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242 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



ized at Freeport last year, and my disappointment is indeed great, but we cannot control 

 our movements. Since leaving; my interesting class at Champaign, I have been engaged 

 at the bedside of my aged mother, endeavoring to smooth her pillow, at the close of a 

 long: and useful life. 



Hence, my dear friend, you must be so kind as to excuse my neglect of your request 

 to prepare you a paper for this meeting. I could not do anything that wouid be worthy 

 of the occasion in the serious form of a written communication. 



Present me most amiably and respectfully to my kind friends, your excellent associates ; 

 may you continue the good work you have begun, until every neighborhood, if not 

 every farm, in your beautiful country may blossom and bear fruit abundantly as the 

 result of your worthy labors. Believe me truly your friend, 



WARDER. 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON ARBORICULTURE. 



By Henry H. McAfee. 



In making this first report on Arboriculture in Northern Illinois we feel much 

 embarassment. 



The subject is so vast in its interests, — embracing questions of ornament and decora- 

 tion, of comfort and health, of shelter and protection, and of economy and profit, — 

 that it seems only possible to do it justice by the employment of the very best talent 

 of the land in long protracted research and experiment. 



Of course, a pen wielded by a hand of necessity, tasked by daily labor, and guided by 

 a mind engrossed with the cares of business, is hardly the proper instrument to inform 

 or educate our citizens in this great and growing productive industry. 



But ever as we progress in social science, we come more fully to appreciate the bearings 

 and influences of the productive arts upon the aggregate of human happiness ; and in 

 consequence, we see more plainly the urgent need of information upon this and kindred 

 subjects. 



If our social status was that of the nomads of the desert or Selena, or even many 

 grades in advance of that, we might still feel no want of arboriculture ; but, located in 

 a zone of rigorous changeableness, and being a people of development and progress, 

 tree-planting and culture has become one of our most imperative needs. 



Thus the industries are born of civilization, and with its advancement new calls for 

 knowledge and action are continually arising. 



The increasing interest felt everywhere in tree production is a hopeful sign of social 

 progress, bound to lead to material prosperity, while its existence is a standing demand 

 upon every person at all capable of giving instruction, to yield up his quota to the 

 general fund of knowledge, that all may benefit thereby. 



A new era is approaching — the era of Foresty. Art is about to take hold where 

 nature left off, and accomplish a grand and benificent work to clothe the naked prairies. 



We have to regret that we have not enjoyed better facilities to collect needed infor- 

 mation bearing upon our work. As, for instance, touching the natural timber supply, 

 its relative increase or decrease in different localities, as also the extent of artificial 

 growths. These, the statistical brandies of the subject, cannot be fairly treated without 

 reliable information from every part of the field embraced within the limits of our 

 society. Perhaps the most feasible plan to obtain such information might be to corres- 



