The Canadian Horticulturist. io9 



State Legislature last year passed what is known as the Experiment Station Bill, 

 appropriating $8,000 to be expended in Western New York by Cornell Univer- 

 sity for the benefit of horticulture. The fund was to be used in experiments, 

 investigations, in publishing the results, and disseminating information by means 

 of lectures or otherwise. 



Last December Prof. Bailey conducted a four days' School of Horticulture 

 in Chautauqua County, at which about sixty fruit growers were enrolled. The 

 first half-day was devoted to the subject of How plants live and grow, with 

 microscopic demonstrations ; another half-day was given to the evolution of 

 plants ; one to the theory of tillage and productivity of land ; another to fungi, 

 with stereopticon views. Each session began with lessons of observation. The 

 interest was keen, and quite a number wrote on the examination at the close. 



Surely we can profit by the example of our neighbors. If the fruit 

 industry is one of the foremost in Ontario why should it not receive every 

 possible encouragement from our Legislature? 



MEETINGS OF HORTICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 



Now that we have so many affiliated Horticultural Societies, any hints that 

 will aid in making them successful will, no doubt, be widely appreciated. The 

 following is from the American Gardening : 



"As regards the lines on which the work is to proceed, regular meet- 

 ings are a necessity, say once a month, with a lapse during the summer sea- 

 son ; meetings of greater frequency we do not advocate, as attendance at 

 at them becomes irksome to a degree, and once that feeling intervenes, in- 

 terest wanes and stagnation results. These meetings should be arranged for 

 previously, at the beginning of the season, and a programme for at least six 

 months promulgated. On each night some special subject should be placed 

 for discussion, or a lecture secured, and in the latter case comments from 

 the members invited afterward. Encouragement must be the motto — not 

 display, — therefore, invite free interchange of opinion, listen to all, and ridi- 

 cule none ; many a promising man, with perhaps an over-sensitive nature, 

 has forever held his peace after a first attempt, by the want of consideration 

 shown by those who ought to have known better. 



Induce the younger members to mount the rostrum and present the 

 paper for the evening ; by this means much good will be done, not perhaps 

 so much in what is imparted, as in what has been learned in the preparation 

 for that occasion. This is no fancy sentiment, but a fact which has been 

 repeatedly expressed to us by members of many associations in which we 

 have been interested. Another phase : At these monthly meetings the mem- 

 bers could be encouraged to bring up meritorious examples of cultivation, 

 new plants or varieties, or well-grown fruits and vegetables, and thus by com- 

 parison of results and discussion of methods, develop the art in which all 

 are interested ; This gives rise to a spirit of emulation. 



