80 Wisconsin State Hoeticultukal Society. 



Mr. Huntley thought that while they seemed to take as good 

 ■care of their plants, those who did not succeed failed in doing just 

 what was needed or doing it in the best way. There was a knack 

 of doing things just right; in this, as well as in the care of the 

 sick. Some who were willing and anxious to help, who were full 

 of sympathy, were not good nurses and could not be. He did not 

 know as there was any natural peculiarity in one person more 

 than another which made them more successful in the cultivation 

 of plants and flowers, but it was surely developed more readily 

 by education, experience in culture in some than in others. 



This question of adaptation is one which has long engrossed 

 the attention of our nurserymen, and they have labored faithfully 

 to find out what varieties of trees and plants, what methods of 

 culture are best adapted to our soil and climate. They are justly 

 entitled to the confidence and encouragement of the public for 

 their long continued and earnest efi"orts in this direction, yet it is 

 surprising to see how easily the irresponsible and unknown tree 

 peddler will gull us with his smooth, but wonderful stories of the 

 remarkable qualities of the stuff he has to sell, when the least 

 thought should convince us that, if these stories were true, our 

 nurserymen would have found it out long ago. Why can we not 

 buy of those we know, and whom we have every reason to put 

 confidence in, rather than of these strangers whom we never saw 

 before and never will see again. 



Mr. Reynolds said that he had sometimes thought there was a 

 sort of affinity between some persons and plant life, which gave 

 them an appreciation of the fitness of things, and a knowledge of 

 just what was best adapted to the wants of the plants they culti- 

 vated, and that this was the secret of their success. It was not 

 certainly due to the amount of care and labor expended upon the 

 plants, but must be in the kind. Mrs. Reynolds was remarkably 

 successful in the cultivation of plants and flowers, but when asked 

 for the reason of it, she could not tell. She certainly did not take 

 any more pains with them than many others. This spring she 

 set out tomato plants in their garden in what seemed to him rather 

 an indifferent manner as regards care, but they grew right along 

 q,nd to-day were three times as large and promising in fruilfulness 



