DECEMBER MEETING. 299 



the latter in tlie open grouml where it is to gro'w, — put these two flowers 

 together in low dishes on the dining-table. Sweet mignonette and the old- 

 fashioned })ink and white sweet pea for fragrance, and for a delicate combina- 

 tion of bloom and greenness for small white vases, tiie asters — watch closely 

 for the blister beetle, — ])erliai)S a s])rinkling of ga«-tar water will dispose of 

 them; — stocks — look out for the minute cabbage beetle or turnip lly on the 

 young plants, and give tlicm a s})rinkling of water containing a little fish oil; 

 for an annual climber get some of the best varieties of morning glories — these 

 flowers you can depend on — if you have "good luck." For a beautiful bulbous 

 climber, take tlie Madeira vine — for the house or piazza, sow the Thunbergia; 

 for a summer garden bulb, do not forget the gladiolus, and for autumn 

 remember the dahlia. 



Then there are the winter vases, calling for grasses and immortelles. I am 

 sure the work I have laid out i.s too much for most of you, farmers' wives, but 

 how could I stop before ? 



Of house-plants I shall say little. My choice might not be yours, and cir- 

 cumstances may well control choice. I noted a few fine things at the fair that 

 I should like to possess were I sure of success in their culture. There were 

 beautiful begonias, a delicate centauria, and a splendid salvia, and of fuchsias 

 a magnificent purple and red, the Tower of London, and the queen of the 

 whites; of geraniums a fine scarlet double, the sapier pompier. If there 

 were a little better opportunity to obtain information about choice plants, it 

 might be of advantage to farmers' wives who visit the fair, and possibly also 

 to tiie greenhouse proprietors. 



Hudsonville, Ottawa county, Mich. 



Following the reading of Mrs. Crozier's address, Mrs. M. A. Lessiter, of 

 Grattan, took the floor and read a pleasing paper on 



THE WORK OF THE FARM. 



She announced herself glad that she was a farmer's wife, and although there 

 were many severe struggles and hardships to bear, there were enough pleasures^ 

 to overbalance these ; and if farmers' wives looked rightly upon their mission 

 and made the best of their opportunities, there would be less reason for the 

 boys' anxiety to leave the farm for other occupations. She was glad that our 

 State had an agricultural college where the farmers' boys could get a good edu- 

 cation and still be connected with the operations of farm life under favorable- 

 circumstances, and thus, while growing in knowledge, develop also a love for the 

 best calling in the world. 



MARKETS. 



Mr. Byron Markham, delegate to the convention from the Lake Shore Pom- 

 ological Society, read an essay upon Markets, which is given in full : 



AVith great diffidence, and only at the earnest solicitation of the friends of 

 Pomology of western Allegan county, do I appear before you to read an essay 

 — not on fruit culture — for I am not so presumptuous as to suppose I could 

 teach the most inexperienced among you upon that subject, knowing as I doy 

 my utter unfitness to even attempt it, and my only excuse for occupying your 

 time at all is the partiality of my friends, and the great interest I feel in all 

 that in anywise pertains to the advancement of the fruit interests of Michigan ; 

 but especially of the interests of those with whom I have cast my lot. I could 



