STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Ill 



United States whose blossoms will contain all the requirements 

 necessary to eligibility for this position. 



At this point we will, for the sake of brevity, close our argu- 

 ment on this issue and consider the single flower in the last 

 possible position which is left open to it as a candidate,— that of 

 an historical emblem. 



Were there in our country one blossom that had connected with 

 it some historical romance, pertinent to the history of our coun- 

 try, it might consistently be voted a national emblem ; but no 

 such flower exists within our borders. Every avenue of approach 

 is, I think, effectually closed to the single flower. 



To summarize, the single flower is an idea borrowed from the 

 Old World. It typifies Hate, Tyranny, Superstition, Slavery, 

 and hence should be abandoned by an American. Second, it lacks 

 the ability to impress the observer with the primal truth of our 

 national motto, ik E Pluribus Unum" and on this ground should 

 be rejected. Its advocacy will result in sectional feeling, which 

 will be detrimental to our national interests. 



The cluster (or combination in any form) not only escapes these 

 objections, but has many qualifications that are generally realized. 

 It symbolizes brotherly love; it will serve to break up sectional- 

 isms. A son of the South and a boy of the North, if they saw in 

 the floral emblem of their nation buds lying peacefully together, 

 that represented their States bound together as a cluster, would 

 recognize the three requirements of the floral emblem — unity, 

 strength, plurality. 



And, finally, it is purely American ; no other nation having for 

 its floral emblem a cluster of flowers. As we have been the 

 pioneers in all else during the last one hundred years, let us also 

 iead the way in this. 



After reviewing the field carefully, and considering what we 

 owe to ourselves as a nation made up of a number of individual 

 States, each an empire in its own right, each differing from the 

 other in customs, laws, traditions and tastes, I am impressed with 

 the conviction that there is lack of wisdom in expecting forty-two 

 States to unify on a single blossom as a national floral emblem ; 

 that the better way is to have a cluster; that, each State may, in 

 purity and love, offer Columbia a flower plucked from its soil, 

 endeared to it by ties stronger than chains; she, in her apprecia- 

 tion, gathers them in her arms and weaves them together in 

 garlands — spray, wreath or boquet, as pleases her fancy — and her 

 heart goes up to God in adoration for a nation so fashioned that 

 no petty jealousies or sectional strifes compel one single selec- 

 tion. But in this, as in all other things, we are truly American, 

 and offer as a grand climax of all other emblems, the combina- 

 tion ; each State adds her star to the constellation of brilliancy, 

 and a flower, "God's Messenger," is sent to make up the grand 

 galaxy of the national floral emblem. 



