WINTER MEETING, 1870. 19 



reason why a farmer may i:ot raise as good a vegetable as Mr. Conover him- 

 self on Lonsf Island. 



Pres. Lyon. — I would like to enquire, now that it occurs to me, of Prof. 

 Beal if a variety like Oonover's Colossal can be propagated and maintained by 

 seed effectually? 



Prof. Beal. — I doubt if it can be done. This mammoth variety is not a 

 race by any means, and through the crossing of flowers I can not see how it 

 can be maintained by the planting of seed without a great deal of care in the 

 management of their fertilizing anyway, and perhaps not then for a time. 



W. II. Harrison, Kalamazoo. — I am very skeptical in this matter of farm- 

 ers' gardens. My belief is that a successful farmer carrying on a general 

 business of mixed husbandry cannot afford to have much of a garden. Ho 

 had better buy his vegetables at two prices than to meddle with growing them. 

 I speak on the score of economy alone, without taking into consideration the 

 pleasure of selecting from one's own garden. 



L. B. Potter. — I can simply mention an instance that has come under my 

 own observation of a man carrying on a general farm successfully who does 

 afford to have an excellent garden. 



E. P. Guild. — To be sure our best gardens are the work of our market 

 gardeners, who make a specialty of the business. Still, I maintain by the 

 employment of horse-power a farmer can afford to raise his vegetables as he 

 would his corn in rows that require little or no hand labor save in gathering, 

 and in this way he can raise them as cheap as a market gardener. 



S. B. Mann, Adrian. — I can, from individual experience and observation, 

 come somewhat to the support of Mr. Harrison's views. It seems to me there 

 is a good deal of strength in his position. The farmer that works from day- 

 light to dark in the management of his farm has little time to give to the 

 garden, even although it be arranged never so conveniently, and the principal 

 care of the garden comes when his farm work is pressing him hard. The 

 large farmer who manages his farm with a good deal of help and only plans 

 operations for others to carry out, can afford to sandwich in a little garden 

 work for exercise ; but I refer to the men who work their own farms with as 

 little help as they can get along with. I will say this much for this class of 

 farmer, that they can not afford to cultivate more than the more commou 

 yegetables in such quantities as will subserve their comfort. 



Mr. Merriman. — I protest against the imputation that the farmers can not 

 raise as good gardens as market gardeners. They may not raise vegetables 

 out of which to make money ; but in point of value to the family, I have in 

 our state seen the very best gardens upon farms. 



On motion, the whole subject of vegetables for farmers was referred to a 

 committee, with a request that a list of varieties be made for the farmers' use. 



The president selected Messrs. J. P. Thompson, W. J. Beal, E. F. Guild 

 and S. B. Mann to act on such committee. 



Mr. Guild again referred to the fact that this was not a horticultural society, 

 and we should be careful not to get outside of our jurisdiction. 



Prof. Beal. — I am tired of having this matter tiirown in our faces, and it is 

 high time we took measures to make our name accord with our work. I sup- 

 pose this can not be done except bv amendment to the constitution, but for the 

 sake of testing the sense of this meeting I would ask, Mr. President, that we 

 take a vote upon the question of how many are in favor of changing our name 

 to Michigan State Horticultural Society. 



The President stated if there were no objections the vote would be taken. 



