21S Wisconsin State Horticultural Society. 



carrying oxygen where needed. I am afraid the inventor is in the 

 plumbing interest, as a few plants, where light and heat could reach 

 them, would answer the purpose. The very crying out of nature 

 for her own life-laden treasures proves her dependence on them; 

 the eager delight of the sick, aged and children, deprived, to some 

 extent, of flowers, on receiving them as gifts, prove them to be not 

 only pleasing to the eye, but an actual physical want. Surely they 

 are needed for the perfect health of our bodies. 



True refinement is generally accompanied by a love of the beau- 

 tiful; in fact it is one of its proofs and vouchers. It is not neces- 

 sary to be rich or idle to be refined; neither can it proceed from 

 cultivation of mind or manner alone. It is certain that a degree of 

 civilization has reached the paganism of Japan, and the love and 

 cultivation of plant life is one of its surest evidences. Who that 

 visited the Japanese gardens at the Centennial, but will remember 

 the primness of the little trees, the extreme neatness of the edg- 

 ings, and the retiring gentleness, if I may so speak, of the flowers, 

 as if apologising for being on foreign soil. 



Our German population bring with them flower seeds and bulbs. 

 They are a lifelong love to them. Twin-born with their devotion 

 to music, they have helped to make the national character. Whether 

 in their homes, their grounds or in " God's acre,"' they cultivate 

 and hold dear the bright flowers of their fatherland. 



Bonnie Elngland, too, speaks through her own peculiar plants to 

 the hearts of her absent children — violets, daisies, primroses, 

 honeysuckles, roses — an innumerable throng, gather themselves to 

 heart and memory. England's greatest poet puts into words the 

 sad, mournful notes which a flower can sing: "There's a daisy; I 

 would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father 

 died." 



France has her lilies and her magnificent provinces of roses, 

 while Scotia and Erin point to heath and shamrock, and show each 

 with pride. 



Our home flowers are as fair as those of any clime. From the 

 beautiful woods of the north to the orange oroves and mao-nolias of 

 the south, the trailing arbutus (sweet herald of spring) and the 

 green lily of California, rare specimens, and common winsome but- 

 tercups, an endless variety, meeting the wants of the most enthusi- 

 astic lover of floriculture and the simple taste which revels in the 



