SUMMER MEETING. 89 



■exhibition to customers of some knowledge, or for his own catalogu- 

 ing and handling. Those who know how, can easily arrange a moderate 

 sized nursery into four or five divisions, and they will as surely know 

 their plants better than their neighbors, as light will follow darkness. 



fbj Contains the plants we speak of as bulbous, and the palms, 

 yuccas, grasses, etc. They also are divided into series, of which irises, 

 lilies and grasses are representative. 



fcj Then there are a few hardy ferns. 



This is all that a nurseryman or florist need do to make his collec- 

 tion "gee" with modern botanical science, and earn the character of 

 *' public benefactor" when a scientist visits him on a very warm day. 



It is even easier than this to arrange all the trees and shrubs orna- 

 mentally, for me at all events, for there is no tying down to the straight- 

 row in the ornamental garden; and my earliest recollection always 

 travels back to a certain terrace window, a mass of Gentiana acaulis, 

 and a run over the green slope between. There were shrubs and trees 

 behind that bed of gentians — rhododendrons, arbutus, lilacs, with prim- 

 roses and phlox between, and ash trees beyond — a group which I was 

 taught early to observe, all had tubular flowers. 



James MacPherson, 

 In American Florist. 



Teach Horticulture at School. 



[The following, by Jacob Faith, was read at the late State meeting of the 

 Missouri horticulturists :] 



I can't think of any subject or paper that is more needed for this 

 meeting than that of urging that horticulture be taught in oar country 

 public schools — a law to set aside one or more days out of each month 

 for horticultural teaching to awaken the inherited love for fruit in the 

 rising generations. In a State as well adapted to the growth of trees 

 and vines as Missouri, it is the duty of our Society to take steps for 

 the advancement of this branch of education. Our educational sys- 

 tem will not be complete until horticulture is taught in our schools. 

 Why do we fall short of the old world in horticultural knowledge? 

 Because that is a branch taught in their schools and sadly neglected 

 in America. Why is it that we are so far in advance of the old coun- 

 try in machinery to do our work with the utmost possible speed and 

 •ease, and fall so short in horticultural skill ? I refer only to those who 

 Jiave no opportunity to study horticulture. Missouri has experienced 



