208 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



well-directed efforts. Those who would enjoy this calling and send forth 

 ennobling infiaences must be adapted to the work. They must be full 

 of hope anu capable of looking forward cheerfully to the coming crop 

 of a year in advance, if perchance that of the present should be a fail- 

 ure. If they can do this, they will enjoy the bursting of the buds in 

 the early spring, be happy watching the leaves come forth, the delicate 

 colors of the bloom expand and dispense its fragrance upon the air,, 

 the fruit form and grow, and achieve genuine pleasure picking, eating 

 and marketing it when ripe. And all the time the influence of such 

 persons, though exerted as quietly as the bursting of the buds and the 

 growing and ripening of the fruit, will be for the good of his neigh- 

 bors and the upbuilding of society. 



The successful horticulturist, to make his calling send forth the 

 best influences, must have a mind that loves form and symmetry, so a» 

 to enable him to plant his vines and trees in straight rows and cause 

 his trees to assume proper shape for such things create pleasurable 

 sensations in the minds of all who view them, and naturally have a 

 good influence, causing others to emulate him. 



Having a knowledge of the forms and habits of his trees, he is en- 

 abled while his orchard is young to look forward, and in imagination 

 see the shape he would have them assume, and then, like a loving 

 parent rearing his children, he must trim and train them in the way he 

 would have them grow. He learns to carefully watch them as they 

 grow, and, with pen-knife in hand, will often walk along the rows look- 

 ing at each one, and when he sees a bud or a limb which, if allowed to 

 grow, will cross or crowd another, or make the tree ill-shapen, or if a> 

 tree should be leaning from the straight and upright way, he will gently 

 straighten, nip the bud or clip the limb, so that in later years the large 

 pruning knife or saw will not have to be used, leaving ugly scars upon 

 its body. 



In like manner he learns to watch with tender care his children as 

 they grow, and if he sees one leaning or taking a " shoot " which, if not 

 checked, will mar his symmetry and beauty as a man, he at once 

 gently checks or straightens him, fearing that if he waits too long, the 

 heavy hand of the law may be required, and by its use leave ugly scars • 

 upon his character. 



The health-giving influences of horticulture are of no small import- 

 ance, and are generally considered of great vklue to those engaged 

 therein ; yet much depends upon how a fruit-grower is situated and how 

 much pleasure he takes in his work, to have him receive the full 

 benefit. 



