122 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



very Tvell by setting the roots in boxes as suggested by Mr. Stearns, ^vith a little 

 moist earth in the bottom and the stems packed in dry, clean straw. 



Wm. Eovre, Grand Rapids: Henderson describes a successful plan of keeping 

 celery and bleaching at the same time. The roots are taken up after having 

 made a good growth and without mounding up, and placed in tight boxes with 

 a little water in the bottom. They keep on growing, blanch beautifully, and 

 make a fine quality of celery for the table. I am wonderfully pleased with a 

 comparatively new variety of celery called London Scarlet. 



Mr. Tracy : The matter of hardening-oif vegetables in preparation for the 

 open garden is a very important one. Plants should be prepared for planting 

 out, first by transplanting into boxes from the seed bed; then just before plac- 

 ing in the garden, water should be withheld for a day so that the plants shall 

 be quite dry. Then if placed in moist earth immediately after giving them a 

 good soaking, they will grow on without any check. 



Mr. Potter : I raised last year a field of ruta-bagas at a minimum expense. 

 The rows were placed two and one-half feet apart and the plants thinned in the 

 row with a hoe ; a dressing of wood ashes was given, and in harvesting the tops 

 were removed with a sharp hoe, and the roots pulled with a potato hook. 



H. U. Adams, Galesburg : I have a simple plan of making a hot-bed cover 

 that works well with me. A light frame is made the size of the bed, and a 

 cover of sheeting stretched over it. This is given a good coat of boiled oil, and 

 when dry is given a second coat. Then sheeting is stretched on the reverse 

 side of the frame and treated in the same way. This has the same effect as 

 double glazing, is cheap and very satisfactory. 



Mrs. Adams explained the methods of preparing some kinds of vegetables 

 for the table. 



Mr. Gibson : If you have never tried it yon will be surprised to learn how good 

 celery is cooked as asparagus is ordinarily prepared for our tables. The stems 

 that are rejected as not quite nice enough for eating in hand are excellent when 

 prepared in this manner. The delicate flavor of the celery is retained per- 

 fectly. 



Mr. Tracy : In our family we think a good deal of spinach, and have learned 

 in its preparation for the table to place salt in the water in which it is to be 

 boiled; and the leaves are not put in the water until it boils. The salt allows 

 the water to get hotter before it boils and thus the vegetable is cooked more 

 quickly and is seasoned nicely at the same time. 



The hour of eleven o'clock having arrived Professor Beal was called on for his 

 address, entitled 



WHAT CAN BOTANY DO FOR HORTICULURE? 

 LThe following is only an abstract.] 



Horticulture is a department of agriculture, and includes pomology, floricul- 

 ture and vegetable gardening. It is intimately related to aboriculture and 

 landscape gardening, and is almost inseparable from botany. The intimate 

 relations of botany and horticulture are almost too obvious to need mention- 

 ing. The new botany of to-day is a very different thing from the old botany 

 of 30 or 40 years ago. Botany was then chiefly studied by medical students 

 who wished to learn the medical properties of plants. The leading botanists 

 then gave most of their time to discovering, naming, and classifying new 

 plants. From 1850 for 12 years, morphology may be styled the leading idea 



