1 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



Commonwealth, houses embowered in trees and climbing vines and flowering shrnbs, 

 shall be the rule and not the exception — greeting the traveler every where with visions 

 of sylvan beauty, truth and refinement. 



Another leading object of the Association was to teach the people what to plant; 

 for it was understood, at the very beginning of our Society, though perhaps not so 

 distinctly recognized then as now, that one of the most essential elements of success 

 in tree-planting, is the proper choice of varieties suited to the localities in which 

 they are to grow. On this subject, it may be said that we have arrived at a reasona- 

 ble approximation to correct knowledge, though it must be admitted that very much 

 is yet to be learned ; for when we speak of any particular fruit, as adapted to any 

 particular locality, we very often mean by "locality," as Mr. Bateman has expressed it, 

 not a district or a county, or even a township, but a spot of ground. We have made 

 such progress, however, that no sensible man will make the mistake of selecting for 

 an orchard, in one part of our State, varieties indiscriminately that have succeeded in 

 other portions, or in other States. To learn this much has cost thousands of dollars 

 in money, and a vast amount of disappointments. We may congratulate ourselves, 

 that hereafter, mistakes in this direction need be much less frequent, and greatly less 

 costly. 



But it must be apparent to all who have given attention to the discussions in Horti- 

 cultural Societies, for the past four years, or who have become otherwise familiar 

 with the thoughts of the growers of fruit generally, that the subjects I have been no- 

 ticing, are not the matters that most concern them now. The great questions that 

 press for solution, are not whether to plant, or what to plant, but how to protect what 

 has been already, or may be hereafter planted from the ravages of the countless hosts 

 of insect enemies, and the troops of insidious diseases that assail us on every hand, 

 and which seem to grow upon us as our orchards multiply. The tree-planter of ten 

 years ago, when he set a tree in his grounds, counted with hopeful enthusiasm, the 

 bushels of blushing fruit it would yield him in a given number of years ; now, his 

 enthusiasm moderated by experience, other elements enter into his calculation ot 

 future profits. If the tree he plants be an apple, he considers the chances of its per- 

 ishing by the rot of its roots, or yielding to the severities of the climate ; and, escaping 

 these, what proportion of its fruit, in each year of its productive life, may be spoiled 

 by the Codling Worm, or seamed and blotched and disfigured by the industrious family 

 of Snout Beetles. If he plants pears, he thinks of that terrible scourge, the Blight. 

 If he sets out a vineyard, his vision of grapes, " purple and gushing," is marred by an- 

 ticipations of mildew and rot. If the luscious peach be his favorite, his imagination 

 is burdened with winter freezes, spring frosts, and countless broods of Curculio. Ex- 

 perience has taught him that something more than enthusiasm is necessary to success 

 in fruit culture, and that at the best, and with unceasing labor, absolute success is 

 impossible. 



I make these remarks with no desire or purpose to discourage the planting of or- 

 chards. On the contrary, I would h^ive every owner of a rod of vacant ground de- 

 vote some portion of it to fruit-bearing trees and vines. But it cannot be denied that 

 many men, some of them with very little aptitude for the business, have been in- 

 duced to insist largely in the plantation of orchards by rose-colored representations, 

 of the certain and enormous profits to be derived from the planting of trees, and merely 

 allowing them to grow a certain number of years. 



