02 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



wood is excellent for plants : get well pulverized wood mold from an old 

 log or stum]i. pom boiling water on it ; when of the right temperature, 

 stir, and pour grounds and all over the soil in the pots. Fuchsias, prim- 

 roses, the English ivy, and the oxalis do particularly well with this food. 

 Before closing, allow me to add a few words on the importance of 

 flowers in the home. "The garden is a spiritual breathing place." In 

 cultivating flowers we cultivate a taste for sweet odors, lovely tints, and 

 graceful forms. The boy who has been trained to appreciate flowers, will 

 not be easil}' charmed with the fumes of whisky and tobacco. The hus- 

 band who comes at e\ening from his daily labors, weary, perhaps dis- 

 couraged, will be cheered and refreshed by " these smiles of God " in 

 his home. The mother, with her never ending tasks, finds sweet com- 

 panionship and sympathy in the cheerful, patient little workers, whose 

 mission is ]:»eace and good will to all. Then cherish the flowers ; they 

 are God's free gift to every one of us. 



REPORTS ON VEGETABLE GARDENING. 



Mr. R. M. Hunt, of Galesburg, presented his report, which was, at 

 his request, read by Dr. Humphrey : 



Afr. President, and Gentlemen of the Illinois State Horticultural Societv: 



Having, at the suggestion of my friend Dr. Humphrey, been booked 

 for a paper on Vegetable Gardening, I acknowledged the corn to your 

 vSecretary, and promised him one based upon my own experience of fifteen 

 years in Market Gardening, at Galesburg. In doing this, I have turned 

 my back upon all that is poetical, and ignored all fine-spun theories. 



Vegetable Gardening, among the masses would appear to be one of 

 the lost arts. I venture the assertion that, among the farming communi- 

 ties of the Northwest, there are not two in ten heads of families who have, 

 or ever had, a good vegetable garden ; nor could they tell asparagus from 

 vegetable oysters, cauliflower from an overgrown mushroom, or know that 

 there are any other (Cabbages than Early York and Drumhead. Should 

 you ask one of them why he does not give more attention to the garden, 

 the answer probably would be : No time to attend to such small things. 

 In fact, the old story of hog and hominy. Should you describe to him 

 the good ([ualities of some of the latest introductions, he would probably 

 ask you if it would make pork as fast and cheap as corn ? It is really a 

 deplorable fact, that the health-giving products of the vegetable garden 

 are enjoyed by so small a proportion of those who till the soil. The 

 (juestion comes home : How can this be changed ? What inducements 

 should be held out, to stimulate the farmer to pay greater attention to his 

 garden ? I have hoped this would be brought about by the influence of 

 horticultural and agricultural societies ; but progress seems to be slow. It 

 seems the ])roper key-note has not yet been struck. Perhaps a system of 

 special premiums of large sums of money, given to farmers especially, 

 for enumerated articles of garden production, might stimulate to their 



