS OF EXCELLENCE POSSESSED BY THE EUROPEAN 



LARCH. 



During the discussion on "Timber Culture" at this winter meeting, 

 some ideas have occurred to me that I feel willing to offer. It is, perhaps, 

 unfortunate that men of little brain get hold of an idea, and having ca- 

 pacity for no other, pursue that one to the bitter end. Yet men of one 

 idea do sometimes move the world out of the old ruts into broader and 

 better paths. 



It is unfortunate, and detrimental to the immediate and general 

 introduction of the Larch to its rightful and proper position as a timber 

 tree in our country, that claims have been made for it that are apparently 

 untenable, or at least unwise, and unnecessary to establish its surpassing 

 value and excellence as a timber tree. We do not believe it was intended 

 by our Heavenly Father to unite all the desirable qualities and possible 

 excellencies of timber, for all the varied needs ancl uses of man, in one 

 single tree; but that many species possess undoubted excellence in various 

 respects. While we believe the European Larch possesses definite, 

 decided good qualities, in some respects superior to almost any other kind 

 of timber, these merits do not exclude ma^iy other trees from positions of 

 great value in timber culture. It was unfortunate for the Larch that, in 

 consideration of its great success in some parts of Europe, in certain 

 and peculiar situations, the same tree should be claimed to be equally 

 well adapted for all situations and all climates in our country, while we 

 scarcely possess a township of land, in our whole domain, similar to that 

 on which the peculiar virtues of the Larch were first manifested in Europe. 

 The old Duke of Athol, who first conceived the idea of Larch culture in 

 Britain, was not at first sanguine of success, but, with Scotch shrewdness, 

 at first planted only a kw trees by way of experiment ; and these he 

 located not on his rough, highland cliffs, that he most desired to cover 

 with forest growth, but in the rich, level land, wliere they could receive 

 constant attention and care. 



