April and May 



THE POMOLOGIST. 



51 



moved that thename of this plum, which is known 

 on the society's books as the " Townsend Plum," 

 be changed to " Hinkley " 



Mr. McAfee moved an amendment that a com* 

 mittee of three be appointed to investigate ad in- 

 terim, the different varieties of the " Chickasaw " 

 plum, and the origin of the same, and report at 

 the next meeting of the society. 



The motion, as amended, was adopted. 



A committee of three was also appointed to pre. 



pare a plum list for the future action of the 



society. 

 Upon the calling of the 



CHERRY LIST 



a good deal of discussion ensued in reference to 

 the different varieties. The following list was 

 adopted — Early Richmond, Late Kentish. 



Mr. B. H. Skinner then delivered an essay on 

 the Russian apple. He had deemed it necessary 

 to procure a hardy apple for the northern portion 

 of Illinois, and had sent to Russia for varieties, 

 some coming from the 62d degree of North lati- 

 tude. He thought that the Duchess of Odenburg 

 a good type of the Russian apple. These apples 

 were claimed to be coarse in quality. This he 

 admitted as true, but thought that they should 

 not be discarded on that account if they 

 would meet all the requirements of our changea- 

 able climate. Mr. Skinner proposed to donate 

 scions of all his Russian varieties to all members 

 of the society. A vote of thanks was extended to 

 Mr. S. for his donation, and his list ordered 

 printed. 



Suel Foster made extended remarks on horti- 

 culture, the substance of which is heretofore 



given. 

 Adjourned until 1^ p. m. 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 



Mr. Piatt, of Chicago, exhibited some very fine 

 California fruit, amongst others the Pound pear, 

 and the Nickajack apple. This latter is a beau- 

 tiful apple, and Mr. P. said he had never seen a 

 single defect in this variety. He thought that 

 the Californians could not successfully compete 

 with us, by sending either apples or pears to this 

 market neither of which was so delicately flavored 

 as our own fruit. The freights were too high, it 

 costing 7i cents per pound. Grapes were sent 

 from there that were very far superior to any that 

 we could grow here, and consequently were in de- 

 mand. 



Mr. Budd, of Iowa, read an essay on the sub- 

 ject of grafting the pear on the white thorn. He 

 thought that failure heretofore had resulted from 

 mistaking the common thorn for the white thorn. 

 Seedling thorn plants should be used, to obtain 

 which the seeds were mixed with meal and fed 

 to cattle, and the droppings planted, and in the 

 following spring the seeds will germinate, whereas 

 by natural planting it reqairos two years. Dr. 

 Hull thought that a weak preparation »f sulphuric 

 acid would promote early germination, but 

 thought that only pear seedlings should be used 

 for grafting, and after some discussion and debate 

 a resolution recommending the pear seedling up 

 on which to graft the pear, was adopted. 



THE ELECTION OF OFFICERS 



resulted as follows : President, Samuel Edwards ; 

 Vice-Presidents, D. C. Schofield, J. B. Bubach, 

 Lewis Ellsworth, Dr. Mygatt, andEdgar Sanders; 

 Corresponding Secretary, D. Wilmot Scott; Re- 

 cording Secretaries, Charles Andrews, and H. D. 

 Emery; Treasurer, E. H. Skinner; members of 

 Executive Committee, J. W. Cochran, S. Ed- 

 wards, and James G. Soulard. 



A very finely written poem by T. Hempstead, 

 of Fairbury, entitled *' The Ideal Prairie Home," 

 was read by Samuel Edwards, amidst frequent ap- 

 plause. 



The list of ornamental trees was left unchanged 



Judge Knapp, of Wisconsin, said he had known 

 oases of the plum being protected from the circu- 

 lio by stable manure ; others denied that it had 

 any eflacacy whatever. 



Dr. Henry Skinner read an essay on entomolo- 

 gy and its study, after which, on motion of E. H 

 Skinner, the seciety passed a resolution request- 

 ing Gov. Palmer to appoint Dr. Skinner State 

 Entomologist to fill the vacancy caused by the 

 death of B. D. Walsh, A. M. 



A LIGNARICM 



centaininglSO varieties of native trees was pro- 

 duced by H. H McAfee, who read an especially 

 pleasing and interesting essay on the value of tree 

 planting, and its effect on rainfalls. He thought 

 that in order to obtain a proper climate at least 

 one-tenth of the area should ^be covered with 

 timber. 



EVENING SESSION. 



Dr. Warder addressed the society on the sub- 

 ject of shelter beltsand tree planting, after which 

 E.G. Schofield offered the following resolution, 

 which was adopted : 



Whereas, The trustees of the Industrial Uni- 

 versity have adopted a plan for a plantation of 

 useful forest trees, embracing some thirty specie2 

 and to cover some seventy acres, therefore, 



Reso/vedj That we trust that the plan will be 

 carried out at as early a day as possible, in order 

 to give the farmers of the State practical lessons 

 in tree planting. 



THIRD DAT. 



HORNING SESSION. 



A general discussion on *' the agencies operating 

 injuriously to successful fruit culture," was the 

 first thing in order, and as every one had some- 

 thing to say on this subject, three minutes were 

 allowed each sperker. After this discussion Mr. 

 McAfee made 



A PRESENTATION 



of his Lignarium to Dr. Warder. This fine gift 



was received by the Doctor on condition that he 

 could pass it over to to the Industrial University. 



Announcements having b^en made of the meet- 

 ings of the Central Illinois Horticultural Society 

 and the Wisconsin Horticultural Society, Mr. 

 Shephard offered the following : 



Whereas, By an act of Congress, a fund for the 

 endowment of institutions in each State, has been 

 granted for teaching as its leading object, those 

 sciences relating to agriculture and the mechanie 

 arts, without excluding other scientific and classi 

 cal studies, and including military tactics, for the 

 advancement and elevation of the laboring classes, 

 and, 



Whereas, In our State Institution, organized 

 under and in accordance with the provisions of 

 said endowment, the trustees do, by their pub- 

 lished circulars, give each student the right to 

 decide the course of study to be pursued, irres- 

 pective of the declared design of the endowment, 

 therefore, 



Resofved, As the sense of this society, that any 

 and all teaching in said institution that super- 

 cedes or comes in competition with the declared 

 leading design of such grant should be ruled con- 

 traband, and be disallowed at all times in such 

 school. 



Resolved, Jurthery As the sense of this society, 

 that it is imperatively necessary for the preserva 

 tion of the funds for the leading design of the 

 grant that the charter of our State Institution 

 should be so amended as to confine its teaching to 

 agriculture and the mechanic arts, until the pu- 

 pil has taken a full course in them, and then, if 

 so desiring, may have such classical and literary 

 instructions as the institution may be able to af- 

 ford. 



Reso/ved, furtktr. That the exclusion of the 

 female sex from a full participation in the ad- 

 vantage of such education in our agricultural 

 schools, as they should be able to give, is a fla- 

 grant wrong to both male and female, and ought 

 not to be tolerated. 



Resolved^ That this society earnestly ask a 

 representative convention from all the county 

 societies, agricultural, mechanical, and horticul- 

 tural, to take into consideration the present state 

 and future prospects of our Industrial Univer- 

 sity, ond make such indication of their wishes aa 

 will be a sure guide in attempting their reforma- 

 tion. 



Mr. Shephard, in support of his resolutions, 

 thought that farmer's sons and daughters should 

 be educated for the new order and condition of 

 things, and that farmers should know something 

 of chemistry, geology of soils, of botany, and ev- 

 erything that will aid him in becoming a better 

 farmer. 



Dr, Warder and President Edwards having spo- 

 ken in favor of the motion, and in reference to the 

 Institution, the motion was unanimously adopted. 



Prof Shaw, of Mt. Carroll, in a lecture entitled 

 " Breath of the Ocean upon the Land," gave an 

 interesting account of the effect that the ocean 

 has upon trees and plants, influencing and affect- 

 ing the atmosphere from which is derived so great 

 a part of the plant food, and nourishing their 

 vigorous and healthy growth- He thought that 

 man could modify the climate to a great extent by 

 culture and tree planting. Trees and forests 

 would absorb the plant food that otherwise would 

 be borne away on the wind and lost, and showed 

 how waste and desolate the rich lands of Asia had 

 become by the removal of its great forests. 



Mr. Shearman had just returned from Nebraska 

 and displayed apples of the Pennock, Ben Davis, 

 Fall Pippin, and Tulpehocken varieties, which 

 were sent by the President of the Nebraska State 

 Horticultural Society, a greeting to this society 

 of a sister State. 



A committee consisting of S. D. Davis, Lewis 

 iillsworth, Smily Shephard, Arthur Bryant, and 

 Prof. J E. Turner, were appointed to call a con- 

 vention at some suitable time and place, to take 

 measures to investigate the subject of industrial 

 education as relating to the Industrial University. 



After the passage of the usual resolutions the 



society adjourned. 



PoMo, DixoTiy Illinois. 



The forests are dying out in certain parts of 

 Virginia. The chestnut trees have already sub- 

 mitted to some deleterious agency, and their 

 growth is nearly exhausted, and this year the 

 oak, and in fact all the trees of the forest in 

 certain sections, are dying. No explanation of 

 this disastrous visitation has yet been given. 



A correspondent of the Westerti Rural sent 

 1,993 pounds of sunflower seed to an oil mill and 

 had returned to him 212 pounds of oil and 1,781 

 pounds of oil cake. The oil he finds a sup«rior 

 lubricator and thinks it may be valuable for 

 other purposes. 



