lO TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



b. Vegetables cultivated for their leaves or stems, as cabbage, 



asparagus, &c. 



c. Vegetables cultivated for their fruit, as tomatoes, melons, 



peas, ike. 



3. Tree Growing, including — 



a. Hedging; 



b. Belts, or wind breaks; 



c. Timber Plantations and Woodlands. 



4. Nursery Culture. 



II. Ornamental, comprising — 



1. Ornamental Tree planting; 



2. Flower Gardening; 



3. Landscape Gardening. 



III. Scientific, comprising collections 



1. Of Fruits; 



2. Of Vegetables; 



3. Of Trees; 



4. Of Flowers; 



5. Of Plants generally, made not so much for profit or orna- 



mentation, as for experiment and to gratify a scientific taste. 



This you will observe is not at all a scientific, or hardly a logical 

 division of the subject. Its only merit, if it has any, is in its adaptation 

 to practice, which separates genera and species without remorse, and 

 places together most widely sundered parts of the vegetable kingdom in 

 obedience to external resemblance, agreeable contrasts, or identity of use. 

 Horticulture, like Topsy, has "growed" in a very disorderly way. 



You will observe, farther, that the classes of subjects included under 

 these heads define still more clearly the difference between Horticulture 

 and agriculture. Horticulture comes later in the progress of civilization, 

 and is evidence of greater refinement. In a new country, although 

 settled by a people in an advanced state of civilization, it also comes later 

 as of less prime necessity in the first place, and often requiring a longer 

 period of time between investment and return than new countries with 

 little wealth can afford. It requires amassed wealth for its best success. 

 It assumes permanent homesteads, where men expect to remain and 

 pluck the fruit of their labors. 



I will speak briefly of these various departments of Horticulture from 

 a practical rather than a theoretic point of view, calling your attention in 

 the first place to a few preliminary considerations useful to the beginner: 



I. Horticulture requires special attention to the choice of soil and 

 climate. The soil for nearly every horticultural product should be warm, 

 deep, dry, and not too rich in humus, nor yet too sandy. The chief 

 difficulties of ti"ee growth in the northern part of the State and in states 

 farther north, seem to be rather of the soil than of the climate. The soil, 

 in some cases, is so loose as to freeze to the depth of six feet in Minnesota, 

 and veiy imperfectly protects any plant standing in it through the winter, 

 whilst so I'ich as to start a late growth on very little provocation. Soil 

 of a finer and closer texture would evidently be preferable in both 



