146 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



A paper on the bamboo, by H. C. Ford of California, gave a great 

 many interesting facts concerning it. It lives about forty years, and 

 often grows forty feet in forty days. It is used for many purposes. 

 Same varieties grow to be 120 feet high and two feet in diameter. 



Over thirty species of rattan are found and many of them are 

 adapted to growth in California. One variety has been known to grow 

 seventy feet in thirty days. 



Discussion on the bamboo brought out the fact that it was very 

 hard to transplant, and can only be grown in special places. 



Gen. Henry McCulloch, one of the oldest settlers of the State was 

 introduced and made a speech. He was a co-worker of Gen. Houston, 

 and was in this country when it was full of Indians. 



Wednesday, 3 p. m. 



The first paper taken up was a paper on the "Banana," by K. Ste- 

 vens of California, claiming that it can be grown in special warm loca- 

 tions in Southern California. 



A paper by J. M. Howell of Texas, on "Horticulture on the Staked 

 Plain," was an extensive report of the wonderful advantages of Texas, 

 and especially of the staked plain, where land is sold at two dollars per 

 acre. 



Paper by Wyman Elliott of Minnesota, on "Protecting Fruit and 

 Plant Buyers by Statute," was a masterly review of the curse of bad 

 tree agents and swindlers, and of the good the Minnesota law had on 

 them in keeping out all rascally agents. 



By urgent invitation of the citizens, the Society attended the opera 

 "The Pirates of Penzance," and it was one of the most enjoyable fea- 

 tures of the session. To say that all the performers did well and drew 

 fourth rounds of applause is not putting it too strongly. 



V. 



Editor Eural World : — My last left us at Austin at the close 

 of the American Horticultural society's session, a very pleasant and 

 profitable one. 



On Friday the officers of the Granite Mountain railroad tendered 

 the society a free ride and entertainment over its line to the Granite 

 mountain and the falls of Colorado river. Passing along the valley 

 of the river as we left Austin, we found some very valuable and fertile 

 lands capable of producing, it would seem, almost anything. As we 

 began to enter the mountain district we found the soil thinner, and 

 becoming red and in some places sandy. 



I should say, from what I know of the red lands of Missouri, that 

 this red soil was valuable for fruits.. We find many farms opened, and 



