The Mission of Horticultuee. 51 



culture, let us gladly bear our part in this tribute to patriotism. 

 "Well do I remember the long night's work of my dear companion 

 in arraying bouquets for the sick and wounded in Camp Randall, 

 that with the early morning the children might distribute the 

 wagon load of flowers at the hospital camp, and there both rebel 

 and Union shared alike in the distribution. Let flowers comfort 

 the sick and refresh the homeward bound invalid. They will go 

 where we cannot, a mission of love ; type of the spirit which 

 prompts the offering. 



Plants and flowers are a never-failing source of enjoyment to 

 children, and in very early life they show their delight at the 

 opening of some gay flower. Even before one year of age, the 

 child will learn to have and express a lively appreciation of flow- 

 ers, as well as of birds and pictures. Direct the attention of the 

 child to these, and awaken early a love of the beautiful, which 

 ■will be a star of promise of the great future of the onward life. 

 Some may admit the beauty but deny the utility of flowers. 



Our poet again says : 



" Beaut}' and use were married when 

 This world was finished ofl for men. 

 And lie who wr.uld divorce the twain 

 Is out of heart, and poor in brain ; 

 Would have the fruit without the flower, 

 "Would have the bow without the shower, 

 "Would have the noon without the morn." 



Indeed, we cannot disassociate the useful from the beautiful, 

 for the beautiful may not always be useful ; this latter quality is 

 the higher attribute, and ministers more to spiritual culture than 

 the former. 



" 'Tis first the true, tlien the beautiful; 



Not first the beautiful, and then the true; 

 li'irst the wild moor, with rock, and seed, and pool, 

 Then the gay gardens, rich in scent and hue." 



Horticulture produces and develops a taste for the beautiful. 

 The garden and orchard are used in the literature of all nations, 

 in prose and in poetry, to express beauty and plenty, joy and 

 solace. Genesis tells us that God walked in the garden in the 

 cool of the evening. The gardens of Babylon are as renowned 



