24 Wisconsin State Horticultural Society. 



HORTICULTURE ON THE FARM. 



Among my earliest recollections are those of the little bureau, 

 in which my mother placed my clothes each week, after they were 

 washed, ironed and mended, and in which I also kept my play- 

 things, arranged as I desired, with the advice of my mother. Also 

 the little garden father gave me to till, in which I raised the differ- 

 ent kinds of vegetables that my father raised in his; kept and ar- 

 ranged also as I saw fit, with the advice of my father. 



Well do I remember the pride I felt in showing how my garden 

 looked, and the approving face of my dear, good mother; how I 

 would hoe it over, and then go to my mother and call her out to 

 see it; how she would often say that it looked better than father's 

 big garden; that my melons were larger than his, or that my toma- 

 toes were thriftier; and then, when we had anything from my gar- 

 den on the table, and we had company, mother would often say, 

 " This is some of Alexander's raising." What a pride I had in all 

 this! 



When fourteen years of age, I was made head gardener, and 

 after that, when mother would say, " Well, Alexander, when are 

 you going to make garden?" or, " How are you going to arrange 

 this or that?" and other questions of the kind, that, of course, in- 

 dicated to me that I knew as well as any one what was best to be 

 done. This gave me confidence. 



To that little bureau I trace my love of order and hatred of dis- 

 order; the disposition to have a place for everything, and every- 

 thing in its place. To that little garden, much of my love of home, 

 and a taste for agricultural and horticultural pursuits. Do you 

 hink that all this little trouble by a mother to train correct habits, 

 trying to instill refined tastes, is spent in vain? Some will not take 

 the trouble, Some think they have broader ideas; they desire to 

 elevate the race. They don masculine manners, and set to scold- 

 ing everything and everybody. They proclaim the errors of law 

 and public sentiment; everything is out of joint. It is for them 

 to mount the rostrum, or enter legislative halls, and bring order 

 out of chaos — wise legislation where now all is corruption. A few 

 short years spent in rearing a family is a waste of time. They 

 were not born for this, for God made a failure when He made man, 



