WINTER MEETING, 1882. 31 



etc., because the ''young ones" would destroy tliem. Now this is not true. 

 Sec our experiment last year with school flower seeds. Out of sixty letters 

 received by Secretary Garlield relating experience in as many schools, not one 

 teacher mentions any difficulty of this kind; but on the other hand almost all 

 of them speak of the interest manifested by the pupils in this work. 



Mr. Helme of Adrian, said he could heartily endorse this view of Prof. 

 Tracy's. "We have nothing to fear from the children if we take hold of this 

 matter. They will co-operate with us every time. 



Mr. Woodward : I am a member of nearly all the State Horticultural 

 Societies about us, and I don't think any one of them has taken up so valu- 

 able work as the Michigan Society has in this matter of ornamenting school 

 yards. The other States will follow you closely. Down in western New York 

 we are stirring up the matter. I think land is not so very valuable in this 

 country that a whole acre cannot be afforded for the school premises. I 

 would have no fence about the school yard, but would have every child in the 

 district have an individual interest in some tree, shrub, flower, or fruit grow- 

 ing there. I would have a requirement so that our teachers would be exam- 

 ined in the general principles of horticulture. 



Several gentlemen remarked upon the subject of fencing school yards, with 

 varying opinions, after which Prof. Beal's resolution was unanimously 

 adopted. After a piece of music the next paper was presented by Mrs. Mary 

 N. Allen, of Rollin, upon 



HORTICULTURE IN AND ABOUT THE HOUSE. 



In the beginning God created mau and woman, and gave them a garden for 

 a home. That garden was the center of all attraction, and besides the spring- 

 ing flowers and singing birds, there was all manner of fruits in it that were 

 delightful to the taste. Through disobedience that paradise was lost, but from 

 that day to this the same idea has pervaded all civilized people, that no home 

 is complete without its garden. Ofttimes, maybe, it is a poor apology, but 

 the garden is there. Sometimes it is only one foot deep by three long, and so 

 hedged in by brick walls that it only gets the sun when it is at its zenith ; and 

 then again perhaps it is reduced down to a few earthen crocks in a south win- 

 dow, but in that embryo garden is the inherent love for agriculture that is as 

 old as mankind. 



Our occupation has in it much of toil and labor; it has likewise much of 

 pleasure and enjoyment. Necessary labor invigorates our physical constitu- 

 tions, and we realize nearer than any other class the blessing for which the 

 prophet of old prayed, ''Give me neither poverty nor riches ; " and if our gains 

 are small we feel they are secure, not liable to be swept away by the next arri- 

 val from Europe or the next telegraphic dispatch from Wall street. 



The farmer who, with a philosophical eye, can watch the progress of vege- 

 tation, from the bursting of the bulb in spring-time to the perfection of fruit 

 in autumn, is in possession of sources of enjoyment to which the denizen of a 

 city is a stranger. In the economy of vegetation there is enough to claim our 

 unceasing wonder and praise. Though discord may pervade human organiza- 

 tions and thwart their ends, it never interferes with the operations of the Deity, 

 whose works are characterized by perfection of movement in all their parts, 

 each atom fulfilling its proper destiny. 



It is the happy province of the horticulturist to watch and study the opera- 



