STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 17 



Ever since Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden, and 

 looked back with vain regret to the loved and lost, man has instinctively 

 loved trees and fruits and flowers, and all those beautiful creations with 

 which the Almighty adorned his first estate ; and as he has advanced in 

 intelligence and culture he has striven to make his home approach in 

 beauty to that of his great progenitor. And the home, however preten- 

 tious, that stands exposed to the cutting blasts of winter's storms and the 

 scorching rays of summer's sun, without a tree to cast a grateful shade or 

 evergreen to relieve the monotony of the dreary landscape, or fruitful orchard 

 to form a pleasing background, with no vines clambering over the porch 

 or trailing about the windows, or rose bush or flowers in the yard, is not 

 the home that will satisfy the cultured man or woman of the present day. 

 And we grieve to say that three-fourths of the rural homes of the land 

 belong to this class — harsh, dreary and cheerless, with nothing to ajJi^eal 

 to man's higher nature or minister to his aesthetic taste. To come as 

 apostles of the ministry of horticulture, and teach to these beniglited 

 men a better way, is the mission of the Illinois State Horticultural 

 Society. 



It has often been remarked that one of our most striking national 

 characteristics is a spirit of unrest. This is the controlling element thai 

 urges us on to "fell great forests" and transform vast prairies into seas 

 of waving grain, with a rapidity unparalleled in the world's history; 

 that has enabled us to build great, restless, throbbing cities, and people 

 them with mighty multitudes; and has studded our land with thousands 

 of pleasant towns and villages, within the memory of those present to-day. 

 This same spirit has harnessed to the car of progress the forces of nature, 

 and made them do its bidding; built great fleets of steamers, and long 

 lines of railroads, upon which the chariots that Nahum in prophetic 

 vision saw "jostle one against another, seem like torches and run like 

 lightning." 



This is the view of the picture of which we are proud, and ujjon 

 which we love to gaze ; but it has another side, and its contemplation is 

 by no means satisfactory to the reflecting mind. This restless spirit, 

 when carried into society and domestic life, makes man a discontented, 

 feverish being, "seeking rest, but finding none" — ever ready to sell his 

 home, and seek a new and more promising field of operation. 



The nomadic character and uneasy spirit of our people has often 

 been spoken of by European travelers. Says a French writer: "There 

 is something surprising in this strange unrest of so many happy men, 

 restless in the midst of abundance. The spectacle, however, is as old as 

 the world ; the novelty is to see a whole people furnish an exemplifica- 

 tion of it." 



How many of the farmers of Illinois, think you, my hearers, have 

 homes worthy of the name, and to which they have become so attached 

 that no reasonable jjecuniary inducement would cause them to sell? Let 

 us glance at a single neighborhood, which will fairly represent a thousand 

 others. Here we find a pretentious mansion, which should be the home 

 of a wealthy landowner. To save land — of which he owns five hundred 



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