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THE ILLINOIS FARMER. 



u 



this neighborhood, of whom he had purchas- 

 ed some choice peach trees, advised the 

 writer, in transplanting the same, not to cut 

 off the branches as injurious to the irees. 

 This advice was strictly followed, and the 

 trees grew most admirably, some bearing 

 fine fruit the same year. 



The writer planted some prunes which he 

 procured from Mr. Schmidt, of Winesburg, 

 Holmes county, Ohio, who has done a great 

 deal in propagating this luscious fruit 

 through the greater part of Ohio and Wes- 

 tern Pennsylvania. The grafted or budded 

 prune degenerates, and is not so highly val- 

 ued as that raised by the seed of the shoot. 



These observations are corroborated by 

 those of the economists of Beaver county, 

 Pennsylvania, who imported the genuine 

 scions of the prune and grafted them on 

 plums. 



Mr. PfeifFer, of Indiana, Pennsylvania, 

 who raised prune trees |n large numbers, and 

 sold them at exorbitant prices, some as 

 high as $5 and $10, and who had some of 

 the fruit at the Pennsylvania State Agricul- 

 tural FaT, he'd at Pittsburgh, which sold 

 readily at 50 cents a quart. 



Mr. vSchraidt's prunes are of a like kind 

 and quality, the writer having eaten at his 

 house, a few years since, seme of the most 

 delicate and highly flavored fruit he had 

 ever tasted. 



-<••- 



State Hortieultnral Society. 



Pursuant to a call, by a Committee appointed 

 for the purpose, at the last State Pair at Alton, 

 a large and respectable meeting of the Nursery- 

 men and fruit-gwwers of Illinois met, in conven- 

 tion at Decatur, on the 17th instant, for the pur- 

 pose of organizing a State Horticultural Socic- 

 ty. 



On motion of Hon. M. L. Dunlap, the meeting 

 was called to order by appointing Hon. D. J. Ba- 

 ker, of Alton, chairman, and C. R. Overman, 

 Esq., of Bloomirgton, secretary. v^: ' 



The chairman, in an appropriate and happy 

 address presented the objects of the meeting. 



On motion of Dr. Hull, the chair appointed a 

 committee of five, consisting of Dr. Hull, Mr. 

 Ellsworth, Mr. Dunlap, Mr. James B. Starr, and 

 Dr. H. C. Johns to draft a constitution and by 

 laws for the Society. 



On motion of Dr. Long, a committee of three, 

 consisting of Mr. Atwood, Mr. Shaw, and Mr. 

 Galusha, was appointed to prepare business for 

 the action of the convention. 



During the absence of the committees, the time 

 was occupied chitfly in discussing the merits of 



various fruits. The committee to dra't the con- 

 stitution and by laws returned and niadft thrir 

 report, which was received, and thereupon the 

 conveation adjourned till 2 o'clock in the after- 

 noon, at which hour the convention assembled, 

 when the constitution and by laws reported, 

 were diseusred insectiiins.and after maklaj^socae 

 modifications, were adopted. , ' v" «:■-■# 



Thereupon, the State Horticultural Society 

 was organized by the election of Dr. E. S. Hull, 

 President, and James E. Btarr, Secretary, and 



, Assistant Secretary, Dr. B. F. Long, 



Trpasurer. Nine Vice Presid. nta were elected 

 — one for each congressional district of the 

 S tate. 



In pursuance of the report of the committee 

 to prepare business for the action of tlie Society, 

 the President, Dr. E S. Huil,M. L Dunlnp and 

 David J. Baker, were appointed a commiHie to 

 prepare and present to tlie General Assembly of 

 the State at iheir next session a petition of the 

 Society for ihe grant of a charter of incorpora- 

 tion and at) appropriation from the State Treas- 

 ury for promoting the interests of the Society. 



To the samis committee was also charged the 

 duty of preparing and pubiisliif)g a manfesto to 

 the public, settitig forth the importance of tlie 

 subjects in which the Society is engaged and the 

 great interests both pecuniary and others involv- 

 ed therein and the joint claim of the Society up-* 

 on the fostering care of the S tate and the pat- 

 ronage and encouragement of the public. 

 ,0, 



Curious Facts of \atural History. 



A single female house fly produces in one 

 season 20,080,320. _ 



Some female spiders produce nearly 2 000 

 eggs. 



The Atlantic Ocean is estimated at three 

 miles, and the Pacific at fou? miles deep. 



A swarm of bees contains from 10,000 to 

 20,000 in a natural state, and from 30,000 to 

 40,000 in a hive. 



The bones of birds are hollow and filled with 

 air instead of marrow. 



A cow eats 100 lbs. of green food every 24 

 hours, and yields five quarts, or 10 pounds of 

 milk. 



Two thousand nine hundred silk worms pro- 

 duce one pound of silk; but it would require 

 27,000 spiders, all females, to produce one 

 pound of web. 



Captain Beaufort saw near Smyrna, in 1841, 

 a cloud of locusts forty-six miles long and 300 

 yards deep, containing, as he calculated, 169 

 billions. 



Lewenhoeek reckoned 17,000 divisions in the 

 cornea (outer coat of the eye) of a butterfly, 

 each one of which, he thought, possessed a 

 crystalline lens. Spiders, etc, are similarly 

 provided for. 



