18 



THE ILLINOIS I^^HMiEiEl. 



other portions of the Mississippi valley which 

 are iu more direct comumnic-tiou with the 

 vast volume of heated air, from the Gulf of 

 ■ Mexico that flows northward for so large a 

 portion of the year. Not that we regard 

 that portion less valuable, but that the same 

 rules of climate do not equally apply to both. 

 The soil also differs in many respects, and to 

 apply either the same rules of climate or of 

 culture to the whole prairie portion of the 

 northwest is simply absurd. When w6 can 

 convince our readers of this fact, so apparent 

 to the close observer, we shall have made a 

 long stride in that progress at which we are 

 aiming. Know thyself is a trite aphorism, 

 and know thy soil and the cycle of seasons 

 that control its value, is also of great im- 

 portance, for then by art he will so adapt 

 his culture that he will reap a rich reward 

 from their annual changes. What to us 

 may geem untoward seasons, are but the 

 throes of nature preparing for greater ben- 

 efits. In the temperate climates it is the 

 winter's frost that purifies the air and renders 

 innocuous the miasma that the heats of sum- 

 mer had gathered like a cloud above our 

 pathway; it also holds in check the insect 

 tribes that otherwise would eat out our sus- 

 tenance. At the south, the annual parching 

 up of the land by drouth and the sweeping 

 tornado perform the same offices. Winter, 

 therefore, has its values, and if heeded, can 

 be made one of the most pleasant portions of 

 the year. In fact, we could not well spare 

 winter from the calendar, not only for its 

 uses to the physical, but the moral world. 



ADDRESS 



DELIVERED BEFOUE THE 



SOUTHERN ILLINOIS POMOLOGICAL AND 

 HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 



BV HON. M. L. DUNI-AP, 



At the Second Annual Fair, held nt Tamaroa, HUnois, 



JJecemOer '20th, 1S09. 



Are you Iniurcd? 



The season for fires is upon us. Scarcely 

 a paper that comes to hand that does not 

 contain a record of some disastrous Qonfla- 

 gration, and it becomes the prudent to seek 

 without delay the insurance of their dwel- 

 lings and other valuable property, in some 

 responsible company. It will be seen by 

 our advertising columns that the Illinois 

 Mutual Insurance Company are taking risks 

 upon txceedingly favorable terms. This 

 company has earned an enviable fame for 

 promptness and liberality in the adjustment 

 of losses. We have good reeson to know 

 that the company is exceedingly cautious in 

 taking risks, and that its affairs are directed 

 and controlled by gentlemen who have learn- 

 ed, that the interests of stockholders are the 



most surely advanced by faithfully protecting 

 the rights of the assured. 



The company is the oldest in the State, 

 and is deserving of patronage in perference 

 to the doubtful institutions from the eastern 

 States. When our farmers can be accom- 

 modated on equal terms, it is a duty they 

 owe themselves to encourage home institu- 

 tions, and in this case we think they will 

 make a large saving. 



Ladies and Gentlemen: — And this 

 is Egypt ? Not the Egypt where flows 

 the classic Nile, or where stands in lone- 

 ly grandeur the vast pyramids, whose 

 dates have faded out beneath the hand 

 of time, and whose arts and civilization 

 have degenerated into barbarism ; but it 

 is the Egypt of the new world — of the 

 f^reat northwest — the wheat field and 

 fruit garden of the valley of the upper 

 Mississippi, whose genial slopes and 

 wood-crowned hills are the pride of south- 

 ern Illinois. With a climate soft and 

 lovely as Italia, no wonder that the peach 

 blushes like the cheek of beauty; that 

 her great orb-like apples challenge the 

 admiration of all ; that the pear is full 

 of melting richness, most pleasing to the 

 palate; that the small fruits glow with 

 health and beauty, while the vine brings 

 forth its tempting clusters, and whose 

 ruddy flow of juice sparkles in the cup. 

 Has nature been more lavish of her gifts 

 "on strand or shore?'' Is not this the 

 seat of Pomona? is it not here that she 

 is to receive the homage of her subjects 

 and send Forth her orders in council. — 

 Away south, along that line of rippling 

 silver, whence come the zephyrs that 

 have kissed the Indies, and now sway 

 the leafless branches of your stately 

 forests. Away north, where Min-ne- 

 ha-ha sends up her winter spray; and 

 yonder where Michigan pours her winter 

 tide past the cities of the north, come 

 claims upon your bounty. They ask you 

 for the fruits that nature h-is denied 

 them. Shall they ask in vain? Shall 

 you turn to them a deaf ear, or Avill you 

 fill their baskets to repletion ? If you 

 but will it, these wood-crowned hills and 

 prairie slopes shall be redolent of rosy 

 health, of wealth and domestic happi- 

 ness. Your homes shall nestle beneath 

 the vine and the leafy treasures of Ilis 

 care shall shut out the summer sun, and 

 check the raging blasts of the frosty 

 north. But even in this cherished spot, 

 where the seasons touch so lightly, the 

 fiat of Him who waters the plants from 

 the fleecy clouds, and who says thai "in 

 sweit shalt thou eat bread,'' knows no 

 abatement ; and if He has made the 

 fruits to flourish, He has let loose the in- 

 sect tribes, the floods of rain and the 

 summer drouth. He has made man His 

 gardener, and in sweat shall he eat the 

 fruits that the summer's sun has ripened 

 for his use; his sun-browned brow shall 

 bow beneath the harvest toil and receive 

 the blessings due to his watchful care. 

 If we would see the apple tree sheeted 

 in gorgeous hues, we must first plant 

 the tree. If we would have the fruit 



glow with colors that would shame the 

 artist's pencil, we must cultivate the soil. 

 If we would have its crude juices made 

 rich under the glowing heats of the sum- 

 mer sun, we must give it the proper de- 

 gree of light and shade. • There is no 

 climate so delightful, no fruit so fair, no 

 flowera so gorgeous but that 



" The trail of the serpent is over them all." 



If the great giver has made this the 

 seat of Pomona, He has left it to the 

 genius and care of man to crown her 

 with her autumn glories. If you would 

 have the peach rounded up to its max- 

 imum size, if you would have it blush 

 with the deepest crimson, or pale like 

 purest snow, you must toil beneath the 

 summer sun and moisten the soil witti 

 sweat from the brow of labor. There 

 is no retreat but the one built by your 

 own hand* — no asylum but that of the 

 creeping vines and the waving leaflets 

 of the whispering wood. Life is sweet 

 with labor, when that labor brings ua 

 roseate health and all the luxuries of a 

 teeming soil. Without it we would be 

 subject to ennici, and rust out our lives 

 in inglorious ease. But our business is 

 not to moralize. We have met here for 

 active duties. A task is before us, and 

 one that will require all our energies, all 

 our tact and our skill. Is it a secret to 

 be kept within your own breasts, or shall 

 I announce it to the world? You say, 

 speak out. Aye, and it shall be spoken. 

 The gardens of Egypt shall fill the ta- 

 bles of the north with early vegetables 

 before the vernal showers ehall have 

 fallen from her more inhospitable skies. 

 Her early fruits shall make glad the 

 hearts of both young and old, and her 

 luscious peaches shall carry health and 

 joy to all. The fruit and vine shall 

 bring memory back to the miity past 

 and return to us one of the lost luxuries 

 of the new world. June shall crown 

 Ceres with the wlieaten sheaf, and the 

 north shall send to Egypt for bread. 

 The persimon, our northern banana, shall 

 be grown in orchard, and the pecan and 

 the almond shall supply the winter eve- 

 ning luxuries of the young when the 

 frost king holds sway. The Newtown 

 pippin, the mnesap, the bellflower, the 

 Vfhiie winter pearmain, the limbertwig, 

 the belmont and others of the same class 

 shall be carefully culled for the south, 

 that when the frost king has laid an em- 

 bargo on northern shipments, the sunny 

 v/inter of the south shall receive her due 

 share of our products. But how much is 

 to be done before our trains will grpwn 

 under the weight of shipments from the 

 orchard. How oft shall the summons 

 come and go, before the hill-sides shall 

 pour forth the teeming harvest of the orb 

 like apple, the luscious peach and the 

 melting pear. To produce this result, 

 to devise the best way to grow the best 

 fruit, to select the varieties adapted to 



