STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 1 99 



emittinsT rootlets into frozen earth. He said that the amelioratincr effects of 

 forests are sho\vn by the fact, that in Great Britain, double rent is paid 

 for pasture hnids which arc sheltered by timber. 



Mr. Flagg stated that it is well known, that in Siberia, the roots of 

 Einopean larch and other ti^ees, penetrate and grow in ground that is 

 perpetually frozen. 



Pkof. Turner said that he believed in planting trees, both evergreen 

 and deciduous. He had put out on one of his farms 10,000 evergreen 

 trees. He had offered to donate frees to the proper officers to plant along 

 the streets in Jacksonville, and along the highways for sevei"al miles 

 between one of his farms and the city. He contended that one of the 

 imperative demands upon the j^resent generation of dwellers upon the 

 prairies is the planting and the care of trees. 



]Mr. Bryant referred to his experience in tree planting at Princeton, 

 commencing, in 1S33, in the planting of that avenue of hard maples, 

 which is now the admiration of all travelers along the iiighway which 

 they border. He said he regarded the compliments paid him for this 

 •work not so much as praise to himself as they are a reproach to others 

 who ought to have done as much or more than he has, yet have done 

 nothing. 



Dr. C. W. Spalding read the following essay : 



WILL THE USE OF WINE BENEFIT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ? 



To this question, proposed to me by tlie officers of this Society, I 

 answer,_)'e5; but as in this age of inquiry, men are expected to give good 

 and substantial reasons for the faith they hold, I shall, in this brief paper, 

 endeavor to offer some of the principal reasons which lead me to gi\'e 

 this affirmative reply. 



Let us first notice some of the physical benefits which result from the 

 use of wine. The climate of the United States, and especially that of 

 the valley of the Mississippi, is noted for the prevalence of bilious dis- 

 eases. Fevers of various kinds — fever and ague, dysentery, jaundice, 

 etc., etc., are of frequent occurrence throughout its entire extent, from 

 the Gulf of Mexico to the Lake of the Woods. Other diseases, entirelv 

 dissimilar to those commonly called bilious, are here more or less modified 

 by becoming intermittent in type. Thus, under the inffuence of our 

 climate, many diseases become periodic which do not have that charac- 

 ter elsewhere, and nearly all assume more or less of the remittent aspect. 

 Diseases of the class first mentioned are met with in all fertile countries, 

 and prevail in proportion as fertility is accompanied by moisture, or by 

 any climatic conditions which favor the rapid decomposition of vegetable 

 substances. The condi lions for development being fa\orable, and being 

 likely for a long time to remain so, we may regard bilious dieases, in all 

 their wide-spreading influences, as a permanent legacy, bequeathed to 

 us by the soil and climate of the region we inhabit. Or, if any cliange 

 in this regard is to happen in the future, it will take place so gradually 



