252 Wisconsin State Hoeticultubal Society. 



THE UTILITY OF FLOWEES. 

 Rev. Robert Nourse, La Crosse, Wisconsin. 



A man may love music very much and yet know nothing more 

 about it than that it pleases him. In this instance he may be an 

 excellent critic, offer some good advice, and above all, enthuse his 

 friends with a love for music, far better than the most skillful 

 performer himself or the most learned theorist. This is just my 

 relation to flowers. I love them, but 1 don't know anything of 

 them. I worship them and through them, and yet I am as igno- 

 rant as most folks concerning them. 



I cannot forget that when the Lord made man he placed him 

 " in a garden to dress and to keep it." From the description 

 given of it and its location, I infer that it was full of flowers; 

 that the features and tone of beauty prevailed. 'Nor can I for- 

 get that it was the fruit of a tree and not the blossom of a plant 

 that tempted our first parents to sin. It behooves us to remem- 

 ber that our Lord was buried in a garden, rose from the dead in 

 a garden, and was supposed b}'^ one who loved him much to be 

 "the u^ardener." We are familiar with the fact that thousrh He 

 wrought wheat and tares and trees and vines into His parables 

 and sermons, yet it was of powers alone that he said, " Consider 

 how they grow." 



It occurs to me, as undoubtedly it does to all, that there is a 

 use for flowers. Of what use are they? is often asked. We can- 

 not eat or drink them, and because we cannot they are regarded 

 by some as useless. Hence it is a joke on the lips of some, so 

 often repeated in a snarl that it has become a bitter proverb, that 

 " the best flower in any garden is a cauliflower." We commend 

 to those who have this preference — the thistle. They must be 

 of some use or they would not be here. We will name a few of 

 the functions they perform. 



1. They educate the mind. It' takes considerable mental 

 power and intellectual development to cultivate flowers. A man 

 may grow potatoes, parsnips, cabbage, carrots and corn, and 

 utterly fail in flowers. He may be a successful farmer, and take 

 the blue ribbon for corn, cabbage and hogs, and yet be utterly 



