318 Wisconsin State Horticultural Society. 



we have any account of is of recent date, within the present cen- 

 tury. Mr. Knight and others formed a society and obtained a char- 

 ter in 1808 in England, called the London Horticultural Society. 

 From that date other societies were rapidly organized over nearly 

 all Europe, and also in our country. At the present time they 

 have multiplied to thousands; and wherever enlighted man tills 

 the soil, the tree of Knowledge has been the most fruitful. From 

 our standpoint it appears that man has gathered more fruit from 

 the tree of Knowledge in the present century than in any previous 

 one within the world's history. 



How are we to know the farmer who has advanced into the 

 science of horticulture? Perhaps you will say, by his intelligence; 

 by his improved taste; by his beautifying his home. Let us take a 

 mental look among the farmers of our acquaintance, and compare 

 those who cultivate a taste for horticulture with those who neglect 

 it. (I had almost said, look upon it with contempt.) The home of 

 the first is improved from year to year; the surroundings brought 

 into harmony; the lawn has been graded; clumps of trees and 

 shrubbery have been added; large and small fruit has been largely 

 increased; the garden is filled with the choicest vegetables; the 

 whole surroundings show taste, neatness and thrift. Now we will 

 look into the house. There is the handiwork of the intelligent 

 and thrifty wife and mother; the ingenious little ornaments and 

 comforts that none but a cultivated mind could devise. The little 

 brie a brae in every room show industry and taste. The library is 

 arranged in neat order, the table in the sitting room has a few 

 choice books, handy to read. There is file of agricultural papers 

 for reference. We see her admiration of horticulture in her win- 

 dow garden, filled with a choice collection of flowers and vines. 

 In a word, as our eyes rest upon the arrangements and surround- 

 ings pf such a home, an inexpressible peace comes over us. We 

 feel and know that cultivation and refinement are joined together, 

 and if peace and contentment are to be found in this struggling 

 life, it is where man and wife have united to make to themselves 

 another Eden. Where all these changes are taking place, we are 

 hopeful that man is returning to that garden, from which old 

 Father Adam and Mother Eve were driven. 



Methinks, some one says, I have not got the cultivation, taste, 

 or money, to waste in ornamenting and beautifying my home. We 



