TRANSACTIONS OF ALTON HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 311 



bear a pound with the task of ten pounds. He could not tell any one 

 how to trim, but he could go into the vineyard and show how to trim. 

 He trimmed according to the strength and vigor of his vines, as George 

 Husman would say, " judgmatically. " 



Mr. Riehl named new varieties — Neosho, Elvira and Lady Grape — 

 as varieties worthy of trial. 



Mr. Hollister discoursed on the question — 



WHAT SHALL I PLANT? 



This question is now again of vital importance to the horticulturist, 

 and is one that will remain open. It will never be answered. And if 

 what I may offer in a few practical suggestions shall be of service to any, 

 my object will have been accomplished. 



The amateur, the farmer, the market gardener, the thrifty house- 

 wife, all ask, " What shall I plant?" The answer must differ, as to con- 

 dition and wants of each, and it is beyond my purpose to-day to reply 

 to more than a few items in the line of the market gardener. In this 

 locality the demands are for retailing to the city, and shipping to northern 

 or other markets ; both of these are growing more fastidious in their 

 selections, and require the very best and earliest. The conditions being 

 given, it follows that to succeed you must have appliances for thorough 

 and economical managing of hot-beds through the winter, together with 

 varieties of vegetables best suited to the wants of the trade ; both of these 

 require personal and practical attention. Volumes have been, and might 

 be, written on such subjects, not but that it has become somewhat monot- 

 onous, yet I think the human mind is so constituted as to require "line 

 upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little." 



In our list we begin with lettuce. Probably not less than a thousand 

 hot-bed sash are used in growing this vegetable alone ; never less than 

 two, and sometimes three, crops to each sash. The variety grown here 

 is undoubtedly of the Silesia family, yet of a distinct and very superior 

 strain, which has obtained its high reputation from careful selection of 

 seed, for the past twenty years, and is now distinct, and one of the best 

 for cultivation under glass. The quality is excellent, and, when wel^ 

 grown, makes quite an effort at heading up. 



Some have tried the Hanson lettuce, and think it quite an acquisi- 

 tion. The large size of its heads, and exceedingly crisp and tender 

 leaves, place it among the most desirable, at least for city retail trade. 

 "A word to the wise is sufficient." 



