93 



lates not only to eastern Canada ])iit to tlit- commerce of this entire 

 continent." 



(Signed) Robert T. Morris. 

 J. F. Jones 

 Z. H. Ellis. 

 The President: The secretary will accordingly transmit this mes- 

 sage to tlie Canadian Government. 



NOTES BY PROFESSOR A. S. COLBY 

 Purdue University, Illinois 



Friends: I believe an aj^ologj- is due you. I was away on my 

 vacation at the time the invitation came to me to make an address at 

 this meeting and I have come here without one. But I shall be glad 

 to give you some sort of an idea of the past, jiresent and future of nut 

 culture in Illinois. 



I became activelv interested in nut arowino- about a year aao. Our 

 work started partly in response to public demand. We have been 

 receiving an increasing number of letters of inquiry from people in- 

 terested in the subject but who know little about it. We are attempting 

 to secure such information as will be of value regarding the best species 

 and varieties of nuts to plant, where to plant them, and how to care for 

 them. There are a number of members of the N. N. G. A. in Illinois 

 and they are very kindly helping me in this work. The Illinois State 

 Horticultural Society, founded in 18.56. has also been interested to 

 some extent in nut growing. 



Illinois has had three grand old men in the nut industry, Mr. 

 George W. Endicott of Villa Ridge, Mr. E. A. Riehl of Alton, and Mr, 

 Benjamin Buckman of Farmingdale. Mr. Riehl is eighty-seven years 

 young now and is the only one of the three men living. 



Mr. Endicott was interested, not only in the commercial side of hor- 

 ticultuore but was a pioneer in scientific work. He originated the Endi- 

 cott plum and other valuable fruits and. since he was interested in 

 plant improvement, naturally turned to hybridization of the chestnut, 

 a tree which grows readily in southern Illinois. In 1899 he crossed 

 the Japanese chestnut (Castanea japonica) with pollen from the Amer- 

 ican Sweet (C. americana). He must have had some difficulty in cross- 



