74 ' ANNUA!/ REPORT 



bile and ward oif the billions fevers of western climates and their 

 attendant ills. Grow flowers also. They cost but little money, 

 and are elevating, purifying, harmonizing in their influence upon 

 the character of 3'ourself, your wife and your children. The boy 

 who is brought up among flowers and given .1 chance to love them 

 will never come to the gallows. In my walks from my home to 

 my office in St. Louis.I sometimes pass through or by a group of rude 

 urchins engaged in quarreling or in vulgar, profane and boisterous 

 conduct on the streets. If I have my basket of flowers with me, 

 the instant their eyes catch sight of tliem. every sign of rudeness 

 is quelled, their faces light up with joy, their eyes sparkle, and 

 *'Give me some, give me some," I hear from all sides, and for the 

 moment they are transformed by the gratification of that innate 

 sense of beauty which dwells in the lowliest, roughest mind. The 

 farmer who does not cultivate flowers or encourage it, does not do 

 his whole duty to his family. Grow more vegetables also. Do not 

 leave the kitchen garden so dependent upon the wife. She has 

 more than her share of the burden on the farm. Plant your gar- 

 den so that when your corn is being tended you can give the rows 

 of vegetables and small fruits a turn with the cultivator at the 

 same time; and see to it that when you gather your farm crops into 

 barns and bins, the wife has her supply in the house and cellar 

 from the vegetable garden to set out her table with the daily 

 meals that please yourself, your family and the occasional guest. 

 Fellow horticulturits, I am glad to have met you here, and glad to 

 have the privilege to make even this short plea for horticulture. 



Credentials were presented by A. J. Phillips, of West Salem, and 

 George P. Pefler, of Pewaukee, as delegates from the Wisconsin 

 State Horticultural Society. 



The president appointed Messrs. Fuller, Underwood and 

 McHenry, as a committee to report upon the recommendations of 

 the address of President Harris and the report of the secretary, and 

 on motion the treasurer's report and the financial statement in the 

 secretary's report were referred to the finance committee, Messrs. 

 Underwood, Kinney and Elliot. 



President Sias then read his paper on " Black Heart in Fruit 

 Trees." 



