GARDEN AND WILD FLO^A/'ERS. 



AN ESSAY BY MRS. JEREMIAH BROWN, OF BATTLE CREEK, READ 



BEFORE THE STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY AT ITS 



MEETING FEBRUARY 26th, 1873. 



Mr. Peesident, — As a lover of flowers I feel it in my heart to thank this 

 association for its recognitiou of their "right" to be represented ou this 

 occasion. 



One would think that Pomology and Floriculture should ever go hand in 

 hand, for the good Father has so ordered it, that all fruits shall be preceded by 

 flowers, and they in the most exuberant abundance of exquisite beauty and 

 inimitable arrangement. God could have given us all our fruits from ouly 

 plain, dull colored flowers. It needed not tlie delicately tinted and finely tex- 

 tured blossom of the peach to secure the luscious flavor of its fruit; nor was 

 the tasteful clustering and artistic shading of the bouquets of leaves, buds, and 

 blossoms with which our apple-trees are each year adorned, indispensable to 

 produce that most useful fruit. The cherries, plums, and pears too, might just 

 as well have resulted from groups of inconspicuous organs, as from their 

 wealth of snowy blossoms. And yet I fear, with this imprsssive lesson yearly 

 renewed to them, there are some of our fruit-growers who never think of hav- 

 ing a flower-garden. They ask, " What is the use of spending time and money 

 for that which will not pay ?" Will not pay! That of course means that it 

 will not put dollars and cents into their pockets. I would say to such, look at 

 yonder display of apples ; see the rich coloring, the delicate shading, the bril- 

 liant tinting laid there with God's own pencil. It does not enrich their flavor 

 nor make them more nourishing, neither does it serve to continue them longer 

 in use. Why then are they thus adorned ? Because it is the pleasure of Our 

 Father in Heaven, to make beauty an essential clement in all his creations. 

 And how forcibly is this truth demonstrated, not alone in the rich and varied 

 coloring of the fruits, but as well in the profusion and loveliness of the flowers 

 of our fruit-bearing trees, shrubs, and plants. To the plodding utilizer this 

 may seem only a waste of efibrt and material, to the philosophic thinker, it 

 afi"ords a lesson of transcendent worth. What is the use of flowers ? — 



" Uselessnefs clivinest, 

 Of a use the finest." 



Surround your home with flowers and it Avill refine, polish, and elevate your 

 family. It will educate your children into a knowletlge of the tender loving 

 care of God, who has spread over the whole earth these " day stars " to brighten- 

 and cheer the rugged pathway of life, 



