266 Wisconsin State Horticultural Society. 



he fulfilled his duty to himself, to his [country and to his God, I 

 cannot see it in that light. Mr. President, I did not rise to 

 make any remarks; I simply rose to make a motion thanking the 

 ladies who have prepared these papers, and especially the one who 

 has dared to come here and read it. They have given us some 

 very excellent thoughts in these papers, that are worthy of consid- 

 eration, and I move you that the thanks of this joint convention 

 be tendered to them. 

 Motion carried. 



Mr. S. Barter — I would like to make a few remarks, although I 

 am a stranger here. The text of my remarks will be, Summer 

 Flowers. I came here without any preparation, but fearing that 

 some of the ladies who have presented such highly interesting 

 papers may think they are not appreciated, I think it is proper for 

 us to say something in regard to them. The one that has been the 

 most pleasing and attractive to me is the article on Summer 

 Flowers, read last year by Mrs. Huntley. If any lady or gentleman 

 has not read it, it will well repay them for perusal. This article is 

 the more attractive to me from the fact that I think the cultivation 

 of summer flowers is attended with less trouble than any others. 

 House plants are attended with a great deal of trouble and care. 

 During the last cold spell that we had, I received a letter from my 

 wife which said that our friends and neighbors had lost nearly all 

 their house plants during that cold snap, but summer flowers are 

 attended with very little trouble. I think that any of our friends 

 who have any experience in the cultivation of house plants, should 

 give their experience from the best modes they find in their culti- 

 vation. My plan of sowing seeds is, to put them in rows about a 

 foot apart. In that way we can follow along in the row as the seeds 

 come up, and hoe out the weeds between the rows when they are 

 so small that you can hardly tell the flower from the weed. In this 

 way I have succeeded admirably in raising house plants from seed. 

 You generally get them too thick in the row, but you can trans- 

 plant them if you take them in a moist time, and set them in any 

 part of your garden, and they will scarcely know that they have 

 been moved. The best success I have had has been in raising pan- 

 sies. Any one who has had any experience with pansies will con- 

 cede that they are perhaps the best flower that is raised, taking all 



