18 . STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Dr. Owen said the ashes were liable to track into the house. 



N. B. Covert said coal ashes made a good foundation for walks of tar and 

 gravel concrete. 



Mr. Hough said that coal ashes were good for drives but too dirtv for walks. 



C. W. Garfield said that it was often best to combine the walk ami drive in 

 one, as it saved half the labor in keeping them in order. He described an im- 

 proved implement for cutting borders, consisting of a wheel cultivator with a 

 sharp cutter like a plow-share. With it he could cut as much border in an 

 hour as with a border iron in two days, and do it more uniform. 



The next topic was : 



TREES IN AND OUT OF PLACE. 



Upon which an excellent paper was read by Mr. Porter Beal, of Geneva, Mich., 

 the manuscript of which we have been unable to obtain. 



T. T. Lyon : Trees may be in place when small which need removing when 

 they become large. 



E. Baur : I would have along the north and south roads in our State native 

 evergreens, and along the east and west roads winter apple trees. 



A. A. Crozier preferred groups of trees along the roadside rather than rows 

 which were imperfect. 



L. D. Watkins asked what to do with trees in the yard which became so large 

 as to hide the house. It might have been remedied when they were set by leav- 

 ing clear openings to the street. He thought the oaks and the white pine bet- 

 ter for parks than for the door-yard. He liked fruit trees on the outskirts of 

 the grounds. 



S. M. Pearsall : I set the trees of my first apple orchard twenty feet apart. 

 They are too thick, and I cannot thin them and have them in good shape. 



B. W. Steere : My idea of the distance apart for trees has been growing 

 wider and wider. At an early day so many soft maples were set here in Adrian 

 as to have given it its name, "soft maple city." They were set in uniform 

 close rows, and when you have seen a few rods you have seen all. Some of our 

 common council have no idea what a tree will develop into when it has a 

 chance, and as a result there are more misshapen trees in this city than in any 

 other place in the State. The council ordered all trees to be trimmed up ten 

 feet from the ground, and subsequently raised the requirement to twelve feet. 



C. W. Garfield called attention to the use of trees for producing desired 

 effects in the landscape, describing a case in Illinois, where the appearance of 

 a hill was produced with trees alone. 



A piece of music was then given by Mrs. Dr. and Miss Mattie Sager. 



IN-DOOR HORTICULTURE. 

 MARY N. ALLEN, HUDSON, MICHIGAN. 



The love of the beautiful is one of the strongest incentives to a pure and 

 noble life. The jasper walls, the pearly gates, the golden streets of the Heavenly 

 City, with the evergreen foliage of that wonderful tree that is to yield its fruits 

 by the side of the river whose waters are clear as crystal, the beauties of which 

 no earthly city could ever compare, form some of the attractions that are held 

 out at the end of a Christian life, and the more beautiful and attractive we can 



