40 Wisconsin State Hoeticultural Society. 



suits, an-i whose early life was passed amid rural scenes. It is the- 

 " bended twig" that inclines the oak ; it was the early training of 

 Linnaeus that made him the renowned botanist that he was. 

 Everything that is good and beautiful needs a genial atmosphere 

 and the training hand of love to develop its perfection. We have 

 all observed how plants and flowers expand into perfect bloom 

 beneath the care of those who love them, while others apparently 

 under the same conditions never attain sach excellence. It is love 

 for the flowers, which makes it a continual pleasure to comply with 

 all the conditions necessary for their growth, just as the mother's 

 love malies the care of her child a perpetual delight. 



Children who have this gift — a love for flowers — will give 

 early evidence of its possession. The babe in the mother's arms 

 will be attracted by the bright colors of the tulip, and will not 

 be content till it grasps the bright blossoms, the child just begin- 

 ning to walk will gather the May weeds that grow along the 

 path, and the same litile boy when a little older grown, would 

 " play horse " for hours with a bunch of potato blossoms in his 

 hand simply because they were flowers, never realizing the differ- 

 ence between them and the more wonderful beauties with which 

 God hes clothed the earth. The parent who finds in his child 

 such a love for the beautiful in nature has great cause for thank- 

 fulness, because in it he also finds the promise of a love of indus- 

 try, of virtue, and of all the finer qualities of true manhood. A 

 love for horticultural pursuits is a better possession than the 

 "philosopher's stone; " it will do something more than turn all 

 things to gold, for it turns all growing things into excellence and 

 beauty, it leads one to seek an employment that makes the useful 

 and the necessary a perpetual delight. While it provides the 

 necessaries of life, it also beautifies and adorns the home and 

 makes its owner generous, genial and thoughtful for the welfare 

 of others. It is a notable fact that wherever we find, among the 

 laboring classes, great success in horticulturCj there we also find 

 great excellence of character. It is said that a belated traveler 

 in a foreign land compelled to ask shelter for the night was many 

 times refused until selecting a humble dwelling with flower pota 

 in the window, he did not ask in vain. 



