200 TRANSACTIONS OF THE HOETICULTURAL 



of the eye just as insatiate as the hunger of the stomach, that the 

 appropriate food for the one is just as proper a provision as for the 

 other. Habit has much to do with all our affairs, and habit in the 

 use of horticultural products is no exception. A thousand times 

 more strawberries can be sold now in the city markets than could 

 have been disposed of fifty years ago at the same price, to the same 

 number of people: almost eolely because it has now become the cus- 

 tom of these people to buy — not by any means because the iine taste 

 of the beri-y has just been recognized. As it is with those who buy, 

 so it is with those who cultivate fruits and flowers for themselves. 

 A beginning once made, there is almost sure to be enlargement and 

 increase of attention. Instead of resting content with corn bread 

 and smoked bacon for dinner, rich gardens, carefully tended, are soon 

 considered indispensable adjuncts to the farm and household pos- 

 sessions. The lawn is planted with trees for ornament, as well as 

 for shelter, and the grass is leveled and condensed into a velvety turf 

 for pleasures which rank above the gratifications of the palate, and 

 which indicate elevation and refinement of life. 



Such are some, and only some, of the general and less direct 

 causes and influences that are conceived to have been instrumental 

 in bringing to its present state the horticulture of our day. Among 

 those of more immediate effect, too much cannot be said in com- 

 mendation of the rural press, a thing itself of recent years, and an 

 outgrowth of as well as a stimulus to the marvelous developments of 

 which we have spoken. The influence in the past and in the present 

 of societies, such as ours, very largely missionary in their idea and 

 effect, has certainly contributed very largely towards private and 

 public enterprise in horticultural matters and set in motion the 

 wheels of progress in many directions, tending to enrich and adorn 

 our homes and our land. Nowhere else in the wide world has there 

 been such horticultural gatherings of interested and enthusiastic 

 workers and counselors, nor such magnificent displays of fruits and 

 plants of varied kinds and high excellence. Our own Illinois State 

 Society is one of the pioneers in the good work, and long ago might 

 have rested upon its laurels with high honor to the enterprise and 

 philanthropy of its leading spirits. Its work, however, is not done, 

 and no one thinks of halting. Our special section of this honored 

 State Society has only lately become active in its efforts to help push 

 along the influence and teachings of its parent. Its useful history 

 is short, but history can tell of valuable work already done, and of 

 the will to do we to-day testify. 



On motion, Henry M. Dunlap was appointed Treasurer joro tern., 

 and C. N. Dennis and Dr. Humphrey an Auditing Committee. 



