STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 261 



To the Board of Trustees of the Illinois Industrial University : 



The Cominittee on Horticulture respectfully beg leave to report. 



Section seven of the Act of Incorporation, among other things, author- 

 izes the Board of Trustees to " establish and pro\iile for the management 

 of such model farms as may be required to teach, in the most tliorough 

 manner, such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and tiie 

 mechanic tu-ts." 



As a part of such model farm, and for the more perfect demon- 

 stration of that department of agriculture known as horticulture or 

 garden culture, we beg leave to make the following recommendations: 



The plat hereunto attached as a part of this report, marked A, exhibits 

 the ground plan of die grounds proposed to be occupied, and the sched- 

 ule shows how they niay be planted, and also contains the list of forest 

 trees recommended for trial. 



No extended argument is required at this time to pro\e the need of 

 teaching the cultivators of the soil the importance of forest tree planting, 

 of orcharding, and of other departments of gardening. 



In regard to the orchard proper, the most important feature that we 

 now recommend, is the procuring and planting of samples of all the 

 improved varieties of fruits for identification and for comparison — a sort 

 of fruit-tree museum of varieties, that will be at all times accessible for 

 reference. 



The management of the orchard, vineyard and garden will more 

 properly come under the care of the Professor of Horticulture, or head 

 gardener. But we would urge that the grounds reser\ ed for the orchard 

 be occupied for that purpose at as early a day as possible. The estimate 

 for the cost of trees will be found in the schedule, but that for labor and 

 other material are combined in the ground plan, and its proportion, to 

 some extent, must be left to the discretion of the person in charge of the 

 improvements. 



The great feature of these grounds, and what is of paramount impor- 

 tance, at this time, to the whole people of the State, is the planting of 

 forest trees for useful purposes. It is a new demand upon their industry 

 and upon their lands, from which they can not fail to reap the most valu- 

 able results. 



The new condition of things, created by railroads and improved agri- 

 cultural implements, presents new industries, both to the cultivators of the 

 soil and to the mechanic, in which they have a mutual interest. The 

 forests are rapidly disappearing, or at least those useful trees that have a 

 commercial value, and yet many of the new demands have not been met^ 

 nor is the old supply likely to hold out. But, if the forests of Michigan, 

 Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Indiana were adequate to the demand, as a 

 matter of economy in freights, if not in the superior quality of our second- 

 growth timber, especialy of the deciduous varieties, it is an object togrow 

 them at home, rather than to buy them. 



Timber for railroad ties, culverts, cars, roadways, and buildings, fenc- 

 ing, vineyard stakes, hop poles, stanchions for coal banks; softwood, like 



