STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 315 



outwardly neat, and corresponding to the demands of the family, and located upon 

 the pleasantest spot on the farm. Within, they should be convenient and supplied 

 with the arrangemcats for lightening the labor of the housekeeper, and should con- 

 tain ample comfort for the physical man, and for the inner man, pleasant pictures 

 hanging upon the wall, good books and papers upon the table as a provision for 

 mental improvement, and as a change, music is refreshing to the tired body after 

 the rough and heavy work of the day is ended. There should be kept upon the 

 farm the best of stock and that well cared for. The field fences and out buildings 

 should present nothing unattractive about them but should harmonize with the 

 dwelling. Upon the ♦'ideal farm" there is no place for unsightly hedge rows of 

 brambles and thistles along the fences or wood piles, worn out tools, broken down 

 sleds and wagons and other rubbish in the street. Stumps and boulders have been 

 removed from the highway, and rows of trees adorn its sides and in summer cast 

 their refreshing shade upon the traveler, and in winter loosen the icy grip of the 

 fierce blizzards. The dwelling stands well back from the road and in front is the 

 well kept lawn, with here and there an evergreen or ornamental tree to break 

 the monotony, and the walks from the road to the house are bordered with flowers, 

 a reminder lo the pas.sing traveler that hospitality, comfort and happiness have a 

 dwelling place within. The ideal home is a pattern after nature. Nature delights 

 in beauty ; she loves to brighteii the landscape and make it agreeable to the eye. 

 She hangs the Ivy round the ruin, and over the stump of the. withered tree twines 

 the graceful vine, and clothes even the Alpine heights with moss and lichens. 



The farmer's occupation brings him into constant association with nature, and it 

 is his privilege to draw inspiration from her handiwork. 



Is that all that is necessary to make the farmer's home complete? Where is the 

 orchard and the garden ? What kind of a home is that which is barren of fruits, 

 vegetables and flowers ? Mr. President, do you think there are any such in Min- 

 nesota ? How many farmers do any of you gentlemen know that furnish their 

 tables with two or three quarts of fresh fruit every day from the time the first 

 strawberries are ripe until the last cluster of grapes is clipped from the vine, and 

 canned fruits for every remaining day of the year ? How many farmer's gardens do 

 you know of that are ample in size and furnish his family with all the fresh 

 vegetables they can consume from the first sallads in spring until the cellar is 

 stored for winter? What an improvement it would be, and what enjoyment it 

 would give to take an acre or two out of that field that runs right up to the door, 

 and transform it into a productive fruit and vegetable garden, and make it the most 

 pleasant and profitable acre upon the farm. Even farmers want something more 

 than to merely exist. Any good fruit and vegetable garden is worth more to the 

 family than the products of any ten acres in wheat. Pork and beans, potatoes and 

 bread, although they will sustain life, leave a void that can only be satisfied with 

 the luxurious and wholesome products of the garden. In my opinion the farmer 

 who does not plant a good plat of ground to small fruits and vegetables is not 

 enjoying the advantages that God designed he should, neither is he dealing 

 rightously by those committed to his charge. Why does he not do it? He sayg 

 because he has no time to fool with such little things. Little things they may seem 

 now, but when the end cometh, when his overworked wife has laid down the bur- 

 den of life and rests in yonder cemetary, and his children have flown the parental 



