28 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



plants do well in warm rooms in east, south, and west windows; but for a 

 north window light ferns, scented geraniums, primroses and many of the trail- 

 ing plants will thrive better. 



Tlic lawn garden may be made gorgeous and grand, or neat and modest, 

 according to one's means and taste. Kibbon beds of sweet alyssum, coleus, 

 achyranthus, centaureas, and the like, make a very fine appearance, while 

 geraniums, salvias, caladiums, roses, etc., make large and more showy clus- 

 ters. 



Usually Dutch bulbs can be set and are out of flower in time for summer 

 bedding plants. It is more convenient to cultivate annuals, perennials and 

 hardy shrubs each by tliemselves. A nice way for roses is to put tiiem in 

 rows or hedges where they can be mulched and kept clean. None are so poor 

 bnt they can afford a little time and space for some flowers. The time is fast 

 coming, if not already past, when you can find a place worthy the name of 

 home where flowers are not cultivated. Once in a while a relic of the past is 

 found who says, " What do you want of flowers? You can't eat 'em." We 

 might say the same thing of rail fences, yet they have their nse, and tlie home 

 without flowers in the window or about the lawn lacks the refinement and 

 taste which makes home a foretaste of heaven, a place to which tired feet love 

 to go. Flowers are an index to refinement and taste, like music and good 

 books, showing that in these times of harvesters and sulky plows, sewing ma- 

 chines and creameries, men and women too are coming again to Eden's gate, 

 from which they were expelled of old. 



Following in the same general thought, Secretary Garfield remarked that 

 one's home and premises should be such as to engender pride in their owner. 

 If one is proud of his home ho will care for it, keep it painted and provided 

 with all the conveniences and ornaments that his good sense and good taste 

 will suggest; while if ho has no pride in it, no matter how large it is, or how 

 much money he may expend on it, the air of home will not pervade its prem- 

 ises. It is just 60 with a school-house. If the children are proud of their 

 school-house, nothing will be ruthlessly injured, and so he had earnestly advo- 

 cated always the bringing about one's home such tasty improvements as will 

 give the owner real pleasure. This will tend to quiet the unrest which is so 

 characteristic of Americans, that willingness, for a money consideration, to 

 part with a home. 



He called attention to a number of little matters of decoration that can be 

 brought about tlie house that are inexpensive yet very attractive. Cliildren 

 enjoy live things, growing trees and plants and vines, even better than marble 

 ornaments. After remarking at some length upon the fact that while a field 

 of wheat was necessary to the prosperity of the farmer, still an orchard was a 

 matter of greater interest to the entire family, he asked the audience to allow 

 him to introduce one who was older in the experience of building houses and 

 better qualified to interest the institute, and called upon Hon. Thomas F. 

 Moore of Madison. 



Mr. Moore opened his remarks by telling a story rather at the expense of 

 the Secretary, and then said he was proud of the work of the Agricultural 

 College in turning out into Michigan a class of young men who have had 

 opportunity to cultivate good taste in the embellishment of homes; and not 

 only this, but the ability to employ their knowledge for the benefit of the 

 communities in which they live. He belonged to a generation which had had 



