"WINTER MEETING. 219 



sewerage system of our cities, ia eoDJiinctioa with rains, carry to the 

 rivers and oceans a large proportion of the fatness of the land. The 

 fishes gather up this wasted wealth and return it to us in the form of 

 palatable, healthful food. I repeat that the time will come to us, as it 

 has come to every other nation, when we must as individuals take up 

 a careful study of the possibilities of the water for adding to our food 

 supply. The American farmer has heretofore looked upon the water 

 merely as a necessity for his stock. A more crowded and developed 

 state of society will force upon his attention other and possibily su- 

 perior uses. 



[In the introductory part of the foregoing, I beg to acknowledge 

 to have drawn upon an article by Prof. G. Brown Goode, who had 

 covered the ground in such thoroughly concise form that no one could 

 go over it again without stepping in his foot tracks.] 



Prop. W. F. Page. 

 Snpt. U S. Fish Hatchery Neosho, 



The quartette sang " Italia," then followed the second paper of 

 the evening. 



The best Shrubs and Herbaceous Plants for Hardiness, 

 Abundance and Succession of Bloom in a Farmer's 

 Lawn. 



Many urgent appeals have been made from time to time for a more 

 general planting of ornamentals around our country homes. Who is 

 not favorably impressed with the appearance of a place surrounded 

 with a variety of choice plants artistically arranged I On the part of 

 the owner it indicates a love for the beautiful, a desire to please, and a 

 determination to have something more than a place in which to dwell — 

 a home in all that the word implies. Do we realize how much refine- 

 ment may be cultivated and how our thoughts may be rested from the 

 usual strain of our business affairs or occupations by a little extra 

 efifori in looking after this portion of our home ? Moreover, it is a 

 profitable investment, in that the young people are educated to appre- 

 ciate and enjoy this adjunct to th^ home and have less desire to secure 

 necessary recreation in places that are not elevating or refining, but 

 on the other hand, it will tend to purify the moral atmosphere by its 

 loveliness. Someone has said, "that every conntry home, however 

 humble, might be an ornamental garden." Therefore, let us give special 

 attention to the planting of our lawns. 



In making a selection, 1 have aimed to give a list within the reach 

 of all that will supply an abundance of bloom the entire summer 



