The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1869-12-18

State Horticultural Society.

The fourteenth annual meeting of the I'LL
nois State horticultural Society convened at
the Supreme Court House in this city ON Tues
day, the 14th inst, Tyler AcWhorter, Of
Mercer county, President, in the chair. Hon.
W. c. Flagg, of Alton, secretary, was also pres
ent; together with about 100 Of the leading
horticulturists of the state, and sundry distin-
guished fruit men from other states, as Mr..
Riley, editor of the Gardeners Monthly, Phila-
delphia; Mr.. Barry, of Ellwanger l. Barry,
Rochester, N. Y; Mr.. Raglan, Secretary of
the Indiana State Horticultural Society, and
others.
The delegates, on assembling, were greeted
in an earnest speech of welcome to Ottawa, by
the Hon. Elmer Baldwin, former President of
the society, to which President McWhorter
handsomely responded. The meeting WAS
opened with prayer by the Rev. E. n. Lewis
The President then read his annual address,
recounting the history of the society, and the
progress of horticultural science in this state.
His address was followed by the reports of
the vice presidents, of whom there is one for
every congressional district, less than half of
them, however being present and responding
to the call. Thereports occupied the whole Of
the forenoon.
In the afternoon the apple list was taken up
for revision, and occupied the balance of the
day. OF course no account of the interesting
discussions which the subject elected can be
given in the space at our disposal. All we can
do is very briefly to indicate the subjects that
occupied the meeting and refer the interested
reader to the full and authentic report which
will appear only in the volume of 'sTransae-
TONS" A splendid display of apples was
spread upon tables in another room, to which
the members had access for illustration in their
discussions .-f~ .e.y
wednesday morning peaches, nectarines,
cherries, plums, &C., had an overhauling, with
the peach borer, curculio, the birds, and 9TH
er enemies of these fruits Then DR.. Hull
read an interesting paper on the codling moth,
which elected another long and somewhat
rambling discussion. Another discussion on
the points of the Presidents address occupied
the society until the afternoon adjournment.
The main features of the evening session were
lecture on geology and soils, by Prof Shaw,
of Mt. Carroll; and very able and learned
paper on the pear, by Mr.. Barry, of Rochester,
New York.
Thursdays proceedings ranged over wide
field, so that we shall make no attempt to fol-
low Them 1mphee sugar, the failure of the
apple crop, the culture of pears, and many
kindred topics received attention. At the
close of the afternoon discussions new set of
officers was elected for the coming year. w.
G. Flagg was elected president, one vice presi-
dent for each congressional district, and O.
B. Galusha secretary. The evening session
was mainly occupied by hearing lecture from
Mr.. Meehan, on the principles of fruit culture.
AS it was decided to adjourn at IL o'clock |
on Friday, the proceedings of Friday morning
were merely of routine character Votes of |
thanks to the, officers and the citizens of Otta-
Wa were passed. Galesburg was chosen as |
the place for the next meeting Adieus were
said, and the members dispersed DF
1t was as fine and intelligent a bodyof men |
as we had ever secnin Ottawa, and though our |
people did their best to entertain them and |
make their visit pleasant, our streets We're |
muddy, the weather disagreeable, and the sun |
never shonc five minutes during their stay, SO |
that we tear they have nevertheless gone away
with more unlavorable opinion of Ottawa
than our city deserves.
.es - cert sst