HORTICULTURAL EDUCATION FOR WOMEN. 107 



William C. Strong said he felt jealous for the reputation of this 

 Society. The burden of providing horticultural education for 

 women seemed to be laid upon it by the essayist, and one of the 

 speakers had gone further and passed a criticism on the Society 

 for neglecting it. Many of the lady members of this Society are 

 engaged in floriculture, and are on an equality with others, and 

 what more can we do? The agricultuial college itself is but an 

 experiment, and it is doubtful whether a special school of horti- 

 culture would be wise, particularly if confined to women. All 

 present would agree with those who had expressed such noble 

 sentiments in regard to labor. 



Miss Smith said the mistake had been made that girls in stud}'- 

 ing horticulture had looked forward to making money b}' gardening. 

 The school of horticulture should be combined with a school for 

 home culture. She had found many large farms without gardens 

 or poultry, and the daughters away. They could certainly be 

 taught to care for poultry. 



Mrs. Cheney thought making money the most important \ oint 

 of all to make women's work practical and not amateurish or 

 superficial. Painters do not consider themselves entitled to be 

 called artists until they can sell a picture. Girls must either earn 

 money themselves or spend mone}' earned by some one else. She 

 knew a family in Vermont where the father is breaking down and 

 there is an invalid girl. There are two other daughters who 

 thought that if they could take hold on the farm they might keep 

 the family together, but they are considering the choice between 

 that and going into a store. K they had begun to consider that 

 question ten years ago they might be ready to meet it now. 



Edward L. Beard said that behind the question under discussion 

 is a lack of a general knowledge and love of horticulture. We 

 need not go far away to find a complete ignorance of the subject. 

 We must build on the broader base of an effort to supply this 

 deficiency. This Society has an opportunity to do much for the 

 cultivation of a taste for horticulture. If we could put into all 

 our towns and villages local horticultural societies to cultivate the 

 taste of the communities it would be a great help. AVithout this 

 practical horticultural knowledge, horticultural schools for women 

 will be of little benefit. If this Society should formulate some 

 such effort in ten years we should see the effect. 



Mrs. Wolcott spoke of the effort made in 1878 to encourage 



