TRANSACTIONS OF WARSAW HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 231 



Dr. Hollowbush not only made the members of the Society feel wel- 

 come, but showed tliat his experience and observations in relation to hor- 

 ticulture and the objects of the Society, are of no ordinary significance. 



The May meeting of the Society was held on the 6th inst., at the 

 residence of B. G. Grover, which is a delightful situation, on a bold 

 prominence of the bluff, overlooking the Mississippi river, and command- 

 ing scenery grand and i)leasing to the eye. 



President Hammond called the meeting to order at 2 P.M. 



The minutes of last meeting being read and approved, the President 

 announced the question, " Should we encourage a greater consumption of 

 vegetable food?" Dr Hay, being the essayist for the occasion, came for- 

 ward and entertained the meeting with an able and interesting address, 

 which showed that much careful thought had been bestowed on the sub- 

 ject. The address was listened to with marked attention, and elicited the 

 following discussion : 



Mr. Hathaway — The subject for our consideration being, " Should 

 we encourage a greater consumption of vegetable food ?" appears to me a 

 question of hygiene. If a greater consumption of vegetable food would 

 add to the health, strength, and happiness of the people in this vicinity, 

 then we should, by all means in our power, encourage it. 



In the first place, location, climate, etc., is to be considered. Men 

 require different food in different climates. The Esquimau would not 

 long survive as a vegetarian ; the Asiatic would be destroyed by a diet of 

 flesh and oil ; but as we inhabit the temperate zone, neither of the ex- 

 tremes apply to us. A man is an omnivorous animal — a mixture of ani- 

 mal and vegetable food would here seem most proper. 



Let us examine a few results. I have observed closely some people 

 who refused meat of any kind, and found those who made use largely of 

 eggs and milk — the only two things that contain all the elements of the 

 human body — enjoyed excellent strength, health, and fair complexion, 

 indicating a full supply of proper sustenance. On the contrary, those 

 who confine themselves to vegetables alone were sickly-looking, and 

 greatly lacking in physical strength. 



Before the deluge I find no account of the ancients eating meat. 

 f'Gen. I, xxviii.) Herb bearing seed and every tree bearing seed, or seed 

 in the fruit, was men's food, and perhaps that is one cause of their long 

 lives in those days. 



It is a fact too notorious to require argument here, that people living 

 on bread and meat mostly are more bilious, more subject to fevers, are 

 less healthy, and do not attain to tlie ages of persons making use of a 

 more mixed diet. 



By a wise and beneficent arrangement of nature, a great variety of 

 fruits and vegetables mature at a time when people are exhausted by the 

 summer heats and toils of the season, the system requiring just such seda- 

 tive, acidulated and cooling properties as they contain. A free and 

 judicious use of them is plainly indicated by the requirements of the 

 system, and adds largely to the comfort and pleasures of life. Their use, 



