so 



THE POMOLOGIST. 



April and May 



Reported for the Western Pomologist. 

 Report of the 3d. Annual Meeting of the 

 Northern Illinois Horticultural Society. 



HELD AT DIXON, JANUARY 25, 26, & 37, 1870. 



FIRST DAY — MONDAY SKSSION. 



Tuesday, January 26th.— The third annual 

 meeting of the Illinois Ilorticultural Society com- 

 menced its session in this city to-day. President 

 Cochran being dangerously ill, Vice-President A. 

 Bryant Jr., is the presiding officer. The session 

 having been opened by prayer by the Rev. Mr. 

 Sickels, Mhj. Cheney, of Dixon, welcomed the 

 members of the society to the city, and extended 

 to them its hospitality. The Vice-President res- 

 ponded in an appropriate speech, after which he 

 delivered the annual address, announcing the 

 severe illness of President Cochran, of whom he 

 spoke in highly complimentary terms. In speak- 

 ing of the objects of this society, he said that this 

 society should be gathering information for this 

 section of the State ; the varieties ot fruit suita- 

 ble for other localities were unfit for this part of 

 the State. He thought we could be successful in 

 fruit growing only by raising the seed in our own 

 soil. He favored planting forests over the exten- 

 sive prairies of Northern Illinois, and thought 

 geology should be carefully and closely studied in 

 connection with horticulture. The address was 

 listened to with marked attention, and the speak- 

 er's suggestions met the hearty approval of all 



the members. 



A committee of three were appointed to pre- 

 pare business for the society. 



THE REPORTS OP STANDING COMSIITTEES 



were then read. 



Mr. McWhorter, of the committee on geology, 

 made a report, referring mostly to the county of 

 Mercer, the soil of which, rich in calcareous matter, 

 was well adapted to fruit raising and grape grow- 

 ing. This report, although local in its nature, 

 was highly interesting. 



Mr. Robson, of Galena, of the committee on 

 ornithology, thought that ornithology should be 

 carefully studied by every one who would become 

 a successful horticulturist, and defended the 

 birds in general in an able and well written re- 

 port. 



Dr; Hill, State horticulturist, stated it as 



his experience that the Oriole did not destroy 

 the curculio as asserted by Mr. Robsou, and claim- 

 ed that this bird marred both the grape and the 

 cherry by wetting its bill on them, and that it 

 not only would not eat caterpillars, but would 

 also eat the bugs that did eat caterpillars, and 

 took issue generally with Mr. R. on his assertion 

 that birds were the friends of man, and especially 

 the horticulturist. 



Mr. McAfee, of committee on Botany, in an ex- 

 haustive report, argued that this study should be 

 popularized by doing away with its cumbrous 

 technicalities which were used to mask the real 

 meaning, and rendered it so dry and uninviting 



a study. 



Dr. Nygatt, of the committee on Entomology, 

 had no essay or speech prepared. He had studied 

 with considerable care both the white and brown 

 species of bark-louse. They hatched from 20th 

 of May to 10th of June according to the season. 

 He thought both varieties equally destructive, 

 but that neither were as much so now as a dozen 

 years ago. Since the hard winter of six or seven 

 years ago he had seen none in his orchard. The 

 lice hatched after the apple was formed, and he 

 had destroyed them by applying soft soap with a 

 common blacking brush, finding fully four-fifths 

 of them on the old growth of trees. 



Mr. Harris had used lye on his trees, but it de- 

 foliated the branches, and in the fall he had 

 again found lice an the trees. 



Dr. Mygatt said Mr. Harris had erred in not 

 waiting until the lice hatched. That they must 

 hatch after the apple had formed, as they were 

 found on the apple when it was the size of a pea. 

 If he had applied the lye then, he would have 

 destroyed them. He considered the brown va- 

 riety of little harm to the pear tree, but that the 

 white was very destructive. 



Mr. McAfee thought that brine would be bene- 

 ficial as a remedy against old bark-lice, as it 

 would jiiffuse through the animal membrane and 

 destroy it. He stated this as a thing it would be 

 well to experiment upon. 



Mr Robson thought these lice must be blown 

 from place to place, and in support of this suppo- 

 sition stated that during a high wind he had 

 spread a cioth forty feet from a tree, and in three 

 hours had found it covered with them. 



Session adjourned until 1:30 p. m. 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 



Charles Andrews of Marengo, and Wm. A, 

 Nourse, of Moline, were appointed recording Sec- 

 retaries. 



The report of the committee on fruit lists being 

 called for, Mr. Bryant, Sr., reyortcd that the 

 wine-sap was an unprofitable apple in Bureau 

 County. 



Mr. Scott, of Gelena, thought the Red June 

 should be taken from the list. He considered the 

 wine-sap a good variety, and the Soulardcrab ex- 

 cellent. He did not consider the latter a wild 

 crab, but that its parent was a common apple. 



Mr. Soulard had grown the Soulard crab for 

 three or four years, and thought its leaf resembled 

 the apple more than the wild crab. 



Mr McAfee thought the Soulard a hybrid. He 

 said it was impossible to prove that a young tree 

 was a hybrid, but gave a botanical explanation in 

 support of this presumption. 



Mr. Schoficld, chairman of the committee on 

 " Ornamental and Useful Tree Plantations," had 

 but recently learned that he had been appointed 

 on this committee, and did not come prepared to 

 give a full report. He considered all tree plant- 

 ations as both ornamental and useful, and recom- 

 mended a system of tree planting on every farm, 

 including one sixteenth of its extent, and thought 

 that the society should exert its influence to secure 

 both general and State legislation in furtherance 

 of this project. He thought that pine and larch 

 especially should be planted in all the public do- 

 main east of the rocky mountains, and also favor- 

 ed Mr. MediU's plan of transplanting, and deem- 

 ed it of the highest importance that the State 

 should extend its assistance to this object. 



The Secretary was instructed to forward a copy 

 of this report, eliminating that portion referring 

 to Mr. MediU's plan, together with such action as 

 this society might take on the subject, to the 

 State constitutional convention, and a committee 

 of five, consisting of Messrs. A. Bryant, Sr., Tyler 

 McWhorter, Lewis Ellswortb, Samuel Edwards, 

 and E. C. Schofield, were appointed to draft and 

 present resolutions to the convention, looking to- 

 ward the procurement of State aid in this impor- 

 tant matter. 



Mr. S. G. Minkler, of committee on orchards 

 and vineyards reported that those varieties of ap- 

 ples with largo leaf, and downy underneath, were 

 the most fruitful class the past year. The failure 

 of other varieties he attributed to the perforating 

 of the leaf by tne hopper. While the thick, 



downy leaved varieties easily resisted the at- 

 tacks of this insect, these thin leaved varieties 

 fell victims to its ravages. 



Mr. McAfee coincided with Mr. Minkler, and 

 said his observation had extended to the grape. 



Dr. Hull thought no tree on the list should be 

 discarded on account of the scab caused by lice. 

 They could be easily killed by throwing tobacco 

 water and soap upon the tree with a garden en- 

 gine. 



Mr. McAfee, of the committee on vegetable 

 physiology read an able and interesting report, 

 dwelling in connection with this subject, especi- 

 ally upon preservation of the roots of trees, and 

 the care they required in packing, claiming that 

 the roots should on no account be bent. 



On motion the reports of the several committees 

 were referred to the publishing committee. 



After considerable discussion on the subject of 

 revising the apple list, it was finally decided not 

 to make any revision of the list this year owing 

 to the past unfavorable season. 



Mr Edwards then read an essay on " timber 

 shelter for prairies. Mr E. deemed this a matter 

 of great importance, and recommended that every 

 farmer plant trees, especially trees of rapid growth 

 and that would be valuable when grown. White 

 willow, Norway pine, hemlock, white pine, and 

 others of the pine family he thought best to plant. 

 In planting, the plan he had adopted, and con- 

 sidered best, was to plant the deciduous trees on 

 the outside of the belt. 



Suel Foster, the veteran horticulturist of Iowa, 

 gave an interesting essay on horticulture. He 

 thought that the youth of both sexes should be 

 taught the general principles of horticulture, and 

 claimed that if girls were so taught, and were re- 

 quired to spend three hours in each day in the 

 garden receiving practical instruction in every- 

 thing relating to horticulture in all its branches' 

 that it would become so interesting, and at the 

 same time so useful, that they would desert their 

 pianos and their in-door ornaments for what would 

 and eventually must become a science and an art. 

 He spoke in genernl terms on the subject of tree 

 planting. 



EVENING SESSION. 



Capt. Beebe, of Galena, in a long and interest- 

 ing address, explained the manner of sprouting 

 buds and cuttings in green houses, by means of a 

 tank and lamp, and exhibited to the society the 

 manner in which the lamp was worked. 



Mr. Robson said that by this means fuschia cut- 

 tings were sprouted in two weeks, and verbenas 

 in three. 



Dr. Hull delivered an address on the growth of 

 trees, and the theory of sun-scald. 



Adjourned until 9 o'clock to morrow morning. 



Wednesday, January 26. 



MORNING SESSION. 



After prayer, by S. G. Minkler, the question of 

 the revision of the pear list was brought up, but 

 after some discussion it was decided to leave it 

 unchanged. 



In discussing the 



PLUM LIST 



a controversy of considerable length arose in re- 

 gard to what is known as the Townsend plum. 

 Mr. Robson, of Galena, gaveahistory of this plum, 

 claiming that a Mr. Hinkley disseminated this 

 tree over forty years age. He thought it was not 

 aseedling of the " Magnum Bonum, " but of the 

 "Chickasaw." That it was not identical with 

 the " Wild Goose," but of the same species He 



