A BRIEF SUMMARY 



OF 



THE ADVANTAGES or ILLINOIS 



AS A FRfcllT GR0WIN6 STATE. 



I HE Executive Board of the Illinois State Horticultural 

 V Society, which had in charge the care and direction of 

 the Illinois exhibit of fruit at the World's Columbian Expo- 

 sition in Chicago, having a natural pride in the fertile soil, the 

 congenial climate, and the great variety of the horticultural 

 and vegetable productions of the State, and from actual per- 

 sonal knowledge of the capacity and capability of a further 

 development to an unlimited extent, offer the following state- 

 ments to the inquirer, not as an encyclopedia that contains all 

 that is known about fruit culture, or as an advertisement to 

 boom the cheap lands of some particular locality, but to give 

 information in general about the fruit-growing ability of the 

 State, its markets and advantages to anyone seeking a home 

 within its borders. 



The three attributes of success in fruit growing from a 

 practical standpoint are (a) good and accessible markets, (b) a 

 productive soil, and (c) a climate suited to the particular fruits to 

 be produced. To be sure, the amateur who seeks only to occupy 

 his time with a pleasant or agreeable occupation has no need 

 of a market, but in general those who plant trees do so for the 

 profit there is either to themselves or to their children, and to 

 this class we address ourselves. 



God first planted a garden and placed man in it to dress 

 it and keep it, with permission to eat of everything therein 

 contained, except of the fruit of one tree which common con. 

 sent, for some unexplained reason, supposes to have been a 

 seedling apple tree. The variety is, however, immaterial, but 

 we learn from the oldest and best possible authority that Adam 



