Mental and Moral Influence of Horticulture. 27 



ments for carrying them into execution had been made in some 

 low, vile liquor saloon, and that the men filled themselves with a 

 poison that to 3k from them their reason and maddened their brain, 

 before they attempted to carry into execution their wicked 

 scheme, you would, with one accord, say that it was a fitting 

 place for the concoction of such deeds of wickedness and crime ; 

 and further, you would say that all the probabilities were in favor 

 of the truth of the witness. If he was a man of truth and 

 veracity, you would scarcely think of doubting his story. But, 

 suppose that some one tells us that the authors of this crime met 

 in a beautiful garden, filled with the choicest fruits of the season, 

 and everywhere adorned with fragrant flowers; and that while 

 resting under the shade of the trees and shrubbery, and enjoying 

 its finest fruits, and while admiring the wonderful beauty and 

 fragrance of the flowers, they conceived and arranged the entire 

 details of the terrible crime that shocked the whole community, 

 what would you say to such a story. 



Would you not say at once that it was utterly improbable, 

 and not worthy of belief? The character of the witness for truth 

 and veracity would be lost at once. The more you reflected upon 

 it, the more firmly you would become convinced of its absurdity, 

 until you would finally say that its truth was not only improb- 

 able, but impossible. You would say that men would not go to 

 such a place to devise schemes of cruelty and crime, and if, per- 

 chance, they should happen to be in such a spot, the very beauty, 

 purity and innocence of everything about them, would weaken 

 their resolutions and unnerve their hearts for other than manly 

 and noble deeds. 



But why is this? If one is disposed to evil deeds why not 

 plan them in a flower garden and among the fruit trees as well as 

 in a liquor saloon ? It is very possible that in the brief time I 

 have allotted to myself I may fail to give the reasons in a manner 

 that will be satisfactory either to you or myself. But that the 

 statement made is, in fact, verified by the history of crime in all 

 civilized countries, will, I think, hardly be denied. Such being 

 the case, the question very naturally returns to us, what is the 

 influence of horticulture, and where a love of it exists, how does 



