Horticulture in Oivilization, 123 



our own country as evidencing the deep interest our people manifest in this 

 direction. 



By the last census the total value of orchard products sold or consumed in 

 the United States in 1879 was 150,786,154 ; of market garden products sold 

 in 1879 was $21,761,25C; making a grand total of $72,547,404, to which may 

 be added the garden products consumed at home, which would largely swell 

 these figures. Another fact is noticeable, viz: The rapid increase of the 

 business, especially in some of the Southern and Western States, as shown 

 by comparing the census of 1880 with that of 1870 ; for instance, my own 

 State, Mississippi, shows in 1870 orchard and garden products amounting to 

 $132,753, and 1880 shows for same $427,215, an increase of over three hun- 

 dred per cent, in ten years. Florida shows in 1870, $85,713 of orchard and 

 garden products ; and in 1880, $912,297, over one thousand per cent, increase. 

 Arkansas in 1870, $212,916, and in 1880, $929,433, over four hundred per cent. 

 Texas, Georgia, and Alabama, also, show a large increase. In the Northern 

 States this increase is not so great in proportion; yet Michigan shows an 

 increase of $403,058; California, $371,718; Illinois, $224,764. Our systems of 

 railroads traversing the country, especially those running in a northerly and 

 southerly direction, are great aids to commercial horticulture, as they fur- 

 nish rapid transportation for perishable garden products. It is mainly along 

 the line of these railroads that commercial gardening is carried on in the 

 Southern States, and here it is developing with wonderful rapidity; and I 

 doubt not the increase for the past five years in the South is greater than for 

 the ten years just preceding. This rapid increase is significant. It must he 

 a profitable business. This development is far beyond the increase in the 

 population of these States, and springs from a recognition of the fact that it 

 pays ; for horticulturists of this age are a wide-awake people, quick to per- 

 ceive and prompt to act in that which yields a good return for labor and cap- 

 ital invested, and while it is profitable to him who has large means at com- 

 mand, it likewise yields a comfortable support to the man in humble circum- 

 stances with only a few acres to use. And this is not the least of its bless- 

 ings. With generous cultivation the value of garden products largely ex- 

 ceeds per acre those of the ordinary farm, and the profits are correspondingly 

 great. It inculcates thoroughness in what we undertake, for one soon learns 

 by experience, that in horticultural operations, half-way work results in fail- 

 ure. There is no school that more strongly enforces the maxim that "what- 

 ever is worth doing at all is worth doing well," and the experienced horti- 

 culturist from habit is likely to be thorough in whatever he undertakes. 



System and order are also taught in this school. One is not long in being 

 impressed with the fact that there is a time for everything, and also a place. 

 There is a time to prepare the soil, to sow the seed, to cultivate the growing 

 crop, and to gather and market it when mature ; and he who regards these 

 times will be rewarded with success, while he who neglects these in their 

 proper order, will find also a time to lament his failure. There should be a 

 place for seeds, a place for tools and implements, a place for fertilizers, a 



