262 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



slave of his own large possessions, and wlio is only a steward to dis- 

 tribute their products while burdened under heavy and unpleasant re- 

 sponsibilities. 



There is really a refinement begotten of employment in producing 

 fruits and vegetables. It is a nice, cleanly occupation, and where the 

 worker uses brains, education ol course follows. Surely, if in the mo- 

 notony of hammering stone, the man who uses the powers of observa- 

 tion and reason developed in him by the laws of the eternal, can be- 

 come a Hugh Miller — one of these who create a science even though 

 they may not prefix professor bsfore their names; if the humble ham- 

 merers of lapstones may have in the same way become world-renowned 

 botanists or linguists, and in that only real consist republic [of letters] 

 are not only companions, but leaders; teachers of princes, honored as 

 their guides, philosophers and friends. What may we not expect where 

 men stand upon their own acres in commune with nature herself, 

 through all her seasons, and employ the brain as a helm to direct the 

 hand? The person who follows any hand-craft thoughtless, hopeless, 

 must become boorish. The one who grows only potatoes as a reason- 

 inT;, progressive being, will soon find an infinite world of startling facts. 

 But men must be inspired with some hope, and see some goal possible 

 to reach. The good market, the gradual loosening of restrictions, and 

 increasing, though slowly, of means, these inspire the worker with hope. 

 To see a whole community that has lived for years as though con- 

 demned to a life little above vagabondism, utterly without a hope or a 

 thought beyond the poorest keeping of the body — to see such made to 

 feel that their opportunity is even better than that of most, and to 

 realize what they can do — perform — almost without limit, is one of the 

 most inspiring facts that can be. And to create such spectacles is the 

 grandest mission of horticulture, in its larger sense, as it passes beyond 

 my lady's garden and my gentleman's orchards and hot houses, to en- 

 ter the poorest cabin of the owner of even one rough acre and bids him 

 stand up an independent freeman who may become the equal of the 

 best citizens of any land. 



I firmly believe that.while'we inculcate proper views of feeling, and 

 thus create a demand right at our own doors in ■•' the rural districts " 

 for the products of horticulture, we can do no greater good for our vici- 

 nages than by inspiring the numerous small holders with a true sense 

 of their own importance, and of the entire sufficiency of their homes 

 if they will but regard themselves as horticulturists. 



P. S. — I might add that within my recollection, which goee back 

 almost fifty years, every great land holder I have known of has become 



