STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



89 



bardy — pink, changing to crimson ; Viridescens, or Gem Rose — very 

 curious and beautiful ; White Daily — beautiful pure white, desirable in 

 bud. These last four classes are called tender roses, but they can often 

 be kept through winter safely by bending down and covering late in fall, 

 not too heavily at first, but gradually, as cold increases, and uncover them 

 in the same way in the spring, being careful to protect them from late 

 spring frosts even after growth has commenced, as damage at this time 

 will cause the death of the plants. 



Mr. C. I. Hays, of Champaign, another member of the committee, 

 being requested by the President, read the following : 



The reports on this subject heretofore read before this Society have 

 failed to elicit such a degree of interest as the occasion should have war- 

 ranted. Whether the fault has been in the reports, lack of appreciation 

 in the audiences, or general apathy to this the most aesthetic branch of 

 horticulture, is not for me to say. There is something wrong. Who or 

 what is to blame ? It may be the writer of this article is sensitive beyond 

 reason regarding his calling ; perhaps his stock of patience is of the 

 minimum degree, or possibly, considering the few who love the beautiful 

 for its own sake, Floriculture has been noticed and discussed even beyond 

 its proportionate degree of merit. The professionals and amateurs of this 

 branch are the ones who should be the zealous, active agents to push the 

 matter, bring it to the notice of this Society, and through the latter to 

 the public, and let the people understand that we are neither dead nor 

 sleeping. 



The year 1879 ^^^ drawn almost to a close, and in Floriculture what 

 has it taught us? Have we grown in knowledge and wisdom? Is our 

 business in better condition than one year ago? 



In regard to our knowledge, have we come nearer the solution of 

 those questions regarding the influences of temperature, the amount and 

 manner of applying moisture, the best methods of handling stock and 

 other matters of which there is much dispute ? 



Peter Henderson in his work on Practical Floriculture made a 

 rattling of dry bones in his assaults on the old, clumsy, unprofitable ways 

 of doing work. He has done m\ich good in that direction ; would that 

 more Peter Hendersons would arise and bring out the opinions of capable 

 men who, if not provoked to answer some keen writer, would not give 

 their knowledge publicity. 



Of course such a man as Mr. Henderson, in his mass of good things, 

 will be apt to give some trash or even bad suggestions, but let us pick out 

 the wheat and discard the chaff. His method of indiscriminate watering 

 by a shower-bath is a saving of time in the act of watering, but results in 

 a loss of many plants. It may be economical in those cases where the 

 florist employs a score or more of hands and raises plants by the 100,000, 

 but where the owner's chief help is his two strong arms, and where a loss 

 of even a thousand would cripple his resources, it is not profitable. 



I remember my tutor, an Englishman, only one-and-a-half years 

 from Bristol, taught me to place each separate cutting in a distinct hole 



