HOKTICULTURE FOE THE CuiLDREN OF THE FaRII. 39 



Mr. Wilcox said we do lose many if not most of our trees by 

 root killing, and this is why we specially need hardy roots. He 

 had never claimed that it made the top of the tree hardier for 

 standing on a crab root, but that the crab root was hardier than a 

 standard root would be, and hence the tree was hardier. 



Adjourned until 7^ P. M. 



At the hour appointed the convention met and was called to 

 order by the president. The evening session was assigned to the 

 reading of papers by the ladies. Mrs. Huntley, of Appleton, read 

 the following on » 



HORTICULTURE FOR THE CHILDREN OF THE FARM. 



It was said by the king of ancient Sparta, that children should 

 be taught that which would be most useful to them when they be- 

 come men. One of the eminent writers of our own time says : 

 " There is no inheritance, no blessing, which any one can confer 

 upon children, no money, or name, that can compare with a 

 taste for natural scenery and rural occupations." The love of the 

 beautiful in nature is an element of character which excludes the 

 vicious and the vulgar, and leads its possessor in ways of virtue 

 and refinement, and to all that is excellent and elevating in life. 

 To those parents who have chosen the culture of the soil for their 

 life work, who live among the beauties and secrets of nature, who 

 are daily handling her treasures, it is a duty that they should sur- 

 round their children, from infancy to manhood, in as large a meas- 

 ure as possible, with all the beautiful trees, shrubs, excellent fruits 

 and lovely flowers, that can be grown in the climate where they 

 reside. The love of flowers, and fruits, and trees, and all the 

 growing beauties of nature, comes to us all largely by inheritance. 

 Much may be done by example, to create a love for rural adorn- 

 ings, and if one in a neighborhood or town begins the planting of 

 trees and the culture of fruits, the practice becomes somewhat con- 

 tagious, but there is not the same persistent eHort to overcome all 

 difficulties, to create as it were waj's and means to gratify this 

 taste, that is seen in those who inherit a love for horticultural pur 



