STATE HORTICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 115 
etc.—should be harmoniously gathered under the general care of a State 
Commissioner of Agriculture. Of course no plan would be free from 
serious objections, but we think it entirely possible that some plan could be 
devised that would be more satisfactory than the present entire absence of 
plan. 
Review. 
Under this head the secretary begs leave to call attention of the members 
of the society to some of the subjects that have attracted his interest during 
the year, believing that they possess some interest and value for others. 
besides himself. 
Wisconsin. 
Wisconsin being a near neighbor of ours, and its horticultural condition 
being more nearly related to our own than that of any other State in which 
the art has made material progress, the Transactions of its Horticultural 
Society should perhaps be the more interesting to us. Comparing these ~ 
Transactions with our own, one cannot but notice a large proportion of 
papers that are not severely practical in their nature. In the Transactions 
for 1877 the leading paper is ‘‘ Northwestern Horticulture in the Future,” a 
subject which permits of a considerable flight of the imagination. Another 
paper, by J. S. Stickney, is ‘‘ What I would Like to Do,” in which the ideal 
sought after is very strongly contrasted with the average attainment in 
horticulture. ‘‘ Horticulture in Literature” and ‘‘ Remarkable Trees and 
Plants ” are the titles of other papers, presented by ladies. These papers 
are rendered none the less interesting by their titles or their authorship, 
but it needs no quotations to show that they can be of little practical assist- 
ance in the production of fruits and flowers in this northwestern climate. 
‘« Second Harvests,” by another lady, is another illustration of the same 
character. I do not mention this character of the Transactions in any spirit 
of criticism. On the contrary, I am glad to see it as an indication of such 
progress in horticulture that its laborers may turn occasionally from the 
more laborious and practical to the more intellectual and pleasing features 
of the art. 
A second feature noticed in the volume referred to is the large number of 
papers contributed by ladies. Besides those above mentioned are others, 
entitled ‘‘Summer Treatment of Winter Blooming Plants,” ‘‘ Inexpensive 
Methods of Making Home Pleasant,” ‘‘Our Native Vines,” ‘‘ Garden Vases 
and Hanging Baskets,” and ‘‘ Flowers as a Home Decoration,” making no 
less than eight papers contributed by ladies to one meeting of the Wisconsin 
Horticultural Society. 
In the Transactions for the Wisconsin Society for 1878-9, we notice first 
the act of reorganization of the society, in which the following features 
seem worthy of your attention. 1. The Executive Committee consists of 
‘‘ president, secretary and treasurer of the society, and of one member from 
each congressional district of the State; said members from the congress- 
inal districts to be chosen annually by the county and local Horticultural 
Societies in the respective districts.” 2. The society makes ‘‘an annual 
report to the Governor of the State of the transactions of the society.” 
