142 TRANSACTIOXS OF THE ILLINOIS 



Octobei", on sunny days, trimmed and assorted as fast as dry, and 

 when dry put into bushel boxes and hauled to the potato house, 

 where they should he ranked or corded up in bins to the depth of five 

 or six feet. Fifty thousand bushels, more or less, are put up in this 

 county (Union) for winter and spring sale. Houses properly con- 

 structed for keeping out the cold, with heating stoves to control the 

 temperature, which may range from fifty up to sixty degrees, will 

 insure safe keeping. Shipping is done in barrels, lined with heavy 

 paper in the coldest weather, in refrigerator cars. 



Now we have our fruits and vegetables " gathered " and care- 

 fully prepared for market, and trustingly resign them to the " tender 

 mercies of the wicked" (railroad and express men), to be delivered 

 in their own good time to our agents, the commission men, in the 

 various markets of the north, east, and west. 



Here is opened a wide field for consideration and cooperation of 

 shippers in arranging a better system of distribution of our products. 

 The new and increasing facilities for reaching the growing cities of 

 the northwest, and the growing demand and ability to pay for health- 

 ful luxuries, would seem to warrant a new departure in the mode of 

 distribution, by which the producer shall receive a fair compensation 

 for his labor. This has been done to a large extent the last season^ 

 demonstrating the practicability of loading refrigerator cars with 

 strawberries in their season, and tomatoes aho, for Detroit, Cleve- 

 land, and Buffalo, with good results. In conclusion, I would sug- 

 gest the selection of wideawake responsible commission men, and 

 when we find them it is always safe to stick to them, and never di- 

 vide with more than two or tliree house i in the same market. 



Respectfully submitted, 



C. C. WRIGHT. 



Report of Committee on Florticulture^ Mrs. Mary J. Barnard, 

 Manteno, Mrs. Ellen H. G. Smith, Peoria, and F. A. Bailer, Bloom- 

 ington: 



FLOWERS. 



One day last summer, when calling on a lady friend, I found 

 her among her flower-beds. "Always working among your flowers," 

 was my greeting. In reply she said: "I spend all my leisure mo- 

 merits among them; I never think any bad thoughts when I am 

 working among my flowers." She gave me a new idea — there was 

 a text for a whole sermon in her answer. I never realized before 

 the importance of beautifying our homes; it came to me again in 

 the fall in the exclamation of a lady I had given bulbs and plants to 

 in the spring. It was: "How little it takes to make people happy! 

 We have all enjoyed the flowers you gave us so much, and the chil- 

 dren have been delighted with them." Try it, tired mothers; raise 



