that there is something more in the cultivation of the faculties under consideration than that which is purely intellectual. While I can not hold that one who interprets nature must commune with nature's God, I have been impressed often with the fact that an earnest student of nature has moral restraints thrown around him which the abandoned cast away. It certainly cultivates and requires some of the best elements of success to form the habit of inquiring of nature her secrets, and of reasoning correctly upon them-it is necessary in such pursuits to have an unwearied patience, a keen perception, a quick apprehension; it both requires and cultivates these intellectual habits.

I have said this much to vindicate the education of the observing faculties from any charge of being an inferior kind of education. If this kind of education is inferior, it is because it is conducted in an inferior manner, and consequently the best results possible to such an education are not received; it is because it is not pursued with candor or with patience or with keenness of logic.

Let me say here, there is no bad tendency in a system of education which has for its means the cultivation of the observing faculties. It does not lead to any kind of wrong doing, or to any pernicious error. Moreover, it is not narrow in its methods, nor limited in its processes; it applies everywhere and to everything. It has claims to universality—it is as applicable in the teaching of pschychology as of geology; of Latin as of chemistry. But it is particularly, I admit, applicable to the case of those sciences which are called natural; but more because these touch us at more points, and appeal more directly to the senses, than because the method is peculiar to them.

To observe is more than to see. There is an insight added to seeing in an observation-there is a going behind the scenes, a process of reasoning-it is a conclusion drawn from a syllogism with a suppressed promise. Two persons may see all there is to be seen with the eye in any matter, and while one sees nothing more, the other draws a conclusion, or by connecting the single phenomena with other previously known facts, falls into a train of entertaining and pleasing thought.

As far from being appropriate to the circumstances of this meeting as this may seem to be, I do not hesitate to say that it has an important bearing on a question near to each one of you of this Society. The question of making the life which you lead in your branch of agriculture one which will interest a cultivated man or woman, which will retain, invite and hold the restless and ambitious youth, will find its solution, if it finds it at all, in the cultivation of the mind in the direction I have pointed out to-night. There is an education which makes a man at home wherever he can see nature in her manifold forms of beauty. With other circumstances favorable, as they often are, with prepossessions and early associations formed in an intelligent country home, with an education of a high order in the line I have pointed out in this paper, there is no reason why for success, for culture and for the keenest interest there is in life, the home in the country should not retain its most capable, its most cultured and most ambitious youth.

Culture, however, will be found to be necessary; education will be found to be indispensable. What kind of an education will be the basis of the culture which will be content in a country home?

Draw out the power to observe and understand all those phenomena of nature which in life, in wild life, in unrestrained life, meet one in forest, field and stream. And here let me say that no less of an education will be found necessary than will satisfy in other walks of life. It must be a real education, a profound education, which will turn the tide from the excited but often unsuccessful throng which seeks our cities. Any mere training in the methods of your labor will never succeed; it must be culture no less thorough than the best, and infinitely better than the com

mon, culture of our city young men and women; for it must be a culture which, while not being unsocial, is independent and original. In distinction from that culture most common in cities, it must be thoughtful and able to entertain its possessor.

Prof. Hussey's address was warmly applauded, and elicited some pleasant remarks from President White: We should cultivate the faculties more. One man sees with the eye, another pays attention to what he sees. Some people see a grand picture; it pleases them merely, and they pass on. Another one sees it, and is entranced; so with all objects. It is not so much what we see, as the attention we give to what we see. I do not censure any one who does not observe the same objects as I do-people are different in taste; one may admire a picture, another a horse. We can not all interpret alike; but we should educate our faculties in observing those things which we take interest in. The person who gets the most out of nature, who extracts the most pleasure from nature, and the least of harrassing care, observes in a manner to insure happiness.

Hon. I. D. G. Nelson then presented the following report:

REPORT OF THE FRUIT EXHIBITION AT THE STATE FAIR,

To the President and Members of the Indiana Horticultural Society:

GENTLEMEN: The undersigned, Awarding Committee appointed to examine the fruit exhibited at the State Fair of 1877, after having discharged that duty and made their report, had their attention directed to a very extensive and fine collection of fruits which, upon inquiry, was ascertained to be a voluntary contribution to the State Fair, made through the instrumentality and under the direction of the Indiana Horticultural Society, simply for the purpose of adding interest to the State Fair, and not for the purpose of competing for premiums.

In view of the disinterestedness of this display, which added so much to the attraction of the State Fair, the committee felt the Board of Agriculture was highly complimented, and therefore entitled to special mention in this behalf.

The committee desires to say that large and handsome contributions were made from societies in the counties of Cass, Putnam, Henry, Parke, Howard, Gibson, Clark, Marion, Vigo, Clinton, Perry, and perhaps several others that may have escaped the observation of the committee.

Before the organization of the Indiana Horticultural Society, which is not many years ago, no person ever saw, at any of our State Fair exhibitions, a show of fruit that would equal in extent or quality that sent from any of these local societies, until within a very few years. Indeed, it is within the knowledge of this committee that the entire exhibition of fruit in the early days of the State Fair exhibitions, would not now make a respectable township show. In those days a small collection of poor varieties, most of which are now rejected altogether, constituted the display and carried off the silver cups. At the present time there is not a

county in the State that has not a number of fine orchards, the fruit of which would make a splendid show at any State Fair-and the revenue now derived from orchard products in this State amounts to a fabulous sum, far exceeding the ideas of those who have not had the opportunity of being made acquainted with its magnitude. But its commercial aspect must not be alone considered, or as cutting much of a figure when compared to the luxury as well as health-producing qualities of wellripened fruit. It is unnecessary to say that the apple is now considered indispensable to both health and comfort, and should be found at every meal on every table. It will not be denied that the great and rapid progress that has been made in pomology in this State is due mainly to the diffusion of knowledge in fruit and fruit-growing, through the medium of the Indiana Horticultural Society. The transactions of the society have been published annually, and are eagerly sought after by fruit-growers and others in and out of the State. The single article in the transactions designated as the "Star list," serves as an invaluable guide to those wishing to set out an orchard, and has been worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

In view, then, of the advance that has been made through the medium of the Indiana Horticultural Society, in horticultural science, it should be a source of no small gratification to those who have contributed to this noble work, to know that their efforts have been crowned with a success thus far that could not have been reasonably anticipated, and that it will stimulate still further efforts in the same direction.

All of which is respectfully submitted,

D. E. HOFFMAN,
A. FURNAS,
I. D. G. NELSON.

PRESIDENT JOHNSON-Wanted to know if one thing suggested in the paper just read was a correct rule; was it right to have apples at every meal, especially for tea?

DR. FURNAS-I believe that mankind would be stronger and better if they ate more fruit. It is recorded a certain surgeon in the army observed that those men whose diet had been fruit and vegetables were more healthy, and could be more successfully treated, than those whose diet had been principally meats. It is said we are becoming an enfeebled race. Our foreign friends are stronger. The German and Irish peasants who come among us, and perform so much hard labor, are stronger than we. What is the reason? I am willing to have a vegetable diet more and more. Let us eat more fruit and more vegetables, and build up better blood and better constitutions.

W. H. RAGAN-Had been taught when a child that “fruit in the morning was like gold, at noon like silver, at night like lead." Thought it could not be laid down as a rule that fruit should be eaten at night. Horticulture was a healthful occupation, and the good health of those engaged in it, whether in this or other countries, may have as much, or more to do with strength than diet.

PROF. E. E. WHITE-We can not lay down any rule in regard to diet: the appetite has much to do with it. Back of the appetite lies the intelligence for food. It is true, the appetite must be educated aright. You can not find a more stalwart race than the Britons, and they are a nation of meat eaters.

DISCUSSION ON THE GRAPE.

About the

DR. FURNAS-Stated that all the grapes on old vines at the time of the rains last season decayed. Six years is old for grape vines; may count on a good crop from vines four years old. time the berry is mature, if a rain comes, they will rot. cate varieties are especially affected by wet weather.

The deli

MR. OHAVER-I would like to understand what it is: whether mildew, decay, or the circulo. I notice first there is a white spot; in time it grows dark. I used to succeed with the Isabella and other kinds. I had Concords against a wall with all advantages, but all have failed. I let the Clintons grow as in a wild state, but last year they were a complete failure.

...

J. C. RATLIFF-I have never known such a complete failure as in the last year. What shall we do when we want to plant a vineyard? The Concord is now failing. I confess that I do not know the cause. Locality has something to do with it.

PRESIDENT JOHNSON-Has any one seen the Ives Seedling rot? Dr. Furnas—Yes. A gentleman of my acquaintance does not cultivate, another uses ashes around the roots of his vines, another cultivates; all succeed. They are all in sight of my friend Ohaver, and his grapes rot. Have seen the Ricketts grapes, with their thick leathery leaves that will not get sunburnt; they in time, when they get cheaper, will take the place of other kinds.

W. H. RAGAN-That characteristic of the leaf prevails with all the varieties of the Ricketts grapes.

D. E. HOFFMAN-Have had good success with the Anna and Concord.

W. H. RAGAN-Said, in answer to a question concerning the Eumelan grape, that it had gone "where the woodbine twineth."

Considerable time was spent in discussing grape pruning, grafting, etc., Dr. Furnas illustrating his methods for the benefit of the students who were present.

Adjourned to meet on Wednesday at 9 o'clock A. M.

SECOND DAY.

MORNING SESSION.

The Society met pursuant to adjournment at 9 o'clock, President Johnson in the chair. A number of delegates had arrived since the opening session, and a good audience was present. All the students who could be excused from their lessons were present at this and other sessions. Eleven o'clock was the time appointed for the paper by Mrs. Haines, and Prof. White dismissed the students at that hour in order that they might be present to hear it. Immediately after the opening of the meeting the Secretary submitted the following paper:

OUR HOMES.

BY WM. B. FLETCHER, M. D., OF INDIANAPOLIS.

When man was from the garden driven, and sought a home in the wilderness, there was one thing of which his benificent Creator did not deprive him, and that was the memory of the beauties of his first home. Perhaps, too, it was a part of the punishment that he should have constant reminders of the music of birds, the cadence of gently falling waters, the grateful shade of the grand old trees, and the perfume of exquisite flowers. When he compared the cold ungenial world, the howling beasts, and the growing thorns, with his first abode, and remembered that no fruits would drop into his hand from the bounteous stores of Eden, no tempered air or leafy canopy protect him from poisoned dews of night, and yet again recall the curse, that by the sweat of his brow he should eat bread, he felt within him a desire to restore, as far as possible, the comfort and beauties of the lost home. As some poor prodigal, who had abandoned a palatial abode, wandering in foreign lands, where necessity compelled labor and reformation, he is forced to erect the barest shelter as protection from winter wind or wandering foe, and would fain reproduce, even in rudest form, a likeness to the home far away. In dreams he re-visits it. The shady walks, pleasant arbors, sweet-scented jassamine and familiar rose, are once more his own, and with delight he listens to the sound of his footstep along the halls and shady porches. The dream inspires his waking hours—like a mother's remembered face and word of love, it makes him a better man-and he would fain build for himself a dwelling worthy to be so loved by his own posterity.. Those crude philosophers who have taught us to believe that our first parents were wanderers or dwellers in caves, gave no such good reason for the home instinct that pervades mankind, as we are forced to feel from reading the history of man's first creation in the Sacred Scriptures.

But the investigators of pre-historic man do not deny that even in the rude caverns of Briton, and lake dwellers of Switzerland, did not only have a fixed abode, but tried to make the same a place of comfort, and left the mark of rude adorn-ment. Of this we have evidence in the huge pile of shells on the lake shores, where they must have dwelt for ages, in the rudely carved utensil picked up from time to time, and in the smoothed walls and sculpture of the rugged rocky caves, inhabited by the worshippers of Thor.