126 TRANSACTIONS OF THE HORTICULTURAL 



only good strong, healthy plants, for they have to pass through a 

 severe test the first winter, and especially with clematis, hydran- 

 geas and the bulbous plants. You should be cautious, for it is no use 

 to plant weak plants. When yoa get your plants, always spade the 

 ground deep where you plant, and cultivate around them after plant- 

 ing. Care should be exercised that they do not spread too much and 

 do not get ill-shapen. This is especially so of the shrubs, which 

 should be pruned from the day they are planted. 



I have endeavored to give you in the foregoing list., plants 

 which are hardy and worthy of cultivation in every way; of course I 

 have named but a few of the more desirable. I have not mentioned 

 roses, because that alone is a topic sufficient for a paper. Neither 

 have I mentioned any ornamental trees, nor evergreens, some of 

 which are worthy of a place in every garden. If attention is paid 

 to these plants and the place of their nativity is known, one can .do 

 much better with them than if he goes according to any directions, 

 and if attention is paid to them he will be rewarded with a bountiful 

 supply of foliage and flowers. When buying do not invest in a 

 miscellaneous lot of plants of which you know little. If you have 

 succeeded with any particular variety, always cultivate them, each 

 year trying a few of the newer and better plants. 



PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE— WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT? 



BY THOS. FEANKS, CHAMPAIGN. 



Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: 



The question involved in the above heading is one that presents 

 many sides, and to fully answer it would take too much of our time. 

 A person of an observing nature, traveling over this great country, 

 who has seen the gardens of England, France or Germany, can not 

 ■ but be forced to admit that we are a long way behind them in the 

 general cultivation of flowers. We have some noble specimens of 

 the art in a few of our large cities; but that universal passion among 

 all classes, that is so strongly characteristic of people in the Old 

 World, is sadly lacking here. 



How we can best create an interest in this matter, and encourage 

 all efforts in this direction, is for us to find out. We are a highly 

 privileged class of people, living in this central portion of Illinois, 

 where the conditions for plant growth are so favorable that we are 

 apt to lose sight of these advantages or fail to appreciate them until 

 we compare them with other sections of the country, less favored in 

 this particular. Here, we have a soil, practically inexhaustible if 

 properly cultivated, where all the elements of plant food lay at our 

 door, waiting to be converted into flower and fruit by all who will 

 but study the wants of our plants and apply them. 



