154 ANNUAL RErOKT 



sible shall be made of a little, and to that end considerable stress 

 is laid upon gardening and fruit culture, not to encourage experi- 

 menting upon those varieties whose hardiness and productiveness 

 have not been fully demonstrated, but to make each home more 

 attractive, and to multiply its comforts and even luxuries by sur- 

 rounding it with an abundance and variety of delicious and health- 

 ful fruits and vegetables which even our barren climate permits. 



It must be admitted at the beginning, that in this department, 

 perhaps, more than in any other, the fact of our sessions being held, 

 and instruction given exclusively in the winter, it is not practicable 

 to impress upon the minds of the students clean cut impressions of 

 many horticultural operations as would be possible during the 

 growing season. Still there is much left that is of the greatest 

 importance, which can be done, notwithstanding we are shut out 

 from actual work in garden and shrubbery. The students can be 

 made familiar with the latest and most approved methods in the 

 departments which are under discussion, and the reasons which 

 should compel their adoption. These reasons can be so clearly 

 presented, and the arguments in support of these methods so con- 

 clusively given, and the methods themselves so well described and 

 illustrated by such material and means as we have at hand, that 

 the attentive* student will have little difficulty in the practical ap- 

 plication of them in his own actual work. 



In the matter of vegetable gardening, the boys cau be instructed 

 in the proper preparation of the soil, when and how to plant the 

 different kinds of seeds, and the reasons which determine the man- 

 ner recommended, the nature of the different plants may be taught 

 and comprehended. Students are to be familiarized with the best 

 methods of transplanting, and the time when it can most success- 

 fully be done; with the most efficient and economical modes of 

 cultivation, the time and manner of harvesting, and marketing, 

 together with the safest rules for winter storage and preservation. 



FRUIT CULTURE. 



We find no difficulty with the means at hand in giving practical 

 lessons in budding, grafting, layering, and pruning. Students are 

 taught the proper locatiou, care and cultivation of fruit trees, vines, 

 berries, etc.; how to pack and market all the kinds of fruit which 

 can be profitably grown; how to grow and handle nursery stock. 



GREENHOUSE STRUCTURES. 



Under this head we are to give necessary and wholesome instruc- 

 tions in the formation of hotbeds, cold frames, and greenhouses, 

 and the propagation of plants from soft wood cuttings, calling 

 particular attention to those matters which are essential to success, 

 and pointing out with clearness and minuteness the most common 

 mistakes which cause failures, such as injudicious locations, im- 

 proper ways of protection, heating, planting, &c. 



OIINAMENTAL TREES AND SHRUBS. 



Iii ornamental planting, we can instruct in the planning, laying 



