STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETV. 239 



Apples, pears, peaches, quinces, cherries, grapes, gooseherries, cur- 

 rants, strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries, together witli esculent 

 vegetables of all kinds suited to our climate, are cultivated in great abun- 

 dance. We have the usual insect enemies to contend with, and the usual 

 helps from birds and cannibal insects, which said birds never fail to call 

 in autumn for iheir pay, and sometimes with the audacity of man, almost, 

 levy iieavy contributions, which we are not willing to yield, but which 

 are generally admitted to be just. 



Birds may live very well without the biped called inan^ but man 

 would soon be driven from his planetary hoiiie without birds. 



Very great injustice will be done by this report, unless special men- 

 tion is made of the increased interest manifested by the ladies in plants 

 and flowei's, and especially house plants. One would like to mention 

 tlie names of some of these converts to the true religion of horticulture, 

 and of their fiivorite plants; but space will not permit, and discrimina- 

 tion would be unjust, and therefore we must let them pass". Upon the 

 whole, '• Old Tazewell" is progressing rapidly in fruits and flowers; in 

 orchards and vineyards; in ornamental trees and shrubs; in the more 

 constant use of fruits, as an every-dav diet, and as a matter of course, in 

 the health and intelligence of her people. Finally, to the parent Society, 

 "The Horticultural Society of the State of Illinois," she sends a friendly 

 greeting, a hearty '• God bless you" and a most earnest desire for your 

 prosperity. 



Very respectfully submitted, 



Geo. W. MiNiER. 



OSAGE ORANGE HEDGES. 



BY JOHN TUNNELL, PLAINVIEW, IL^. 



I hope, at this late day, it will not be necessary to offer any arguments 

 in favor of Hedge Fences. It has not been many years since hedging with 

 the 0>>age Orange was an imtried experiment, and, when first introduced 

 into this country, it was taken hold of by farmers with a great deal of 

 caution. Some claimed that the hedge would " sprout up " from the roots, 

 and encroach upon the adjoining fichls, and finally become a plague that 

 could not be ea.Nily subdued. Others argued, that the cost of the cultiva- 

 tion and of pruning and disposing of the brush would be too great to 

 admit of its coming into general use, while still another large class chose 

 to use such fences as their fathers had used before them, without troub- 

 ling themselves for a better or a cheaper one. These objections do not 

 now exist. The country is full of evidence of the beauty and u.sefulness 

 of the Osage Orange hetlgc, and the only question necessary to discuss 

 is, "How can we grow the best hedge, in the shortest time, and at the 

 smallest cost.''" In giving my views on this matter, I hope I may be 

 indulged in giving the details of my practice and observation in hedging, 

 as it is often by the obsei"vance of these small considerations that we 

 .attain the vrreatest success. 



