STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 127 



AVier — It is the most promising pistillate variety in northern Illi- 

 nois. 



Column — It deserves trial. It is the most productive next to 

 Wilson. Carried "for trial." 



Dr. Hull — I move that the Missouri members be invited to vote 

 with us in making up the lists. Carried. 



McAvoys Extra Red. — McWhorter — I move it be recommended 

 " for trial," in northern Illinois. Carried. 



Dr. Geo. Vasey of Rich view, read an essay on 



TREES. 



A tree is one of nature's grandest efforts. No matter whether it be the lowly thorn, 



the stately oak, or the towering pine — there is in eaeh variety something to be admired. 



Look at the tree rising from the ground with a linn, dense trunk, spreading out its 



strong arms, dividing and subdividing into numerous branches until they expand into 



the diversified foliage, burst forth into flowers, and culminate in fruit. 



What a wonderful life is in the tree. Not a life of sensation or volition, but a life of 

 silent action and change. Some of the most wonderful operations of nature arc there 

 having development. The air is loaded with the deadly exhalations which arc continu- 

 ally being thrown off by the respiration of men and animals, and had not nature pro- 

 vided a means of relief, these accumulated poisons would at length put a period to ail 

 animal existence. 



But, here stands the tree with its expanded surface of leaves, every one of which opens 

 a thousand doors to welcome in the polluted air, that it may extract therefrom the ma- 

 terial to build up its own fabric. 



What pleasing associations are connected with the trees with which we have been 

 familiar I How like old friends they appear around our dwellings, stand like sentinels in 

 our stnct>, display their excellence in our orchards, and relieve our weariness, or drive 

 away our care in the pleasant grove, or the quiet forest. 



We love them foi their strength, for their beauty, for their grateful shade, for their 

 protection from the rude blasts of winter, and for their usefulness. 



Gentlemen of the Horticultural Society, your efforts and labors among the people to 

 induce an appreciation of the value of trees, and to extend their cultivation for the var- 

 ious purposes of ornamentation, for hedges and shelter, for fruit and for timber — these 

 labors will not be in vain. 



There ;u-e many who in a tree, sec only a mass of fuel, or a quantity of lumber, and who 

 cut down tin' mosl beautiful groves with a remorseless hand. How thoughtlessly we 

 look upon many »f the common objects of nature, and fail to see in them, wonders that 

 might excite the admiration of an angel ! 



Probably much of the apathy and inUitferenee of our people in regard to tree culture 

 is due to an important neglect in the education of youth. The Love of flowers and 

 trees is a natural sentiment, but it is one of those sentiments which will not readily 



