134 



THE POMOLOGIST. 



October 



Horticultural Address 

 Delwered before t/ie Iowa EdDierti Ilorticultural 

 Society, at its First Annual Meeting, at 

 Iowa '^ity. 



BY SUBL FOSTER, PRESIDENT. 



We Lave met together to-day to inaugu- 

 rate the Iowa Eastern Horticultural Society, 

 under very favorable circumstances. Let us 

 give God the praise, who created the flowers, 

 the trees with their life ard action, and green 

 leaf, flower, fruit and seed ; all of which, 

 when wrought out, was a miracle of iufiuite 

 wisdom. 



We have met to-day upon ground where 

 but thirty-four years ago, when the autlior 

 of this address first set foot upon this soil, 

 the wild Indian had not lift, and the plow 

 had not turned the prairie sod, nor had any 

 of these counties a beginniug, nor a name, 

 nor even the State of Iowa a name. I see 

 before me some of the early pioneers of 

 these fine and populous counties and cities, 

 who endured the hardsliips and privations 

 of first settlers, who are deserving the boun- 

 ties which this soil and climate yields. All 

 we have to do is to plant and cultivate, and 

 fight the insects, and sit under our own vine 

 and apple tree, and eat of the ricli and boun- 

 tiful fruit. More than thirty years have 

 passed, and what a change has been wrought 

 in this wilderness. More than one milhon 

 of people in this new State, with city and 

 county, agriculture, commerce and mauufac- 

 turies, orchards, vineyards and gardens, 

 teeming with the products and wealth of our 

 older States which had beeu settled a hun- 

 dred years before this. These things are 

 wonderful to conteiuplate. 



We have met together to council and dis- 

 cuss the subject of fruit raising, of flowers 

 aud ornamental trees, of forest culture and 

 hedging. Our work is difficult and impor- 

 tant. Its importance is far greater than the 

 public place upon it ; its benefits to our 

 country are far greater than the public esti- 

 mate it. Hence, our society is uot only for 

 our Individual benefit, but to assist in direct- 

 ing public attention to a greater aud more 

 thorough work in this neglected branch of 

 our iudustrj'. If we can induce a few more 

 fruit trees to be planted, and properly taken 

 care of, a few more flowers in the garden and 

 front yard, aud the girls to go out and learn 

 to cultivate them tastefully and well, they 

 will add health, long life and useful knowl- 

 edge to their parlor accomplishments. If 

 we can induce the farmers to plant a few 

 more shade aud forest trees, we shall add 

 beauty and wealth to the countrj', aud :uod- 

 ify the climate. Show me a home without 

 fruits, flowers aud trees, and I will show you 

 a family uot of the first class ; nor will such 

 a farm, or home be of high value iu market. 

 Although money invested in good stock of 

 animals will always pay a liberal per cent, 

 it will rarely net as much cash, as the same 

 amount invested ':n fruits and trees with the 

 same good judgment and care, to be realized in 

 the market value of the place, and a four fold 

 value for that homestead to be kept out of 

 market ; — and again I say, homestead to be 

 kept out of market. Plants fruits, flowers, 

 and trees, the beauty and attraction of the 

 homestead, the family attachment for our 

 children, to stand as lasting monuments of 

 refined taste. 



Our fruits are of great variety, and each 

 kind has its great variations. Hence, we 

 have a wide field to select from. I have no 

 doubt that some varieties of apples, which 

 have been pretty generally planted iu this 

 section of the country, will not net one 

 tenth as much as others. The same is true 

 of all our fruits. Therefore the necessity of 

 our meeting together to give each others 

 experience and gather a valuable stock of 

 iuformatiou not otherwise to be obtained. 

 Each season diflers from any former one. 



The past nine months has been very extra- 

 ordinary, e.xtremely disastnras and discour- 

 aging. Whilst we found no severity of 

 season as regards the comfort of animal life, 

 contrary to the expectation of the inexperi- 

 enced iu horticulture we found it very severe 

 on many varieties of trees. 



A letter from T. McWhnrter, of Illinois, 

 says : " Trees that were sold will one-third 

 die. Discouraging for nurserymen." 



J. C. Raymond, of Council Blufl^s, writes : 

 "Fruit crop very poor, except raspberries 

 and strawberries. The past two mouths has 

 been terrible on trees and fruits. Hundreds 

 of White Maple, and even Cottonwood have 

 been killed to tlie ground, even where they 

 were six to twelve feet high. Pears came 

 through best of anything. That is good 

 news, isn't it ? " 



I will here remark that mv young pear 

 trees sufi'ered about as much as" the apple. 



Mr. Nelson, of Wilmington, Illinois, 

 writes : " Nursery stufl' damaged badly." 



The Osage Hedge, one and two years old, 

 unless well protected, were very generally 

 killed. And yet the Peach tree, which has 

 heretofore been classed tendere.st of them 

 all, came through with flying colors this 

 Spring, and everywhere where there are 

 trees that delicious fruit appears. How is 

 this, that whilst the apple and peach bloomed 

 equally full, the apple failed but the peach 

 did not ? 



I am of the opinion that the severe and 

 sudden freeze iu October was the cause of 

 the mischief; the peach having finished its 

 simuuer growth, was better prepared for 

 winter freezing. Others may have more 

 rational reasons to give than" this, if so we 

 want them. 



Evergreens suffered equally with deciduous 

 trees. 1 will name them iu the order in 

 which they suflfered most : Red Cedar, White 

 Cedar, and Hemlock. 



The Pine, Spruces, and Fir, .some of the 

 young stock was damaged a very little. I 

 am happy to inform you that my "European 

 Larch came through equal to the best ol' 

 hardy trees. I had them two years old, set 

 the Spring of 1869 -tiat rainy season we 

 were scraping the weeds away from them all 

 summer, aiid iu many cases left the root.- 

 quite exposed, and what did not dry out did 

 :.ot freeze to death ! so snuill that we could 

 scarcely find the rows. I have them five years 

 old, four to seven feet high. This is the 

 coming tree for timber, to be put to more 

 valuable uses than any other tree. Set a 

 single row, and it will grow very branching 

 for wind breaks, surpassed only by ever- 

 greens. It is cheap, easy of transplanting if 

 done early, and a fast grower. Let every 

 farmer plant European Larch. 



Since writing the above I have a report 

 from the Illinois Industrial University, in 

 which the committee on Horticulture says: 

 " The forests of Michigan, Wisconsin, and 

 Minnesota, are rapidly disappearing, and 

 yet, many of the new demands for timber 

 have not yet been met, nor is the old .supply 

 likely to hold out. As a matter of economy 

 in freights, if not in the superior quality of 

 second growth timber, it is an object tog"row 

 them at home. 



" Timber for railroad ties, culverts, cars, 

 roadways aud buildings of every kind and 

 description, fences, vineyard stakes, hop 

 poles stancheons lor coal banks, soft wood 

 for berry boxes, crates and staves; hoop 

 poles, carriage and wagon material, agricul- 

 tural implements, and the mnltitWrm "wants 

 of the age make up a demand of most sur- 

 prising magnitude that will add to our ru 

 ral industry, an importance that the most 

 sanguine have not yet dreamed of." The 

 first named tree forthtse uses is thcEurope- 



na Larch. -■ ^' " 



Very few of us comprehend the impor- 

 tance of timber planting. We have good 



evidence that if one-eight to one-fourth of 

 every farm was planted to timber, the rest of 

 the 'larm, if put in grain, would produce 

 more than the whole of it without any tim- 

 ber for wind breaks. Wood is an article of 

 every day use, second only to our food aud 

 clothing. 



There is a vast difference in the value of 

 the variety of trees to plaut — for fuel wood 

 should be sold by the ton when fully dry ; 

 that containing rosin, as the evergreen and 

 larch would be worth most by the ton. 



For some years i have been advising to 

 plantfor timber close together, and Judge 

 Whiting's experience in Mononi county, is 

 for planting 2}^ by 4 feet, and then cut 

 from time to time as they grow. The time 

 is coming when it will be considered bad 

 economy to depend on natural growth wood 

 for our supply. We do not comprehend the 

 difference between a well planted and well 

 cultivated grove of timber, two by four feet 

 apart, or four by five of the right varieties, 

 compared with a natural grove of scrub- 

 oak, hickory, elm, cotton-wood, etc., growing 

 up hilter skilter, low tops, crooked and 

 forked. John J. Thomas estimates that down 

 East, on their hilly, rocky lands, a native 

 grove will yield twenty cords of wood in 

 twenty years, which is about the right length 

 ot time to cut the wood-land over and let it 

 grow up again. We may reasonably calcu- 

 late that an acre of thrifty growing timber, 

 such as larch, walnut or soft maple, will pro- 

 duce, when rightly planted in rich soil, four 

 times twenty cords iu twenty years. And 

 sixteen years out of the twenty, this 

 timber needs no care whatever except to 

 keep the cattle out until the trees are out of 

 their reach. 



We have such a variety of fruits, that we 

 are supplied the whole year around: the 

 strawberry coming the 1st of June, and the 

 apple lasting uutil that time. Let every 

 farmer, and all who have a garden, plant 

 enough of each variety for an abundant sup- 

 ply for the fiimily. The strawberry, rasp- 

 berry, lilackberry and grape, following each 

 other in close succession. Our girls ought 

 to learn how to cultivate flowers and fruits, 

 to take more out door exercise for profit and 

 for health, for plea.sure and useful occupa- 

 tion of time. While on this subject perhaps 

 it will ni>t be out of place for me to refer to 

 our Agricultural College. There are quite a 

 number of young ladies at that institution, 

 for the purpose of acquiring a useful educa- 

 tion, and among other things, thej' are study- 

 ing the science of Horticulture, and learning 

 the practice in the garden and ornmeantal 

 grounds. 



Some will say — let their parents teach 

 them industrj' at home, I would say — let not 

 their teachers unlearn anj^ good thing they 

 have larned at home, iu their absence from 

 that home. Make a new home for them, and 

 have them live as they should live at home. 

 Education— yi\\aX is it ? and what ought it 

 to be ? A learned President of one of our 

 literary colleges said: "Education hereto- 

 fore consisted in words, the derivation of 

 words, and the arranging them into senten- 

 ces — words, the mere shadow and represen- 

 tative of things, with which men are no 

 longer satisfied, but want to learn of the 

 things themselves." This is the sum and 

 substance of the important reform we sought, 

 when T?e petitioned Congress to help us to 

 start our Agricultural Colleges, and after 

 four years deliberation, they responded most 

 nobly to our petitions. 



EducJtion—yihAt is it? If a word mis- 

 spelled, a wrong punctuation, a capital letter 

 misplaced, such an one is by the learned 

 leaders of society considered an ignoramus. 

 Those who- thus set in judgment over the 

 character and destinies of their brothers and 

 sisters, themselves do not know one variety 

 of wood from another, one tree from auoth- 



