76 TBANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



this question. There is but one conclusion — there are not only too 

 many children, but too many parents. I may fail in horticultural 

 orthodoxy, but I still believe in the answer found in the catechism 

 to the question, ''What is the chief end of man?" I should change 

 the wording but not the sentiment, I think, and answer, "To be 

 happy is the chief end of man." Remembering always the secret to 

 a happy life was given us two thousand years ago, in the unselfish 

 life of the humble Nazarene; a life so grandly simple we seem 

 scarcely now to comprehend it. To prepare our children to live 

 happy lives is the best we can do for them. With healthy bodies, 

 and eyes and ears trained to know and love the good and the beauti- 

 ful, they may not upbraid us with having given them life, for the 

 average child is patient and forbearing. The average parent de- 

 serves a Siberia. To our children we are often thoughtless, rude, 

 sometimes brutal and insulting ; we are, we cannot deny it. We 

 are so because of heavy burdens and unnecessary worry. Therefore, 

 before calling into our homes the care which goes with the beauty 

 of the rose and the fragrance of the lily, let the impatient word dis- 

 appear; let us learn to be truly polite, loving and lovable to our 

 children. Adorn our homes, we will, to the extent of our taste and 

 time; but let us not fail to adorn also our lives, so that when comes 

 the last of life's tragedy, we may say good-bye with lips innocent 

 of a harsh word, and look into eyes which we have never dimmed. 



To the Horticulturists of Illinois, the best of wishes. May their 

 homes possess the true adornment — hapi)y lives. 



Music, by the Congregational Church Choir. 



INFLUENCE OF STOCK ON CION, AND CION ON STOCK. 

 BY PROF. T. J. BUERILL, CHAMPAIGN". 



The transmission of the characteristics of the parent to the 

 offspring is one of the most wonderful phenomena in the physiology 

 of plants and animals. At first sight it may not seem so marvelous 

 that one individual should show a decided likeness to another, but 

 when we come to closely investigate what complexities of structure 

 must be duplicated in order that even a remote resemblance can be 

 made, we are led to appreciate the almost miraculous phenomena of 

 reproduction in this respect. If we take two letters of the alphabet, 

 as a and b, and toss them up we shall not be greatly surprised to find 

 at least half the time that they fall in the order just named — the 

 a to the left of b. But if we add d we shall probably have to toss 

 them up a good many times before we shall find b a d spelled out. 

 Now, add another letter, as e, and the chances become almost beyond 

 chance that we shall get b a d e. If this occurs once, what about 

 the probability of its occurrence a second time? But if the prob- 

 abilities are one among thousands in the case of a word of four 



