132 ANNUAL REPORT 



A DISCURSIVE PAPER CONTAINING SOME FACTS. 



By Hortense Share, op Rosemount, Minn. 



In this paper I propose to give a part of my experience in trying 

 to surround a home on the prairie with hardy shrubs, flowers, etc. 



We who have fought this climate (that's the word) for twenty 

 years, have had many failures and a measure of success, just 

 enough to stimulate to continued effort. As in every failure may 

 lie the germ of success, we keep on trying. 



Very few women on farms, with the stress of work incident to 

 such a life, have much time to devote to flower culture or orna- 

 mental gardening. Yet nearly all want and need some beauty to 

 refresh the eye and rest the overtasked body in the few breathing 

 places allowed them in their weary routine. 



Many can find time and desire to plant a few shrubs and bushes, 

 provided they are hardy, requiring no shelter or fuss of covering 

 for winter. 



The Lilac, Viburnum or Snow-ball, Syringa, Tartarean Honey- 

 suckles, Scotch Roses, pink and white, single and double Yellow 

 Roses, have proved entirely hardy. The Maiden's Blush needs a 

 slight protection, blooming without the buds blighting as is com- 

 mon in States east of the Mississippi. 



A rose I brought from Ohio is hardy — name unknown. There 

 it was a damask red in color; here it is a bright rose pink. Sprouts 

 around as things are given to in this soil ; each spring it gives us 

 a profusion of large loose double roses of exquisite fragrance. 



We found planted in the yard, two slender stems of lilac, switch- 

 ing helplessly in the strong winds. These were allowed to sprout 

 as much as they pleased, up to a certain point. Now, we have 

 five large clumps, whose thick stems and close branches defy the 

 winds, and are great nesting-places for the birds. 



The largest of these bushes measures now, (Nov. 24,) without 

 foliage, 35 feet (thirty five) in circumference, and 11 feet in height; 

 the others being nearly as large. The bloom was regal this last 

 spring, equal to any I ever saw elsewhere. I felt like making 



