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42 First Annum, Report 



First — Balloted for President, resulted in the election of Mon. J. M. 

 Hanibaugh, of Sprinjj. 



Second — Balloting for five \'ice Presidents, resulted as follows : 



1st, Mrs. L. Harrison, of Peoria. 



2d, P.J. England, Fancy Prairie. 



3d, Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo. 



4th, C. P. Dadant, Hamilton. 



5th, S. N. Black, Clayton. 



Third — Balloting for Secretary resulted in the election of Jas. A. Stone, 

 Bradfordton . 



Fourth— Balloting for Treasurer resulted in the election of A. N. Draper, 

 Upper Alton . 



Paper by A. C. Hammond, Secretary Illinois State Horticultural Society, 

 Warsaw, as follows: 



BEES IN HORTICULTURE. 



"In the economy of nature it was ordered that the 'little busy bee' 

 should be an important factor in making fruit growing successful. Many a 

 man has planted and carefully cultivated, pruned and trained, but when he 

 looked for fruit 'found nothing but leaves' and has therefore concluded that 

 he is not a born horticulturist, or that this is not a fruit country, when a little 

 investigation would have shown him that the failure was caused by lack of 

 fertilization. The Wild Goose Plum and Crescent Strawberry are marked 

 illustrations of this truth. 



"Much can be done to overcome this difficulty by intermixing Staminate 

 and Pistilate varieties, so that on the wings of the wind the fertilizing pollen 

 will be carried from bloom to bloom. This is a wasteful method and ninety- 

 nine hundredths of it is lost, to the great disappointment of the planter. But 

 let a colony of bees be set down near the orchard or fruit garden and the 

 busy little workers will, while extracting honey from the blossoms, cover 

 their feet and legs with pollen, and when they go to the next blossom in 

 search of its hidden treasures, leave it clinging to the delicate organs, and 

 its influence will be seen in the larger crops of fruit. 



"It will therefore be readily seen that the apiary is a valuable addition 

 to the plant of the horticulturist, not only for the honey it may yield but as a 

 means of increasing the yield and quality of his fruit, (imperfect fertilization 

 often causes imperfect fruit) and therefore increases his profits. 



"On the other hand the orchard, vineyard and garden afTord excellent 

 pasturage during several weeks in the spring, and during the entire season, 

 from the first ripening strawberries through that of cherries, plums, peaches, 

 grapes, pears and apples, they gather up the exuding juices from specimens 

 that have been punctured by birds, grasshoppers and other insects. 



