244 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



obtained their trees at St. Joseph, Mr. Tittle got his of Mr. Moreland, and Mrs. 

 Tittle brought the first currant bushes from Fort Defiance in 1830. 



Now, while their husbands were thus attentive to the economical fruits, the 

 ladies, their wives, did not forget the beautiful and ornamental. Mrs. Morris, 

 though little space could be afforded her in this early breaking up of the virgin 

 soil, secured room in which to grow the peonies, hundred leaf roses, and 

 many other treasured pets she had secured, and Mrs. Anderson also doted over 

 crocuses, damask roses, tulips and snowballs. It is a tradition that Mrs. Mor- 

 ris won many compliments from the new arrivals from the east for her flower 

 garden, the presence of which, in this then distant wilderness, greatly surprised 

 and gratified them. But, while Mrs. Morris triumphed through her beautiful 

 flowers, Mrs. Anderson very successfully contested the field of compliments by 

 means of a thrifty asparagus bed, the product of which she generously divided 

 with her less favored admirers. 



But it is not proposed to extend the record of fruit planting in Van Buren 

 county beyond these first instances of it, and we close with a hearty commen- 

 dation of the good judgment and sterling enterprise exhibited by Mr. Dolphin 

 Morris and his resolute neighbors in the matter, not forgetting the meed of 

 praise justly due Mrs. Morris for the beautiful flowers grown under her hand, 

 rendering cheerful the fire blackened clearings about her garden, or the edible 

 asparagus bed, that made palatable the monotonous meal of venison, bear-meat 

 and corn meal. 



