62 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



theory of Downing, although the distinction was clearly made by him-. Baton this 

 question of pruning I speak with great diffidence, because I have not seen, either in my 

 own orchard or the orchards of my neighbors, that result which seems so desirable. I 

 am compelled to say however, that I have not seen the system alluded to, thoroughly 

 and persistently carried out. 



I have said nothing upon many other points of practical application to the subject of 

 peach growing — nothing of the peach borer — the necessity and best method of fighting 

 him. Nothing of the arch enemy of the peach — the terror of all peach growers, the 

 Curculio. On the subject of this small, but destructive insect which engages more of the 

 attention of cultivators, and occasions more alarm than all other questions connected 

 with the production of this fruit, I have no information to add to the general stock. 

 It is gratifying to know that this subject is being made a special study by some of our 

 most competent men, and it is to be hoped that the intellectual power of man which has 

 been able to overcome so many obstacles to human improvement, will not succumb to 

 the power of this one little insect. But unless some new remedy be discovered, or the 

 old ones more effectually applied, the days of profitable peach growing in the West will 

 soon pass away, if it is not already past. 



REPORT OF AUDITING COMMITTEE. 



The Committee on Treasurer's Report presented the following : 



Bunker Hill, 111., Dec. 15th, 1868. 



To Hon. A. M. Brown, President Illinois Stale Horticultural Society : 



Sir:— The auditing committee have examined the Treasurer's Report as presented 

 this morning, with accompanying vouchers, and find it correct. 



SAMUEL EDWARDS, ) 



WM . P. PI KRSON, } Auditing Committee. 



G. W1LGUS, ) 



Burden Pullen, of Centralia, read the following: 

 ESSAY ON THE PEACH. 



In June last I received a letter from your Corresponding Secretary, conveying to me a 

 request from your Executive Committee that I furnish an " Essay on the Peach or 

 kindred subjects," to be read at this present meeting. In complying with this request 

 I have concluded that in calling upon me to furnish a paper upon this subject, your 

 Committee neither expected or desired other than a practical paper, something of my 

 own practice and experience, with results and conclusions arrived at — relating wholly 

 to orchard culture. I shall therefore confine myself to this branch of the subject, 

 referring - merely to one or two others, which I regard as being so intimately connected 

 with, and bearing so strongly upon it as to cause our success in this particular branch 

 of Horticulture, to depend very much upon their favorable solution. In passing over 

 much relating to the Peach, its origin, nativity, history in connection with its intro- 

 duction into this country, or whether or not it is indigenous to any part of our own 

 continent, as is claimed by some, while they might be both pleasant aud profitable, 

 we do not feel competent to do the subject justice, and must, therefore, refer them to 



