Educational Injfuence of Horticulture. 131 



E-lucation of any sort, based on philanthropic and Christian principles, 

 elevates. Horticulture, whether engaged in as a business or recreation, car- 

 ries with it its own great moral and scientific lessons, lessons which never 

 have to be learned anew under a more competent successor. And yet vari- 

 ety, not monotony, is the rule. Day follows night with mathematical pre 

 cision, and yet no two days are alike. The seasons succeed each other in 

 regular order throughout the centuries, and yet how definitely the seasons 

 stand out in the memory, distinguished for heat or cold, rain or sunshine, or 

 the perfect combination of these elements. Nature never travels in a rut; 

 yet seed time and harvest are as sure as the sun itself, and seed put into 

 the ground will produce its own again. But it is in the power of man to in- 

 crease the yield, improve the kind, and even to produce new varieties. The 

 results of horticulture stand next to creation itself. There seems absolutely 

 no limit to improvements or new achievements. 



College education to be of avail on the farm must be underlaid and over- 

 laid and inwrought with good, practical common sense. One may be able 

 to elucidate the most obscure passages of the grand old Greek and Roman 

 writers, he may be able to walk boldly side by side with the ablest mathema- 

 ticians and astronomers, yea, he may understand all mystery and all knowl- 

 edge, and yet not be able to intelligently direct the cultivation of a hill of 

 potatoes. Such common, matter of fact, every day things have had no claim 

 upon his lofty intellect. It may be said this is an extreme case ; happy for 

 our country that it is so. 



And yet these cases are not so very rare. Doubtless every one present has 

 in mind one or more who would answer to this description. Impractical law- 

 yers, doctors, ministers ; impractical merchants, mechanics and teachers. We 

 often hear it said of these men, they are well educated, why so little success in 

 life? Because they are more familiar with printers' ink than with nature. 

 Books, musty and modern, have been their companions. " Sermons in stones 

 and books in running brooks" have never caught their attention. But let 

 one of this class take hold of horticulture if we want to see the absurdity of 

 a theoretical versus a practical education. 



There comes to mind a gentleman bearing the highest collegiate honors. 

 This was followed b\' comjjrehensive preparation for the ministry. But his 

 lofty mind soared so far above the masses with whom he had to do, that short 

 pastorals were inevitable. At length he thought to turn his attention to 

 fancy farming, in which {he had read) was bound up the fortune which would 

 maintain his rapidlj' increasing and expensive family. He took no hints 

 from nature. Soil, surface, surroundings were of no consideration. He 

 studied catalogues. Everything was to be Utopian. The landscape gardener 

 was called in. Lawn and garden were laid out in the most astonishing pat- 

 terns. Imported seeds and bulbs only met his approval. Rare exotics and 

 the choicest plants and vegetables of his own country only were fit to adorn 

 his grounds and tickle his palate. Fast horses, fancy stock, gay plumaged 

 fowls took their place as superadded ornaments. He read about getting 



