2 TKANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



badly mixed, and all succeeding horticulturists have been endeavoring 

 to correct his mistakes, and laboring to get things straightened out 

 again, and in their proper adjustment. I dare say that if this first 

 of all terrestrial gardens had been entrusted to the care of some of 

 the members of the Illinois State Horticultural Society- — Prof. J. B. 

 Turner, or Mr. (Talusha, or Mr. Bryant, for instance — things might 

 have been different. This progenitor of ours, having made such " a 

 mess" of matters in horticulture, changed his occupation, became a 

 tailor and went into the manufacture of ''cheap clothing" and 

 " dudes." If modern dudes are fit representations of ancient ones he 

 might well have changed his occupation a second time. Possibly it 

 was owing to this second failure of his that some graceless scamp 

 put into circulation the false statement that " a tailor is the ninth 

 part of a man." If tailors in the day of that malignant traducer did 

 their duty, I have no doubt the scamp was closely followed by a 

 " flag of truce " all his after life. 



Through all the history of ours there have been no men more 

 industrious, enterprising or useful to society, and none giving more 

 substantial pleasure to mankind, than horticulturists. In cold and 

 wet, in heat and dry, the horticulturist has been endeavoring to 

 make men better by making them happier. He was the first to dis- 

 cover and to practice upon the great truth that the easiest way to a 

 man's conscience lies close beside his palate and his stomach. The 

 horticulturist sends more good humor, good cheer, and consequently 

 good health abroad in the world than any other man. His benisons 

 are found alike in the social gathering, at the festive board, in the 

 sick chamber and upon the bier. In all places, and under all cir- 

 cumstances, they are found with entire taste and propriety. They 

 express alike the language of love, and the sorrow of death. Some 

 of the sublimest strains of poetry have been inspired by the products 

 of the skill of this great benefactor of the human family, while 

 many of the most striking and forcible passages of sacred writ are 

 grouped around the beauties and glories of the garden. 



When our Lord had completed His work among men, had 

 wrought out a plan whereby the garden of the human heart might 

 be cleansed of its seeds of evil and roots of bitterness, and having 

 passed to that bourne from which He alone has returned, He reap- 

 peared first as a gardener, and so far as we know. He made no change 

 from that similitude while He remained on our planet. We can see 

 an eminent propriety in this, for His work, and the work of His 

 servants, was henceforth to be the culture of the fruits of the spirit 

 and the flowers of divine grace. 



I make these allusions, not to trifle with sacred things or to 

 preach to you a sermon (for I am no theologian), but to point to 

 the dignity of your vocation, which has been honored not only by 

 the greatest of men, but also honored by Him who was greater than 

 all men, as He has honored no other human pursuit. 



