HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 355 



We hope those attending this meeting will get enough informa- 

 tion to make them successful bee-keepers. We know men who 

 have made bee-keeping very profitable, and last summer when we 

 saw the fields and roadsides white with clover blossoms and the 

 bees fairly swarming around the linden trees, we thought what a 

 bonanza we would have if we only had bees enough to gather all 

 this precious nectar. 



SORGHUM GROWING. 



I have been informed that over 10,000 gallons of syrup were 

 made within a radius of ten miles of this town the present season, 

 and judging by samples I have seen it was of very fine quality. 

 For years very fine specimens of crude syrup have been exhibited 

 at our county fair, and the names of Whitelock, Kennedy and 

 Moore, and no doubt others with whom I am acquainted are 

 becoming famous for the fine syrups they make and sell. The 

 soil in this section seems to be well adapted to the growing of a 

 fine quality of cane, and I hope the business will continue to in- 

 crease until car loads of your fine syrup will go from here. Cane 

 growers, we bid you a hearty welcome to our meetings and hope 

 you may have a profitable time. 



PLOWER CULTURE. 



We have always been an admirer of flowers and are pleased to 

 note a rapid increase in their cultivation, especially of house 

 plants. Let the good work go on until every home shall have its 

 bed of flowers, its twining wreaths of roses, its bushes of lilac and 

 snow-ball. Teach the children to love and care for them and they 

 will grow up to be more noble men and women 



FORESTRY 



It seems unnecessary to say anything to our prairie farmers on 

 this subject, as most of them have long since learned the value of 

 a good grove around their buildings, but to the timber farmers I 

 wish to give a note of warning. You have denuded the forest so 

 rapidly that I hear of some farmers who owned timber farms who 

 now have to buy their fire wood, and unless this rapid destruction 

 of our forests eeases we shall all be paying tribute to Iowa and 

 Pennsylvania coal mines. 1 notice that the product of grain per 

 acre is nearer alike in what was the timbered part of our county 

 and the prairie, and I attribute it largely to our setting out trees 

 and your destroying them. It is much easier to save part of your 

 timber than to replant it. So I say to you think twice before lay- 

 ing the ax to the last ten acres of the grand old forest. 



Fellow members, I do not feel qualified to longer fill the posi- 

 tion to which you have three times elected me. I feel as though 

 other hands can do more for the success of the society and trust that 

 you will allow me to return to the ranks as a private. 



If we make of this a Union organization some changes in our 

 constitution is necessary, and I suggest that a committee be select- 

 ed to make such change and arrange plans for a Union. In union 



