Horticultural Progress. 3T 



a privileged few has done much to prevent a general diffusion of 

 horticultural knowledge among the people, with its corresponding; 

 effects on their homes, and when the time comes, as I surely be- 

 lieve it will, that the laborer shall reap the rewards of his labor,, 

 then you will see t greater strides made in horticulture than ever 

 before. 



There is another reason why the Old World can not advance? 

 as rapidly as the New, although at the first glance it might seem 

 to have the opposite effect. There, a gardener, as in other trades,, 

 is required to serve a certain term of years, say from three to six,. 

 in order to learn his trade. During that time he is taught to do- 

 everything just a3 his tutor before him was taught. Thus robbed 

 of all necessity of thinking and planning for themselves, they be- 

 come mere machines, and instead of studying to see how they may- 

 accomplish the most with the least amount of labor, they rather 

 try to make a long job of a short one. With us many of our 

 most successful horticulturists have taken up the business with- 

 out any previous training in that line, and with the assistance of 

 books, horticultural periodicals, conventions, etc., have made great 

 proficiency in their new calling. They may make many great 

 mistakes and be the subject of ridicule for the old professional 

 gardener, but these very mistakes sharpen their wits and they in- 

 quire into the cause of their failures and the best means of shun- 

 ning them in the future. Moreover, their time is their own andi 

 they will try and apply their labor in a way that will accomplish 

 the most with the least exertion, and while their hands are en- 

 gaged in their duties, their minds are busy planning some imr 

 provement in their business. 



Our overdue reverence for old institutions and superstitions does; 

 much to hinder our progress, not only as a nation but as horticul- 

 turists. Our colleges consume about three- fourths of thestudents r 

 time in studying the history, languages and superstitions of na- 

 tions far inferior in civilization, enlightenment and the arts and 

 sciences to our own. And after the student graduates, he is but 

 little better fitted for advancing civilization or the arts and- 

 sciences than he would be if he had never seen the inside of a 

 college. If more time were devoted to scientific studies 



