102 MINNESOTA STATE HOETICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 



ior this privilege, advancing arguments which I have not time 

 to repeat. But, without expert aid, think of your yard as a pic- 

 ture, the house forming the background, a clear lawn the center 

 foreground, and masses of trees, shrubs and plants the frame, 

 with broken edge. 



We will now imagine the house ready for occupancy. Then 

 plant vines ! And, in this work, one rule must be remembered — 

 conditions or individual preference will guide the rest — never allow 

 vines or shrubs to hide the whole foundation of your home. At 

 intervals this foundation must be allowed to prove its stability 

 and worth, as necessary to the beauty of your home as are right 

 principles to beauty of character. 



Home and Mother Nature! In securing the one we too often 

 sear and scar the other. But loyalty to home need not destroy 

 fealty to nature. All true men and women love both, and will 

 find a way finally, through increasing knowledge and endeavor, 

 to reconcile the two — compromising, modifying, blending, until 

 the line of demarkation, giving rise to the axiom that "God made 

 the country, man the town," is partially obliterated, and the lofty 

 emotions engendered by the beauties of inanimate nature will join, 

 unimpeded, the deep affections clustering around the home, form- 

 ing a perfect whole, which cannot fail to satisfy every aspiration 

 it inspires. A perfect whole! Now despaired of by the pessimist, 

 believed in by the optimist, dreamed of and described by the poet, 

 seen by the pure in heart, and deserved of all mankind who labor 

 and strive for its fulfillment. 



Training the Teachers in Flower Culture.— An exchange says: 

 "To bring the country home up to the plane of the city as regards the cultiva- 

 tion of flowers and decorative plants is the ambition of the Illinois State Board 

 of Education. In pursuance of this idea the board has decided to establish a 

 new department at the State Normal University at Bloomington, which will be 

 devoted exclusively to the purposes indicated. A greenhouse and garden spot 

 will be laid out, all kinds of plants and flowers indigenous to Illinois will be 

 cultivated by the students, and a competent instructor will be in charge to 

 teach the methods of propagation and tasteful decoration and arrangement. 



"It is the purpose of the board to instruct the teachers who are fitting 

 themselves for rural teaching especially the proper care of flower gardens and 

 of decoration of buildings and grounds. It will be the endeavor to carry on 

 such adornment with the appliances which might be available at the small 

 schoolhouses, but which will be sufficient to instil into the minds of the pupils 

 the possibilities for improvement at their own homes. 



"The student will be instructed in the knowledge of moisture in the soil, 

 effects of different forms of cultivation, and will assist in the regular botanical 

 course by practical demonstration on flowers, plants, fruits and vegetables 

 that need more than ordinary care. The results may be of far-reaching im- 

 portance and justify the slight expenditure." 



