Addresses — Plea for State Aid. 22? 



From their tops the crow was calling when the streets of Rome were grass 

 And the brave Three Hundred with their bodus blocked the rocky Pass; 

 In their boughs the owl was hooting when upon the Hill of Mars 

 Paul rang out the coming Judgment, pointing upward to the stars; 

 Here, with loving hand transplanted, in the noonday breeze they wave, 

 And by night in silent seas of silver-arrowed moonbeams lave." 



PLEA FOR STATE AID. 

 J. S. STICKNEY, Wadwatosa. 



Let us brieBy consider the past work, the present condition and 

 standing, the responsibility and needs for the future of our State 

 Horticultural Society. We will not go back to its early history 

 and work, but only about ten years, when after the war it re-organ- 

 ized, and went earnestly at work to stimulate and awaken a more 

 active interest in tree planting and fruit production; to encourage 

 to new efforts those who had suffered so terribly from severity of 

 climate, or who had been led widely wrong by selfish and irrespon- 

 sible advisers. 



Ten years of this persistent earnest effort may be summed up as 

 follows: In all reasonably favorable locations we find orchards, 

 producing more or less of fruit, some of them models in their way, 

 and all reasonably prosperous. They are not found on every farm, 

 only on a few; yet enough to serve as stimulating examples to 

 others. In every town and village the markets are fairly supplied 

 with all the small fruits in their season; not all that should be 

 consumed, but enough to illustrate their excellence and to cultivate 

 a growing demand for more. In our large towns, public squares 

 and parks are receiving attention, cemeteries are being tastefully 

 planned, and more or less of planting done. Around many dwell- 

 ings are beautiful groups of trees, and scattered here and there 

 over the broad prairies, in front of the farmer's dwelling, are the 

 two, four, or possibly ten evergreens, usually arranged in formal 

 rows, the advance lines of the hosts that are surely coming to 

 group themselves about these same homes, adding winter beauty, 

 warmth and sunshine thereto; and to stand on the west and the 

 north of these farms in unbroken lines, giving most grateful shelter 

 to domestic animals, and to the now bleak and wind-swept fields. 



