128 Mississippi Valley Horticultural Society. 



peculiar reverence and an undying love for trees, shrubs and flowers, and 

 some practical knowledge of horticulture. And whenever this passion is 

 allowed to take possession of one, the earnest, though perhaps unconscious 

 endeavor is, to reproduce the lost Eden, the garden of delight. And with 

 this effort comes the silent, yet potent influence of all nature's instructors, 

 leading the heart of man back to its pristine purity. 



Hence it follows, that in all climes and among all nations, the refinement, 

 morality and happiness of a people may be measured by the plants they cul- 

 tivate, and the variety and perfection of their garden vegetables. 



On the other hand, the natural developements in the vegetable king- 

 dom largely determine the tastes and character of apeoiile. In the extreme 

 North where vegetation is scanty and color somber, and the Ice King holds 

 undisputed sway, the inhabitants are content with their snowy huts, pot of 

 blubber, and costume wrested from the back of bear and seal. 



As latitude diminishes and the Ice King's power is partially broken, and 

 vegetation takes on a greater variety of form and cohr, man is correspond- 

 ingly stimulated to activity. He begins to ri.se above the mere necessities of 

 life and we catch the first glimpses of culture. As we pass through success- 

 ive degrees of latitude a gradual change in the habits, tastes and aspirations 

 of the people keep pace with nature's floral developments until the point is 

 reached where the four seasons follow each other in distinct succession. The 

 earth is stimulated to greater activity. P^ield, forest, mountain and plain be- 

 come richly decorated with an abundant variety of grass, shrubs and trees, 

 suggesting to the mind of man important enterprises. The felling of trees 

 and converting them into lumber is an immense business. Out of this grows 

 ship building, which has reached magnificent proportions; and house archi- 

 tecture, which has attained various degrees of perfection, from the cabins of the 

 backwoodsman to palatial residences and century building cathedrals. In this 

 region, where sunshine and storm, heat and cold are about equally balanced, 

 and often contend for the mastery, vegetation is vigorous and persistent, and 

 we find a people noted for energy, push, vim, who set in motion machinery, 

 found colleges, build railroads, annihilate time and space by telegraph and 

 telephone. But husbandry is the underlying principle, the foundation out 

 of which and on which all these enteri»rises grow. 



As we come into the sunny South, this most royal clime, where vegetation 

 simply revels in its own lu.xuriant perfection; where nature gives with a lav- 

 ish hand even the delicacies of life for tbe simple asking, we find a people 

 proverbial for tender and warm affections, unbounded ho.spitality and keenly 

 sensitive to beauty, loveliness and grace. It is here the fine arts roach their 

 highest jjerfection. The old masters of painting, sculi)ture and nuisic largely 

 drew their inspiration from their natural surroundings. And then there 

 seems to be more time in this clime, and no necessity for push and a rush. A 

 higher degree of perfection is easily reached in nature, and in the arts and 

 sciences we note a corresponding supere.xcellencc with apparently less exer- 

 tion. 



