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134 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



These lines of work once taken up, we would find such broad 

 fields opening up that there would be no end of the work to do, orthe- 

 results we would want to obtain. 



We want tests made in our green-house of the different plants, 

 varieties, qualities of the plants under different treatments. We want 

 the out-door work so treated in a practical manner that it will be of 

 some use to men in the business of horticulture. 



We would like to know if it will pay to spray, and if so, what for f 

 fungus, diseases or insects; how often? at what time? what strength 

 of material to use, the cheapest mixture and the best plan of mixture ? 

 the best pump and the best nozzle to use. 



We want to know our best berries on diiferent soils and locations. 

 We want to know the best temperature for keeping fruits and the best 

 time for gathering them. 



We would like to see a model orchard, vineyard, small-fruit planta- 

 tion and garden carried on at Columbia, so that each year we could 

 have some results from it. We want to have every new variety tested 

 as soon as it is out, and the facts scattered far and wide. We want to- 

 see some of our native fruits and nuts improved and improved until 

 we have a good persimmon, a better pawpaw, a choice and seedless haw, 

 a fine, large hazel-nut, a perfect hickory-nut, a soft-shelled walnut ; in 

 fact, we want a lot of practical experiments carried on that will be of 

 value to every fruit-grower of the land. These besides those for 

 scientific purposes, which have been mentioned. 



The Experiment station should also begin a series of experiments 

 in fungus diseases, insect breeding, cross-fertilizing, hybridizing, feed- 

 ing and doctoring plants. How can they take up this matter without 

 a laboratory and green-house to experiment in ? To carry on experi- 

 ments correctly the entire plant and its surroundings must be under the 

 perfect control of the experimenter or the results ifili not be correct, 

 nor will they help to establish the law unless the experiment is exact. 



Why should not the Experiment station have at least as good a 

 green-house as our common gardens have ? It seems to us that the 

 equipment of our Station is far, very far, from what the interests 

 demand. 



Let us have a good horticultural work-shop where we can be sure 

 of what is done, and where a man can begin experiments and carry 

 them out, so that his results will be sure and certain. Let him have 

 sufficient apparatus so that he can protect the work he may undertake 

 out of doors and carry it to a successful conclusion. 



The second point at issue is, that there should be a certain fund 

 set apart for the use of the Horticultural department every year. How 



