90 TRANSACTIONS OP THE ILLINOIS 



appear in the role of an educated gentleman. When there is so much to 

 learn that is worth knowing, and so brief a time in which to acquire 

 knowledge in this world, it becomes us to consider what is the relative 

 values of " knowledges," and to take hold of the best things. Our public 

 schools would do well to take into their courses of study more of the 

 natural sciences — geology, entomology, chemistry, botany. There is 

 already a tendency to improvement in this direction, and the wisdom of 

 the change was freely commented upon. 



Those engaging in the discussion were gentlemen — Hale, Humphrey, 

 McWhorter, McAfee and Prof. Worthen. 



Prof. Worthen said he did not intend to inculcate the idea that 

 geology was a more important branch of knowledge than some others, 

 but that it should have due attention, and we should give to it the im- 

 portance the subject demands. 



At this stage of the meeting, 



Prof. McAfee announced the presence of Mr. E. H. Calkins (of 

 Iowa). On his motion, the Society voted him an honorary member of 

 the Illinois State Horticultural Society. 



LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



Dr. A. G. Humphrey (of Galesburg) read the following paper on 

 Landscape Gardening : 



LANDSCAPE GARDENING AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF TASTE. 



The early history of man is ejcceedingly obscure, but enough remains 

 to convince the inquirer that he had a very humble origin. The best 

 historical records, ancient architecture, and the nature and origin of 

 language, are in evidence of his low and barbarous beginning. Evidently 

 he was naked, both in body and mind. Without experience of the past, 

 and without forethought of the future, he wandered in forests, guided only 

 by the instincts of his nature. Urged by hunger, he was led to seek food 

 to preserve his existence. Pinched by cold and scorched by heat, he 

 learned to clothe himself with the skins of animals he had slain for food, 

 and to construct for himself crude huts to protect him from extremes of 

 temperature. The impressions he received from external nature aroused 

 his dormant faculties, and by degrees developed his understanding. His 

 wants excited industry, and the dangers with which he was surrounded 

 developed his courage. He learned to distinguish between the noxious 

 and the useful plants, to seek in various forms his food and his wealth, 

 both from the animal and the vegetable world. 



These simple but powerful incentives gradually drew man from a 

 savage and barbarous state to a condition replete with enjoyment and 

 pleasure. 



