52 Wisconsin State Horticultural Society. 



This is our gala day, and I will bring to you no plodding con- 

 siderations of dollars and cents, but, for the sake of contrast, 

 suppose we arrange along the broad highway we are traveling, all 

 the places adorned with the things we have described on our right 

 hand, and all those where they are wanting on the left. Com- 

 mence, if you please, with the beautifully and highly kept public 

 parks of our cities, where the hurried and overworked people 

 may, at intervals, enjoy an hour of cool and refreshing rest, and 

 over against them, our glittering aud equally costly theatres and 

 Sunday beer gardens. They have many things in common ; fine 

 music and high decorative art lend their aid to both. Each has 

 its votaries by thousands, and to these, each brings more or less 

 pleasure. Yet which, and the after memories and influences of 

 which, would we choose for ourselves and our children? 



Passing on to the homes of our millionaires, the right hand far 

 back among green lawns and spreading trees ; the left high and 

 broad, most elaborately adorned by sculpture and gilding, close 

 upon the street, approached by polished marble steps ; to which 

 would you most hopefully apply for a cup of cold water ? Were 

 our onward movement by car or omnibus, would there not be an 

 active demand for seats facing to the right? Were our errand to 

 find congenial society, or a pleasant boarding place, the left would 

 have few attractions for us. If in a speculative frame of mind, 

 and inclined to divine the character and qualities of people by 

 their surroundings, which line of delineation will be most 

 pleasing? Far on down the line, among the log cabins, board 

 shanties and sod houses, a single house plant, or a morning glory 

 by the porch, will still attract us to the right, while a glance to 

 the left will almost make us feel that it might better have been 

 left a blank. 



Now you will say, and I shall freely admit, that I have not 

 very closely followed my text, yet, whatever else I have presented 

 is so mingled and blended, and, in influence, so much in harmony 

 with horticulture that it seemed easier, if not wiser, to present 

 them as I have. What I most earnestly desire to impress is the 

 simplicity of horticulture; coming right down to the wants and 

 capacities of the most humble and inexperienced, yet leading 



