INDIANA HOKTICULTTJEAL SOCIETY. 305 



Sylvester Johnson: Mr. Chairman, we have a lady In the audience 

 who has had some experience along the line we are discussing now, 

 and 1 presume the audience would be glad to hear from her. 1 spealJ 

 of Mrs. Stevens. 



Mrs. Stevens: 1 don't think this is just exactly fair in Mr. Johnson. 

 1 thinlc 1 made myself a little famous or infamous in saying that the 

 right place to begin to beautify was in the back yard, and 1 have since 

 that time been called the •"back yard woman," and in order to live 

 up to tlie reputation that 1 liave gained 1 have conhued my work 

 and my energies to I lie back yard, and from the flower beds in the 

 back yard we have extended to flower gardens, and I don't believe it 

 is egotism or out of the ordinary when I say that we have one of the most 

 beautiful back yards and flower gardens to be found in the State, and 

 I have httiited myself for a better. I don't lilce Mr. Kingsbury's push 

 cart at all, and Mr. Stevens' feet are too large to get into the garden 

 at all times, and I have done most of the work myself. It surprises 

 me to hear anyone speak of neglecting a farm garden. At our place 

 we hurry through with the work in the garden that we may go to 

 the field. 1 think we have the first year to neglect the garden. We 

 would starve without it. We live out of it. We are near enough 

 to town to have visitors from the city, and w^e need it, but I want 

 to raise a pretty garden as well as a good one. I believe it is a pretty 

 good thing to get the reputation of having a good garden, because 

 you will live up to it, and it is a very economical fad. 



Sjivester Johnson: Along the line of teaching children to love gar- 

 dens, etc., there is great danger that you require too much work of them. 

 I will illustrate my point. Children don't like to work. In my younger 

 days I had a boy whom I wanted to become a horticulturist. I used to 

 have him help me in the garden, and also work by himself. I said to him 

 one moniiiig: "There are the potatoes Avhich I want you to hoe, and hoe 

 well, and get it done before I come back to dinner." The boy said: 

 "Pa, if ever I have a garden I will have it paved all over with bricks." 

 There is danger of doing the opposite from what you intend in trying 

 to teach a child to love a garden. 



Mr. :siilhous: If I want to make fire fly Avlth my boys I will get 

 them Kingsbury's Fire Fly, and I guess the fire will fly. I educated 

 my boys from the time they were very small to love a garden. At the 

 same time I have them plant everything in long rows— long furrows. 

 Have a bountiful supply of everything, but if you haven't enough of 

 one thing to plant a row finish it out with something else, and do the 

 work with horse power instead of man power. I did get one Fire 

 Fly, and I wished it was back in the market before I used it a day. 

 I was glad when it was ready for the dump, and if possible I think 



20— Agri. 



