180 
WisGOJS'siJS' jState Agricultural sogiett. 
good garden, or a pleasant and comfortable yard about tlieir homes? 
I can account for it only in one way; and that, by supposing they 
have never tried either one sufficiently to know their real value 
and comfort. It takes but a little spot of ground, if well cared for, 
to furnish any ordinary family, not only with a full supply of straw¬ 
berries during the berry season, but to give a good surplus for can¬ 
ning for winter use. Forty quarts per square rod is not a difficult 
crop to raise. Then come the raspberries and currants — favorites 
with almost every one. Before these are fairly gone, come the 
blackberries. While we are yet treating ourselves to this fruit, 
comes the grape and completes the list of our small fruits, and also 
completes the season. 
Is there a farmer here, is there one in this slate, who owns even 
twenty acres of fair, tillable land, that cannot have these fruits in 
abundance? I do not believe there is one. Do not say you have 
no skill in laying out your grounds, and are not able to employ a 
landscape gardener. I have no word to say against landscape gar¬ 
dening as a profession, still they are by no means one of the absolute 
necessities to the average farmer. I never took the first lesson in 
landscape gardening, still I know enough to drain my land and 
then lay it out in such a manner as will make it very convenient to 
work upon, and to get about upon without injuring the growing 
crops. I know enough to manure highly, and then cultivate in such 
a manner as to make very large crops grow year after year with but 
few exceptions. My wife is as ignorant in her department as I am 
in mine, and yet when friends come and admire the wondrous beau¬ 
ty of her flowers, and pick here and there one of almost marvelous 
size and brilliancy, I never hear them complain that the beds are 
not laid out after the most approved pattern, or the latest style. 
The flowers are there. There is no charge for looking at them. 
And when we are too tired to work any more, too tired to read, too 
tired to sing, we can still go out and see the flowers. 
Gentlemen, let me urge upon you not only the real necessity but 
the pleasure of making home more pleasant and attractive. You 
will notice that I have asked for nothing that is beyond the reach 
of the common farmer. I have purposely avoided recommending 
any large outlay of money. A home may be made exceedingly at¬ 
tractive with but a small outlay of money, though it will take some 
time and labor. 
