30 Wisconsin State Horticultural Society. 



of great benefit to him in the fature. In short, under these in- 

 fluences, without ever having seen the inside of a college, or ever 

 having read either Latin or Grreek, he is fast becoming an educated 

 and refined young gentleman. His hands may show signs of 

 hard labor. His face may be bronzed by the hot suns of the sum- 

 mer, and the storms of the winter, but he is kind and obliging to 

 his sisters, and would as soon think of cutting off his right hand, 

 as of being rude or unkind to his mother. When he comes to 

 leave the home which he has helped to make so beautiful, to build 

 a new one for himself, he will carry with him all the pleasant and 

 helpful influences which surrounded him in the home of his child- 

 hood, to be reproduced and improved upon by the wife and chil- 

 dren who will cluster around him. It is to educating, refining 

 influences like these that we must look for the elevation of the 

 masses of our country, more than to colleges and universities. 

 From such homes must mainly come men fitted to fill positions of 

 honor and trust in the nation, and women that will adorn and 

 make cheerful and happy both home and social circles. 



My friends, the time is fast passing away when raising wheat, 

 corn, pork and beef, will constitute the main purpose of farming. 

 The sooner it is past the better it will be for the farming interest 

 generally. I would by no means discourage the growing of good 

 crops of grain, or meat, but, on the contrary, would say, cultivate 

 better, and make your land produce double its present yield. It 

 is sometimes said that the reason there are no more farmers in 

 places of public trust, is because we have not the men in our 

 ranks competent to fill them. I fear there is some truth in this 

 statement, yet you and I know that it is far from being wholly 

 true. We know that there are farmers in every county in the 

 state, who are well qualified to fill any office, from that of governor 

 down to the pathmaster. But this is not sufficient. They should 

 be so plenty that neither their names nor their influence can be 

 ignored. I do not mention this as the principal reason why our 

 people should be better educated, but as one of the incidental 

 ones. The true, the great reason why we should add horticulture 

 to our present means of education and refinement, is because it 

 will assist in making better, more refined and nobler, men and 



