222 Wisconsin State Horticultural Society. 



indulging to any extent in luxuries. However, I am happy 

 to say I have a number of very warm friends among ama- 

 teur horticulturists, with whom I have had many opportun- 

 ties of exchanging ideas on the subject of gardening. I feel 

 that by this means I have been put into possession of much 

 valuable information, which, added to the general know- 

 ledge I have of floriculture and my own little experience 

 with house plants, may enable me to make my paper inter- 

 esting, and, I trust, of some value to you. 



Although I have referred to plants as being a luxury, I do 

 not wish to convey the impression that they are like the ma- 

 jority of luxuries we are apt to indulge in, which, far from 

 being a necessity, might with profit and benefit be dispensed 

 with, owing to their expense and deleterious effects. There 

 is no disputing the fact, that many plants for various reasons, 

 foreign to my present subject, could not be dispensed with, 

 although we could undoubtedly exist without any of those 

 we now employ for decorative purposes; but I very much 

 fear, that the absence of even these would result disas- 

 trously. The fact is scarcely now disputed that the love, and 

 study and culture of plants, have in no small measure, con- 

 tributed to the enlightenment and refinement of nations. 

 Some people may be inclined to view this theory with skep- 

 ticism, even treat it with ridicule. I can fancy someone 

 saying: "Isn't this love of plants more the result of this 

 advanced state of affairs, rather than that this advancement 

 is the result of a love of plants and their culture? Isn't it 

 the refined disposition of the man, which induces in him a 

 love of plants, rather than the love of plants, which refines 

 his disposition?" To these questions I would reply by in- 

 stancing the vast improvement produced on the customs and 

 morals of the people in many of the colliery and iron- work- 

 ing districts of Great Britian, where within recent years 

 plant culture has been greatly encouraged. By degrees 

 many of these men encouraged by the annual exhibitions 

 and competitions, have been enduced to make plant culture 

 a hobby, instead of something else less elevating. The time 

 and attention thus bestowed on plants by thoughtful men, 

 was undoubtedly productive of more good than the mere oc- 



