264 NEIJUASKA STATE HOKTICL'LTURAL SOCIETY. 



culture and horticulture in an inland region like Nebraska 

 are somewhat peculiar. Our range of temperature is great 

 and our extremes of temperature inconstant and uncertain ; 

 our rainfall is apt' to be scant and our constant of evapora- 

 tion high; our atmospheric humidity is small and often 

 strains to the utmost the ability of the plant tissues to pump 

 up water from the soil fast enough to meet the demands of the 

 lungs of the plant. How different must be the problems of 

 the farm, the garden, the orchard, and the park in Nebraska 

 from what they are, for example, on the California coast, 

 where, as at San Diego, the average temperature of the six 

 months of summer differs from that of the other six months 

 by only eight degrees. Evidently each region must work out 

 its own salvation. There is no use in trying to do the impos- 

 sible, and fortunately there is no need of it ; there are plenty- 

 of things that we can grow and we must find out what they 

 are. It is all very well to consult the catalogs of eastern nur- 

 serymen and florists and to enthuse over the glowing descrip- 

 tions of bloom and fruitage on their home grounds. We 

 would all like to fill our front yards with the moisture-loving 

 shrubs and flowers that we learned to love in our old homes 

 farther east ; but for the most part our labor would be in vain. 

 Sometimes a tenderfoot can become inured to the West and 

 make a valuable citizen; but we must test him carefully be- 

 fore we trust him verv fully. 



In this problem of the W^est, it seems to me that science 

 and experience must cooperate. The horticulturist should 

 study somewhat attentively the facts and truths which mete- 

 orology' has to present. Our Experiment Stations should, I 

 think, give more attention than they are doing to the relation 

 of atmosphere and water, heat and cold, sunshine a,nd evap- 

 oration, to the particular fruits and crops which we are try- 

 ing to select as the best for a particular locality. And by 

 meteorology I do not refer merely to the gathering of climatic 

 data, for this has already been pretty thoroughly done, but 

 to distinct lines of experimentation such as might point the 



