78 STATE IIOKTICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 



attributable to the operations of human reason, man does not hesitate to arro- 

 gate to liimself the sole possession of the latter; although he doubtless, as 

 the rule, fails to realize how much of real responsibility hinges upon tliat 

 assumption. 



It is, of course, this ability to devise and establish premises, to draw con- 

 clusions therefrom, and to apply these to the working out of valuable or other- 

 wise important results, that entitles man to tlie post of honor, and imposes 

 upon him the obligation to ''act well his part." 



He is reputed to have initiated his six thousand years' residence upon the 

 earth as a horticulturist. But alas, an expert contemporary succeeded in, very 

 summarily, throwing him out of his first or liorticultural groove, leaving him 

 only the alternative to try his fortunes, in the then undeveloped general field 

 of agriculture, from which during the long period named he has been able to 

 win the sustenance of the race ; although it is sometimes very distinctly charged 

 (and with warrant, if we consider certain modern discoveries), that he has 

 Avasted even more than he has been able to utilize. Be that as it may, it is 

 clear that during his long occupancy of this field he has succeeded in with- 

 drawing the grains, the domestic animals, and various other products of nature, 

 from the grooves in which they were originally wont to exist, and in very 

 greatly increasing their capacity to administer to iiis support. However much 

 or little credit may be really due to the race in this direction, to our appre- 

 hension one of its constant and distinguishing characteristics has been a persis- 

 tent disposition to follow the ruts previously worn by others. It has ever been 

 a peculiarity of agricultural ruts that, Avhilc comparatively few in number, 

 they are, by consequence, the more deeply worn, and hence the more readily 

 followed. In the horticultural field, on the other hand, while ruts are to be 

 found in greater numbers, they are less clearly defined, and hence more readily 

 escaped and less likely to be persistently followed. Notwithstanding this fact 

 it is believed to be the besetting sin of horticulturists, in common "witli the 

 rest of mankind," to drop into one convenient or seductive rut after another 

 and implicitly follow them, oblivious of the conceded fact that eminent suc- 

 cess can only be gained by taking prompt and intelligent advantage of modify- 

 ing circumstances as they arise, as well as by a thorough and comprehensive 

 grasp of all the conditions of the problem to be solved. In horticulture (of 

 which we regard the pomology of to-day as a branch or off-shoot) more than 

 in most pursuits of an agricultural character, success lies, very largely, in the 

 thorough mastery of a variety of not very obvious, although essential, particu- 

 lars, and in the acquired ability to intelligently apply these particulars at the 

 right time and in the proper manner. The recognized existence of this fact 

 would seem to give force to the very common assumption that, more than most 

 others, horticulturists are, or should be, thinking men. True as this may be, 

 they have to do with ruts that must be followed as well as with yet others which 

 they sometimes unconsciously, and perhaps improperly, follow. To illustrate : 

 Nature has provided for certain forms of cacti a special rut, out of which they 

 are obstinately unsuccessful. Many years since an English grower of plants, 

 an expert in his calling, received one of these then novel and curious plants, 

 to be carefully nursed and developed into bloom. Following the stereotyped 

 plant-grower's rut, lie nursed, watered, and watched over it with the most 

 solicitous care, but all in vain ; it persistently refused to honor his efforts, till, 

 at last, wearying of the trial, he, in disgust, cast it under the stage of the 

 greenhouse, where, thrown upon its side, it was abandoned ; when, presto ! the 

 obstinate plant found itself in the rut marked out by nature, and soon devel- 



