GRAPE CULTURE. oil 



great deal of this petty fruit-stealing by the poorer classes. But the American 

 people are too closely confined to money-making to look after the welfare of 

 their neighbors' interests. Whatever pleasure may be derived from other pur- 

 suits there is certainly none that has afforded stronger evidence of a high and 

 prosperous state of civilization, or a more ennobling influence, than the culti- 

 vation of fruits. From the day when God gave our father in Eden trees 

 pleasant to the sight, and good for food (except one), down to Solomon, who 

 said, "I made me gardens and orchards, and planted in them trees of all kinds," 

 and through the successive generations of men, the cultivation of trees and 

 plants has been the criterion of taste and refinement. And what greater bene- 

 factions can yon leave for posterity than these memorials which shall live and 

 tell of your love for the most beautiful works of nature when you are slumber- 

 ing in your grave. It is not difficult to see that I am somewhat of an enthus- 

 iast in grape culture, imbued with a true love for the luscious fruit. It is so 

 very natural for such a one to begin with wanting only a few good things, and 

 end with a craving for everything that grows. I used to be just so in fact, and 

 I am more so still. It seems as if there Avas no end to this most enchanting of 

 all pursuits of rural life. I have been in search of these tokens of God's love 

 to man all of my life. A beautiful home is the center of all attraction that 

 will endure ; it is the one fashion that will never change. And how can we 

 make home pleasant and attractive without fruit or flowers ? 



THE TRUE HOSPITALITY OF THE HORTICULTURIST. 



Allow me to digress from the subject. All genuine hospitality flows from 

 the spirit of natural politeness and kindness. How miserably we fail as long 

 as we weary ourselves to death in the entertainment of our friends, like poor old 

 Aunt Ruth, so troubled about her dinner that she could not give a moment's 

 time for the entertainment of her friends that sat at her board. But let us 

 provide all of the luscious fruits that our beautiful earth will produce, and 

 bring them into our household, and then open our doors and hearts for our 

 friends to come in, making our own faces so radiaut with welcome that no 

 body will care whether they dine sumptuously from the latest style of porcelain, 

 or eat bread and fruit from grandmother's service of pewter, that used to 

 sparkle on the open shelves in olden time. Michigan hospitality to-day needs 

 especially the lesson of that visit of Jesus to the home of Martha, in far off 

 Bethany, where everything that was done was done with cheerfulness and 

 pleasure. 



So it should be with the true and genuine horticulturist. I know of no 

 better temporal acquisition than a happy rural home. A home where you may 

 sit amid the fruiting of trees, and the flowering of your plants. A home 

 embellished by your own taste, and endeared by the loved ones of your own 

 family. A happy country home where you may find enjoyment, not in hungry 

 greed for gold, not in the conflicts for political distinction, not in the strife for 

 place, power, or renown. For over twenty-five years of my life I have tried 

 the busy marts of trade. But whenever I could rescue a little time from the 

 cares of business, whether at rosy morn, or golden noon, or declining day, I 

 have fled to the garden and grape-house, to my favorite vines and plants, that I 

 might commune and co-operate with nature in her secret laboratory of wonder- 

 working powers. This is my idea of a happy home. And this is my idea of a 

 happy man : he who is contented with fruits and flowers reared by his own 

 care, with congenial friends, and a good conscience toward God and his fellow 



