THE ILLIlSrOIS EA^HMEH. 



19 



the several markets that are within your 

 reach by railroad, by lake and by river, 

 is the object of your present meeting ; 

 to this end will you bend your energies; 

 to this end vrill your investigations be 

 directed, and to this end will you con- 

 tinue the work when you shall have re- 

 turned to the scenes of your home la- 

 bors. The soil, the tree, the fruit and 

 the insect tribes shall be your study, 

 when you brush the morning dew, when 

 the birds first begin to chirp their matin 

 lay, when with keen e.ve they seek out 

 the sluggish grub upon which to feed 

 their callow young, when the mist lays 

 heavy in the valley, or when frosty air 

 rolls down the hill-sides, these to you 

 shall be notes and thoughts of stirring 

 interest — themes that no sluggard can 

 appreciate, no laggard can enjoy, 



WHAT PROGRESS HAVE WE MADE. 



After any new enterprise has been in- 

 augurated, it is a matter of right, aye, a 

 duty to sum up the results, and ascertain 

 the rate of progress made, whether that 

 progress be an advance or a retrograde 

 one. We then ask, have the market 

 gardeners of Jonesboro, of South Pass, 

 of Ashley or Centralia paid a living 

 profit. You shake your heads with an 

 emphatic no ! Well, why is this ? The 

 gardeners of Cincinnati are reaping a 

 rich reward from the cities of the north ; 

 Chicago, Waukegan, Kenosha, Milwau- 

 kie, Rockford, Galena, Madison and 

 others are paying them a large tribute 

 for early garden favors. The climate of 

 Cincinnati is no more favorable, the soil 

 is no better, the distance for freightage 

 is not much less ; then why may you not 

 successfully compete with them for this 

 rich prize? " The Express Company'' 

 — ! yes, the Express Company have 

 crushed out your hopes and sw.all ow- 

 ed up your profits. Isthis so ? *' Yes, 

 two companies combined to eat us 

 out." But this is no reason for your 

 sitting down in despair. It should 

 arouse you to further activity, for the 

 trade of the north is your legitimate 

 property by right of soil, of climate, and 

 of position. If the great Illinois Central 

 Railroad Company have for the time per- 

 mitted the Express company to bear a 

 heavy hand on you, this will not always 

 be the case, for so soon as you call their 

 attention to the fact, no doubt they will 

 eradicate the evil by taking the matter 

 in their own hands. From my personal 

 acquaintance with the officers of this 

 great highway, I can have no doubt that 

 it is their wish, and that they take a deep 

 interest in whatever tends to develop the 

 resources of this part of the State, and 

 in the giving of the freighting of fruits 

 and vegetables to the Express company 

 they thought that they were advancing 

 your interests in the rapid transit of your 

 perishable products. They, like you. 



have been disappointed in the result, but 

 the blame we will rather charge to the 

 system than to the agents of either com- 

 pany. That some new arrangement 

 must be made with the railroad company 

 is evident to all. At Urbana the eve- 

 ning freight train is all that can be de- 

 sired. At Centralia the morning express 

 freight train arrives in Chicago in twen- 

 ty-six hours. From Jonesboro the ten 

 o'clock morning express freight arrives 

 in Chicago in thirty- four hours, eigh- 

 teen hours behind the express, and ar- 

 rives, according to the present time-ta- 

 ble, at a quarter past eight in the morn- 

 ing. Now, if a change of time could be 

 made so as to arrive at four in the sum- 

 mer and five in the winter, this freight 

 train would give you ready and cheap 

 facilities for the safe transit of the pro- 

 ducts of your orchards and gardens. 

 The rates of freight as at present estab- 

 lished by the company, cannot be com- 

 plained of, as I think they are as low, 

 if not much less, than any other road in 

 the State. Owning as the company do 

 vast tracts of land along the line, it 

 should be and has been their study to 

 encourage the cultivators of the soil in 

 their varied departments. If at any 

 time this policy has been departed from, 

 it has been more an error of judgment 

 than wrong intent. No man could have 

 given the vast interest of the freight 

 department more attention or exercised 

 a more vigilant supervision than the 

 present incumbent. With him there is 

 no favoritism, and all have been served 

 upon the same terms. I wish I could 

 say the same of the Express company, 

 whose special rates and favoritism have 

 disgusted the public. We see no reason 

 why most fruits and vegetables may not 

 go with safety on the freight train, pro- 

 viding that the cars are not allowed to 

 lay over at the way stations. Green 

 corn, lettuce and all berries must, of ne- 

 cessity go on the night express train with 

 the baggage, otherwise they will soon 

 sour and prove worthless. Many of 

 you will recollect the attempt made by 

 the wise heads of the Express company 

 the past summer, in compelling this trade 

 to take the day line. The result, you 

 all know, was the entire suspension of 

 the trade, and the thousands of bushels 

 of blackberries that hung in rich clusters 

 around your fields and through the skirts 

 of your groves were allowed to go to de- 

 cay — worthless ali|j;e to the farmer and 

 the Express company. Mr. Ott, the 

 Division Superintendent at Centralia, 

 made an attempt to arrest this loss, but 

 his efforts in your behalf dime too late to 

 save your favorite fruit; but his good 

 offices are being felt in preventing this 

 monopoly from continuing to ride rough 

 shod over your interests. 



YOUR SHIPMENTS ARE TOO SMALL. 



It cannot be expected that with the 



present limited shipments that the rail- 

 road company should make expensive 

 outlays to accommodate you ; they have 

 no money to spare, and if they provide 

 the facilities as fast as you need them, it 

 is all that you can reasenably expect. 

 This I believe they will do, and that, ©n 

 this point, you will have no reason to 

 complain. 



FRUIT GROWING WILL NOT PAY. 



No, it will not pay to set out a large 

 orchard and let it grow up to weeds , to 

 let the borer cut down the trees and the 

 curculio sting the fruit. Nor will it pay 

 to shake down the apples, bruising them 

 in their fall, tumbling them into barrels 

 and sending them to distant markets. 

 If .we had telegraph facilities for ship- 

 ping, 80 that these fruits could reach the 

 distant customer before these bruises 

 produced speedy decay, this plan might 

 answer. It will not pay to send poor 

 peaches to a distant market, as the freight 

 will eat up the profits. It will not pay 

 to make cider of rotten apples, from the 

 simple fact that people Avill not cultivate 

 their tastes in accordance therewith. It 

 will not pay to let stock run among your 

 trees, browsing them at will, depending 

 upon their crude ideas of pruning and 

 thinning out the fruit. It will not pay 

 to put several varieties of apples in th« 

 same bin, especially those that mature 

 at different seasons, such as Fameuse and 

 Llmbertwigs, Milams and Rawles Janett, 

 Bellflowers and Romanites, Fall Pippins 

 and Winter Russets, or you may find too 

 late that some of them in the pile will be 

 rotten, and add no very agreeable flavor 

 to the others. I could go on and enume- 

 rate a great many other practices, com- 

 mon in orchard management, that will 

 not pay, but why need I point them out 

 when there are many of you so familiar 

 with them that I should give place to 

 you to describe them in more glowing 

 terms than it is possible'for me to do. I 

 have felt the blighting influence of my 

 own neglect when borne down by an un- 

 congenial climate, but here, where you 

 all acknowledge a kindly soil and genial 

 skies, the charge of failure taust be 

 mainly at your own doors. If your 

 prairie slopes and wood- crowned bills are 

 not laden with the blushing fruits — if 

 the railroad trains do not groan under 

 the weight of pomonal wealth — if the 

 north does not send back the wealth of 

 her forests, her mines and her workshops 

 in return, lay the charge to your own 

 want of wisdom in the development of 

 the elements that lie within your own 

 grasp. - -;-■'.: ■•:■■"'■ • '■■-[■■ -■'■'■'■■ 



FRUIT GROWING AND GARDENING WILL PAT 



when labor and a reasonable share of 

 intelligence is brought to its aid. It is 

 evident that the timber lands south of 

 the Big Muddy river and the prairies 

 north to where they meet the clay loam 



