STATE HORTICULTURAT. SOCIETY. 215 



Resolved, — That the Ladies of the Stnte of Illinois, and of the adjoining States, 

 be cordially invited to attend the next, and all subsequent sessions of J.his Society. 



Prof. Tuuner — If we want the ladies to attend our meetings we 

 must have the vacant places upon the stand filled with llowers and plants. 

 We can not talk so badly that they would stay away from such attractions 

 as these would present. 



Secretary Galusiia said it was a source of deep regret to him 

 that the ornamental department of our art had not received its due 

 attention at this meeting. He had engaged an essay from one of the 

 best of Western landscape gardeners; also one from Illinois' leading 

 florist, Edgar Sanders, of Chicago; but both these gentlemen had failed 

 us, though not without substantial reasons, probably. He would pledge 

 that at the next annual gathering such a disappointment would not 

 recur. 



The following question was sent t(j the Secretary's desk, as a topic 

 for a half hour's discussion, viz: "Are house-plants in a room dele- 

 terious to the health of the inmates.''" 



Mr. Ellsworth — From my observations for many years, I do not 

 think plants in a room are injurious. It is quite probable, as it is claimed, 

 that cut flowers may be so. A distinction should be made between 

 growing plants and cut flowers, since the exhalations are chemically 

 difterent. 



Mrs. Prof. Standish is accustomed to keep house-plants in her 

 sitting-room, and has never perceived or suspected any injurious effects 

 resulting from the practice. 



Mr. Hale — Persons who cultivate plants in the house do not oflen 

 have cut flowers in the same room with them. He was aware that there 

 exists a wide-spread prejudice against plants in living-rooms, but thinks 

 it is not well founded. 



Prof. Turner — When the earth w as fitted up. there was perhaps a 

 time when the atmosphere was surcharged with carbonic acid gas to such 

 a degree that the higher order of animals could not exist upon it until 

 plants had been de\eloped to absorb the surplus of carbon. There may 

 be danger to persons affected by tubercular disease from an accumulation 

 of moisture in a room where many plants are liept and frequently 

 watered, as such persons sliould breathe a dry atmosphere. When we 

 specify plants, we find that there are some whose odor, while in bloom, 

 is deleterious. 



Mr. Hale has kept plants in his sitting-room for years; thinks it 

 important to have good ventilation, as rooms containing plants are kept 

 too warm, usually, and thinks this accounts for the impression that the 

 plants themselves produce a deleterious effect. 



Mr. WiER thought that the decaying vegetable substances in the soil 

 in the pots might affect the air of a room injuriously. 



Mr. Hale — This may be so, but it can be obviated by mixing a little 

 charcoal with the soil. 



