32 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



tions of this mechanism, and when by tlie aid of science he can comprehend 

 its simplicity and perfection, there is a charm thrown around his pursuit com- 

 manding liis most fervent admiration. Tlie infinite variety interwoven la 

 earth's garlands, from the humble lichen that clings to the sterile rock, to the 

 majestic tree tliat towers far above our heads and not only shelters us from the 

 noonday sun, but yields its luscious fruits for the health and nourishment of 

 our physical being, affords numberless examples of wise adaptation, all tending 

 directly or indirectly to promote the progress and prosperity of man. And 

 then, when we realize the wonderful improvements that the science of agricult- 

 ure has accomplished in the line of fruit alone, we almost wonder if paradise, 

 as far as fruit is concerned, is not restored, and are ready to say witii Marvell, 



" "What wondrous life is this I lead? 

 Ripe apples drop about my head, 

 The luscious clusters of the vine 

 Upon my mouth do crush their wine; 

 The nectarine and curious peacli 

 Into my hands themselves do reach." 



and exclaim with Downing, *'A man who owns a rod of proper land in this 

 country, and in the face of all the pomonal riches of the day, only raises crab 

 apples and choke cherries, deserves to lose tlie respect of ail sensible men," 

 and I would add, all sensible women also. 



More than twenty years ago, when we — my companion and I — commenced 

 life together on a piece of land in RoUin, we fully determined, with the aid of 

 the science of modern horticulture, to give our home, as far as fruit was con- 

 cerned, a paradisical fullness, and as the years went by and one after anotlier 

 was added to our family, and as these additions proved" to be all girls, we felt, 

 as true citizens of the great American republic, those girls must be self-sus- 

 taining, there must be something for them to do on tlie farm ; they must be 

 taught to love their home, and their home must be sustaining to them. 



So long rows of raspberries were cultivated on a sunny slope of a rise of 

 ground, a peach orchard was set out on another piece of land, a vineyard was 

 planted, and so on until we now have growing on that farm nearly all the 

 fruits indigenous to our climate. And now wlien the fruit harvests come there 

 are merry hearts and many hands to make light the work, for the girls know 

 that such a percentage of all the fruits they gather belongs to them ; and so 

 our fruit is not only remunerative, but it binds closer year by year the strong 

 home ties. 



In times of great surplus, and when the market prices are low, beside the 

 required amount of canning for family use, we dry main' kinds of the fruit 

 grown on the farm, and for this purpose we liavo a Zimmerman dryer, which 

 does excellent work and is a great economy, for we are thereby enabled to 

 utilize mucli of the fruit, both for the market and home that would otlicrwise 

 go to waste. 



I can give you no figures in regard to the fruit consumed in our house, for 

 we never attempted to keep any record; but this much 1 can say, that it is a 

 large factor of our daily food, and we literally have it in its fresh state the 

 year round, usually carrying out what remains in tlie apple barrels in June, 

 after strawberries are ripe. 



And now let me say, while poets have sung the i)raises of agriculture from 

 the time of Virgil down to our own Carlton, and politicians have been enthu- 

 siastic in their admiration of it, and have taken great pains to shake hands 



