THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



MEETING OF THE MISSISSIPPI 



VALLEY HORTICULTURAL 



SOCIETY. 



I Concluded from page 26S, of Vol. VI. J 



The morniiig session of the fourth 

 and U\st day was opened at ten o'clock. 

 The invitation given bv the Louisville 

 and Nashville I'ailway, to make an ex- 

 cursion as the guests of the railway to 

 Mobile, was accepted by about one 

 hundred of the members, and Tuesday, 

 27th February, was designated as the 

 day for the excursion. After reports 

 from several of the committees, Capt. 

 E. Hollister, of Illinois, read a paper 

 on markets and marketing. His advice 

 was to study the peculiarities of the 

 particular market as to the kinds that 

 were jjopular in it, and the style of 

 package most acceptable, then send only 

 such fruit as you would put upon your 

 own table, dividing it into two grades, 

 the best, and that of fair size and 

 quality. That which is below this 

 should not be sent to market. Mark 

 each package so that con.signee may at 

 once see the grade of fruit it contains. 

 For berries he advises the use of the 

 square quart box, for peaches and 

 tomatoes, the one-third of a bushel box. 

 The remainder of the session was taken 

 up with di.scussions on this subject, but 

 notliing different of importance was 

 elicited. In the afternoon, a j^aper was 

 read by Mrs. H. M. Lewis, of Wiscon- 

 sin, on '' Birds in horticulture." The 

 first point made in her paper was that 

 natural history should be taught in our 

 schools, so that the childien might at 

 least know the coirect name and the 

 family to which each common bird be- 

 longed. The blue-bird, robin, black- 

 bird, song sparrow, oriole, bobolink, 

 &c., were kindly mentioned, but the 

 English sparrow was evidently not a 

 favorite witli the lady, noi- the butcher- 

 bird, nor blue-jay. The next paper 

 was by Mrs. D. Huntley, also of Wiscon- ; 



sin, on " Adorning rural homes," full 

 of excellent suggestions and valuable 

 thoughts. " It mattei's little," she said, 

 " whether the dwelling be a mansion or 

 a cottage ; it is the taste displayed in 

 the adornment of the grounds, the 

 planting of trees, the care of the lawn, 

 which indicate the culture and refine- 

 ment of the owner." And again, "the 

 educating influence of pleasant sur- 

 roundings upon the minds of the young 

 cannot be over-estimated." What shall 

 be said of very many, yea of most of 

 our Canadian rural homes, if these ex- 

 pressions are correct l What is their 

 educational effect upon the childi-en 

 brought up in them, and may we not 

 find just here the reason why so many 

 farmers' sons and daughters are dis- 

 gusted with life on the farm ? And if 

 she truly remarked, that " the outward 

 surroundings of the homes of any peo- 

 ple are the truest indications of the 

 prosperity of the country and the intelli- 

 gence of its inhabitants," what shall we 

 say of ourselves when measured by this 

 standard I How many of our rural 

 homes have no lawn at all, hardly a 

 tree about the house, the way to the 

 front door through the barn yai-d, and 

 if there be any garden at all, not a fruit 

 or flower in it, but plenty of tall weeds 

 growing in unsightly tangle. What 

 are the attractions to the children of 

 such a home ? What must be the in- 

 telligence of the people who live in such 

 homes ? And shall such be the homes 

 of our beautiful land 1 We answer in 

 the words of this lady's paper, " hun- 

 dreds of new homes are constantly 

 springing up all over our land, and it 

 is a question for the owner to decide 

 whether these shall be all bleak, and 

 bare, and desolate, with nothing to 

 shelter or shade them, or shall they be 

 adorned with the beauties of nature till 

 they become ornaments to the landscape, 

 a second Eden wherein to dwell." Yes, 

 the owners must decide it, and gentle 



