STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 187 



does mend Nature. ' ' We give due reverence to them ; we mourn- 

 ed their loss as they were called one by one away. They all de- 

 served honored places in our memorials. Let not the name of 

 J. Ambrose Wight be forgotten because he made his later home 

 in another State. His works yet live, his influence is yet seen and 

 felt all over this great land. 



EDUCATION IN FLOWERS. 



BY MISS BLANCH GRIFFIN, CARTHAGE. 



Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: 



Education is, properly, to draw forth, and implies not so much 

 the communication of knowledge as the discipline of the intellect, 

 the establishment of the principles and regulations of the heart. 

 In the study of flowers, we draw near to nature's heart, and 

 are drawn from out ourselves. 



To him who, loving nature, walks forth and communes with 

 her, she speaks or teaches a various language. What is the 

 language nature teaches to us — to you ; to me ; to the child just 

 learning to notice the lines and varied hues of the flowers spread 

 so beautifully around us? 



In this utilitarian age, we are wont to be greeted by the ques- 

 tion, "What benefit to be derived therefrom?" Not less are we 

 greeted by this question when we speak of floriculture than any 

 thing else. There is much benefit in it. There is health, health 

 physically, mentally and morally. Physicians prescribe it to 

 recuperate the body; scholars recommend it to invigorate the 

 mind ; and all are drawn nearer the great source of all good as 

 they come into sympathy and daily contact with his immediate 

 handiwork. What is physical health but a normal education of 

 the physical being? What is mental health but a proper discipline 

 of the mind? or moral health but a proper establishment of cor- 

 rect principles? 



So if, in the study or care of flowers, the body, mind and 

 heart are uplifted, and made nearer the perfect being we would 

 wish to be, it has seemed to me, there is much of education in 

 flowers. Flowers, or floral culture, mark the difference between 

 civilization and refinement; between barbarism and brutality. 

 The higher the civilization, and the greater the attainments in 

 culture and refinement, the greater is the appreciation of 

 flowers. 



To prove there is physical health, and consequently physical 

 education, in plant study, turn with me, if you please, for a short 

 time, the pages of history. As the tourist, visiting the Eiffel 

 Tower, may behold the surrounding country spread out as a map 

 before him, and may note the peculiar elevations and depressions 



