36 Wisconsin State Horticultural Society. 



Smith and those of his sons, near by. So many were the objects 

 of interest, and so pleasantly passed the time, that it was near the 

 noon hour before the convention gathered in the door yard of the 

 president, where the balance of the session was to be held. Owing 

 to the fact that the dinner hour was near at hand, it was decided 

 to defer business and proceed at once to the discussion of the 

 bountiful provisions for the inner man, prepared by Mr. and Mrs. 

 Smith and the hospitable members of the Brown County Society. 

 The tables placed under the native pines in the grounds of our 

 host were soon loaded with good things for the occasion, which 

 Tvere partaken of with great relish and with social good cheer. 

 Dinner over, the president called the convention to order and the 

 reading of the papers on the programme was commenced. Mr. 

 Stone of Appleton came first with a paper entitled, 



HORTICULTURAL PROGRESS. 



When we glance at the progress being made in this country we 

 -exclaim : " It is just like them ; it is truly American ! What it 

 takes other countries a century to accomplish, is here but the work 

 • of a decade. And this is more true in no branch than in horti- 

 culture. As the frontiersman clears a patch in the native forest 

 or subdues the open prairie, he begins to plant fruit trees and 

 blooming plants, that his new home may have some of the attrac- 

 tions of civilization. He is encouraged in this from the fact that 

 'lie usually possesses the soil he tills, instead of being a tenant, 

 subject to the will of some lord. A little idea of the great pro- 

 gress horticulture is making in this county may be formed from 

 •the fact that the products of the garden, in our large cities, can be 

 purchased at a much lower figure than in the large cities of Eu- 

 rope, while the laborer gets much higher wages here than there. 

 Showing that the process has been greatly simplified and systema^ 

 tized, so as to produce greater result with less labor. Although 

 we may not be able to boast as fine parks and botanic gardens 

 ^as the} 7 , yet we do claim that among the masses, horticultural 

 embellishments are greatly in our favor. The old monarchical 

 jdea that it is the duty of the many to labor for the happiness of 



