WISCONSIN SUMMER MEETING, 1895. 223 
better, teaching more pleasant, horticulture will take a long stride 
in advance and members of the state society will not say, “We have 
no more members than we had twenty years ago.” What pleasanter 
thought for a young man to cherish when he leaves the place of his 
birth than to realize that he helped to plant trees and flowers on 
the school ground and around the old home. My father says that 
some of his pleasantest hours are spent in his memorial orchard, 
which recall the pleasant hours with such horticulturists as Peffer, 
Wilcox, Tuttle, Plumb, Springer, Kellogg, Dartt, Smith, Daniels‘ 
Hirschinger, Cook, Hatch, Grimes, Jewell, Sias, Gaylord, Patten, 
Gideon and others. 
Horticulture inculcated in the minds of our children at school, 
will show itself later in beautifying the cities of the silent dead. 
How much our hearts have ached in seeing those places neglected 
and growing up to weeds! But I am glad to say that within the last 
few years there has been a marked improvement in our country in 
their care. Like other reforms, the ladies have taken hold, and flow- 
ere are blooming on every hand. A former resident of the town 
where I live, who is now dead and lies in our cemetery, was once 
one of our school officers. He planted a nice lot of elm trees in our 
school yard at his own expense, and they now afford a pleasant 
shade. Are not these living monuments to the memory of Mr. C. C. 
Palmer? 
In conclusion, let me say: Do we as teachers, to whose care the 
fathers and mothers of this state commit the training of their dear 
ones, do all we can to benefit ‘their children? Can we not in addi- 
tion to their other studies instil in their minds a love of horticul- 
ture? I have not much fear ofa girl or boy who brings a beautiful 
bouquet (like the one on the president’s desk) and places it in the 
school room. In the spring I generally take a plant to school, and 
you would be surprised the way they come with their plants. We 
hardly realize what flowers express. I understand that the most 
noticeable token of respect on Memorial Day at Viroqua to the 
memory of Wisconsin’s beloved ex-governor and soldier, Uncle 
Jerry Rusk, was the magnificent floral display, his work in agricul- 
ture and horticulture represented by a large plow made of beauti- 
fulflowers. Then, let us unite horticulture with our common schools 
in such a way that they cannot be separated! Then we will have 
model schools, model school grounds, and that will create a desire 
for model homes and model farms, where fruits and flowers abound. 
Then, perchance, it will be heralded abroad that Wisconsin has 
model teachers, and by their help and co-operation, you, the mem- 
bers and friends here assembled, may in future years be impressed 
with the belief that you have a model horticultural society. 
(One other paper, of equal value with the foregoing, on account of lack of space 
will appear in the August number. Sec’y.) 
