56 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The society offers premiums for the most complete, well-grown, and 

 tastefully arranged collection of ornamental plants and cut flowers, and 

 we award the first premium of five dollars to the Traverse City Floral Co. ; 

 the second premium, three dollars, to Frank M. Paine of the South Side 

 greenhouses. The fine collection from the asylum was not entered in 

 competition and of course was not considered in making the above 

 awards. 



L. R. TAFT. 

 W. J. BEAL. 



PAPEES AISTD DISOUSSIOISrS. 



STREET ORNAMENTATION. 



BY DR. W. J. BEAL, MICHIGAN AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 



To get enjoyment from views on the streets, one must walk on good 

 sidewalks or ride on a well-made street or in a car. In the business por- 

 tion of a village there is not much opportunity for growing trees success- 

 fully, but there are a number of things which go to make a favorable or 

 unfavorable impression on a citizen or a visitor. 



The condition of the roadway and sidewalks has been referred to. Neat 

 arrangements for hitching teams attract country people who drive into 

 town. The best device, to my notion, that I have ever seen was in the 

 city of Hudson in Lenawee county. The merchants combined, when the 

 main streets were paved, and put in three-inch gas pipes of uniform 

 heights, for posts, and the same kind of pipe passed horizontally from post 

 to post. In the pipe, rings were occasionally found for tying. This was 

 neat jmd durable at the start, and remained so for many years. 



In most cases the signs of the stores and offices are a monotonous lot, 

 as they are home designs made by a few of the common painters of the 

 village. A real gem of a sign is a rarity in a village. 



Modern plate-glass windows of generous size help give to a town an 

 enterprising air. Cleanliness and freedom from all sorts of rubbish are 

 pleasant to contemplate, and are good advertisements. 



In a village, usually, little attention is devoted to tasteful arrangements 

 of goods in the stores. Often a mixed variety is allowed to remain in a 

 window for some months, with little attention from the proprietor. 

 Occasionally, some one with taste and enterprise returns from a city and 

 experiments on a few designs in his front window. This sometimes proves 

 to be catching, and the whole town begins to make attempts at improved 

 arrangement of goods. 



Before passing up the principal streets, where lots are larger and 

 where the finest houses are located, let us observe some points in the orna- 

 mentation of country highways. I will speak of some that are near 



