100 Wisconsin State Horticultural Society. 



when joung men whose fathers hewed houses out of the primeval 

 forest shall be ashamed not to be able to name ten different trees in 

 an American wood-lot, then we shall begin to see the barren hill- 

 side reclothed; the dry railistream shall murmur through the long 

 summer again, and the " Grreat American Desert " may yet fur- 

 nish the fireside with warmth, and the cabinet-maker with the raw 

 material of beauty. 



The next paper presented was by Mrs. Alex. Kerr, of Madison, 

 on 



HEALTH IN HORTICULTURE. 



" Blessed is the man who has a good doctor," says one, but more 

 blessed, say we, is the man who can do without one ; yea, thrice 

 blessed is that home where health is an ever abiding, ever wel- 

 come guest ; bright-eyed health, with roses on her cheek, whose 

 firm, elastic tread, whose rippling laughter, whose cheery voice, 

 give a hope and a courage, which are born of Heaven. What 

 is too diiricult for the inmates of such a home to attempt or to 

 accomplish? Strong hands and brave hearts perform with ease 

 tasks of which the tired brain never even dreams, and at which 

 he feeble, sickly body shrinks in dismay. Every moment is 

 available. From dawn to " dewy eve," work is a pleasure, and 

 when darkness falls, 



" Tired Nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep," 



comes like a benediction. No midnight lamp polluting the air 

 of the apartment tells of sickness, of weary watching, of gloomy, 

 anxious forebodings. No ghosts of unpaid doctor's bills haunt 

 the house, appalling in their huge proportions ; but peace, and 

 plenty and sweet content follow in the train of health, and lend 

 to domestic life an enduring charm. 



Would you seek this gracious guest ? Would you win her to 

 your hearthstone? Then follow me to the garden. It is a mid- 

 summer day. The blue bending sky is above you ; on every hand 

 are flowers of rare beauty whose perfume recalls to you the time 

 when you were a free and happy child. You partake of 

 the delicious fruit, you are refreshed, you are invigorated ; you 



