Flowers and Plants. 55 



latitude, with every class of soil known to the continent, and pe- 

 culiarities of climate never known in the eastern states ; with 

 rialive resources unlimited, and a varied population demanding 

 the products of our art far beyond our capacity to supply, we have 

 a lield before us yet scarcely explored, in its best estate, and re- 

 quiring all our energies and resources to occupy and make fruitful 

 in the near future. 



As our field is enlarged, and our work correspondingly in- 

 creased, we will need and shall ask for two things : First, larger 

 appropriations from the state ; and second, more general co- 

 operation of the local societies and those personally interested in 

 the work of our society. Shall we have your hearty co operation 

 in both of these requirements? With interests in common, may 

 we have that unity of action which will ensure our efficiency and 

 permanency. 



A paper was read by President Harris, in relation to the 



CULTIYATIOX OF FLOWERS AI^D PLANTS BY 



AMATEURS. 



J. L. Harris, La Crescent, Minn. 



Although I am, and have been from childhood, an enthusiastic 

 lover of flowers, and have devoted considerable time to their 

 culture, and fully realize the charms of a well-kept flower garden, 

 I have never so forcibly felt my inability to do justice to a subject 

 as on this occasion. Poets have sung of the beautiful flowers, 

 the ablest writers have written essays upon their culture; the one 

 photographing a perfect picture of their sweets and colors, the oth- 

 ers making their management so plain that no one need err in 

 their cultivation, and T cannot be expected to do more. One 

 writer has said that it is a subject that points us back to a para- 

 dise lost, and invites us forward to a paradise to regain. Another 

 has said that floriculture shuts out the darkness of sin, and lifts 

 the veil to refreshing bowers, luxurious verdure, pure crystal 

 streams, and breezes that waft out upon a fallen world the sweet- 

 est of fragrance, the spices of life. 



