262 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



College, ^ve ask voa for advice and counsel, and trust that all will heed and 

 profit by it. 



For the farmers and citizens of St. Joseph county, I bid you welcome; and 

 also welcome our visitors, and invite them to take part in the discussions of the 

 Institute. 



Mr. James Cassidy, gardener at the Agricultural College, read the following 

 essay on 



HOUSEHOLD HORTICULTURE. 



It is with pleasure we note the steady progress of the different branches of 

 horticulture in public favor, as a means of profit, education, and recreation, 

 particularly floriculture, about the merits of which, as a useful, instructive, 

 and ornamental art, tliere can be no two opinions. That this department of 

 horticulture is becoming very popular and profitable is evident from the fact 

 that the materials employed therein form a considerable branch of commercial 

 traffic. But although it is thus widely extended, there is yet room for a much 

 wider extension. There are thousands who have no plants in their Avindows, 

 and thousands more whose plants exhibit nothing but leafless stems projecting 

 from their pots on the window-sill. Our objects are two-fold : first to persuade 

 those who don't grow plants in their windows to begin at once; we promise 

 them a pleasure and gratification from it that will amply repay them ; and sec- 

 ondly, to show how this can be cccomplished. Those who are practically un- 

 acquainted with plant growing had better begin with a small stock, as it is far 

 better to possess a half dozen healthy plants than a host of miserable objects that 

 are neither use nor ornament. The vexation and disappointment many experi- 

 ence through attempting too much frerpiently induces tliem to abandon flowers 

 altogether. Had they commenced with two or three kinds of easy culture, suc- 

 cess would have increased their love of the art and induced them to add to their 

 stock with increased knowledge until they derived pleasure and gratification 

 from it themselves, while setting a good example to others. We will first no- 

 tice the operations necessary to success, merely premising that as the objects of 

 our care are growing existences, as distinguished from unorganized matter, 

 profitable results will be in proportion to our careful attention to their varied 

 wants. Cleanliness is as essential to health in the vegetable as in the animal 

 kingdom, and in some respects, pei'haps, more so. Every plant being an or- 

 ganized existence, its health largely depends on its ability to perform its natural 

 functions — analogous to perspiration, respiration, and digestion in the animal 

 economy. Itemembering this, we see at once how much they suffer when cov- 

 ered with dust and the excretions of insects. As frequent washings are thus 

 promotive of health, so frequent sprinklings over the foliage of most plants 

 will act as the great antidote to disease, insects, and decay. The insects and 

 disease that infest, and not unfrequently destroy plants, may be kept at bay to 

 u considerable extent by good cultivation, which consists in providing at every 

 stage of the life of a plant conditions favorable to its full development in any 

 form desired. As a rule, the a}q)earance of insects, or mildew, is an evidence 

 of debility in the plant, induced very frequently by neglect of the ordinary 

 rules of cultivation. The best remedial agents are air, water, and light; but 

 in aid of these we are sometimes comi)clled to employ tobacco, soap, sulphur, 

 or patent preparations, made of no one knows what. A slight dusting of 

 tobacco jiowder will generally remove green fly without injury to the leaves, 

 dusted. Tlie little mite called "red spider'' always appears where plants are 



