TRANSACTIONS OF GALESBURG HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 22T 



a bed of horse-radish which troubled him ; it was hard to exterminate. 

 He prepared his ground, secured the best seed, but that with excessive 

 rain and drought he had not yet succeeded in getting a lawn. As to its 

 beauty there can be no question, and though difficult to keep, it is yet 

 worth having. The lawn, he thought, might be covered during the winter 

 with a light litter of straw. Sod will certainly not make a good lawn, 

 this he found by experience. He intended to persevere and hoped to 

 succeed. Surfacing with fine compost was a good idea. As to planting 

 flowers, he thought we were bringing things up too high ; he preferred 

 that we should extend our recommendations to such things as are 

 within the reach of ordinary people. A great many of the annuals are 

 much admired and raised with success by those who could not get the 

 more costly plants. The design of the Society should be to elevate the 

 tastes of the community by gradually bringing them up to a higher stand- 

 ard, and this could only be done by encouraging the raising of the fam- 

 iliar and easily obtained flowers. Of these there were many that were 

 very beautiful, and might be successfully raised with a little care. 



Prof. KexMP agreed with those who thought lawns beautiful ; the rich 

 green was very refreshing to the eye. They also afforded a fine ground 

 color for flower beds. Nothing can be finer than the contrast of green 

 and the bright colors of flowers. The difficulty of obtaining good lawns 

 greatly enhances their value, and the possibility of success should encour- 

 age efforts to secure them. For lawns no better grass could be used than 

 our blue grass. It is very prolific, spreads by stolons, is fine in texture, 

 and is improved by mowing. He agreed with Mr. Hunt in thinking it 

 desirable to encourage the cultivation of our well-known annuals, bien- 

 nials, and perennials. They were cheap, and easily procured, and gave 

 great pleasure to many people; we should not decry them, nor discourage 

 their cultivation. If we could even get some people to relieve the bar- 

 renness of their yards by growing sunflowers, better that than nothing, or 

 the coarse weeds and grasses that crowd neglected ground. He would 

 decidedly recommend peonies, hollyhocks, larkspurs, monkshood, petu- 

 nias and other familiar garden flowers. They can be planted or sown 

 almost anywhere, and with a little care in preparing the soil and watering 

 would greatly beautify our cottages. 



The Society adjourned to meet in the house of Capt. Fuller, on 

 Tuesday, April 27, the subject of discussion to be "The care of Small 

 Fruits and their Varieties." 



