STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 293 



We are informed by history that every civilized nation has loved and cultivated 

 flowers. There are numerous allusions to them in the Bible: the Hose of Sharon and 

 the Lilly of the Valley are spoken of as the perpetuation of beauty. The ancients 

 crowned their Gods and decked their festive boards with flowers. With them, the Cupid 

 Of the ancient Hindoo tipped his arrows. And they have ever constituted the mystic 

 language of eastern poetry. And in the present age we use them to express the deepest 

 emotions of our nature. We present them to those we love. They adorn the brow of 

 the fair young bride. We place them upon the coffins, and plant them upon the graves 

 of the departed loved ones. But above all, we plant them in rich profusion around our 

 homes to gladden our doily lives. And who, that has dwelt among them has not felt 

 their celestial influenc •, and been led to look up with gratitude and love to that great 

 Being who has lavished 80 many blessings upon us. 



It was my intention to give a list of roses, bulbous and herbaceous (lowering plants 

 that are known to succeed well in this locality, but as I fear that I have already wearied 

 your patience, I will leave this part of the subject in the hands of the flower committee, 

 hoping that they will report at an early day. 



The Secretary remarked that it has been the usual practice of the Society to discuss 

 the BUDjeet of the essay, and he would therefore present a point or two for consideration. 

 11'- regarded it as a great and growing evil that so many were leaving the rural districts 

 and the labor of tin- farm, and seeking occupations in the cities. The country is being 

 drained of almost all its young men, who are rushing to the cities to engage in trade and 

 speculation. And this tendency to the large towns and cities seems to be on the increase. 

 The questions he would present are — Why is this? Is it because home is not made as 

 attractive a- it should be? He believed this to be one reason ; but there arc doubtless 

 others ; and he deemed it highly important that they should be discovered, and a rem- 

 edy applied. 



Win. N. Grover said — The subject is an exhaustive one ; has engaged the attention of 

 wiser heads than ours, and still no effectual remedy is found. He imagined that one 

 great fault lay at the door of parents themselves. Labor on the farm is too much 

 regarded as drudgery ; indeed, is really too much so. It must be rendered more pleas- 

 ant and attractive. Machinery is useful in this respect; as the hard labor of the farm 

 is be •oiiiiiiL,' more and more performed by machinery, this drudgery is lessened. 



Another cause is that our young men have a curiosity to get out into the world ; to 

 get away from the known and common places and search after the unknown. To coun- 

 teract all these- influences, the homes of the fanners must be made more attractive. 

 More eifort must be bestowed upon their adornment. More care to render them pleas- 

 ant and agreeble. Papers and books should be furnished for mental food, and habits of 

 thought and ttudy inculcated. 



Mr. Bpitze said — A great fault with many farmers is that they do not give enough 

 time to their sons for pleasure. It is too much work. Work from day to day, and no 

 time for recreation or pleasure, is enough to render boys dissatisfied with farm life, and 

 seek for some easier mode of living. There is too much drudgery ; they naturally 

 require change. The fault lies chiefly witli the parents. 



Dr. Hay— Regards it as a highly important Bubject, one that has long engaged the 

 attention of thinking men. Was glad, however, to observe that there i, a gradual, 

 though slow, grading up in Bociety,on both .-ides of the Atlantic. Labor Is hourly 

 becoming more attractive and honorable ; the laboring man i- gradually taking a higher 



