430 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



country home of Thomas Jeffersou, the framer of one of the grandest papers- 

 of State that human history has ever known. Who does not remember that 

 Daniel Webster, the matchless expounder of the Constitution, communed 

 ^ith Nature atMarshfield ; that Henry Clay, the flow of whose fiery eloquence 

 burned its ways into men's minds like a molten stream of lava, was ever glad 

 to return to his lovely farm home at Ashland ; that Abraham Lincoln, the 

 greatest of typical Americans, studied by the light of burning pine knots in 

 the humble log cabin on his father's farm; or that James A. Garfield, our 

 nation's second martjr, loved passionately, to the day of his death, his rural 

 home at Mentor. Yes, Mount Vernon, Monticello, Marshfield, Ashland and 

 Mentor — all, have their sacred memories as well as their lessons of invaluable 

 worth, because the hand of the horticulturist added to their beauty and their 

 refinement. Have you not road how when that prince of English patriots, 

 philanthropists and statesmen, Wm. E. Gladstone, grows weary with his Her- 

 culean tasks in Parliament, he retires to the gardens and forests of his lovely 

 Hawarden to engage in manual labor in order to recruit his waning powers? 

 Ancient history, too, furnishes its illustrious examples of a Cincinnatus* leav- 

 ing his plow for the dictatorship of his country, and of a Roman kingf who 

 voluntarily gave up his throne to care for his cabbage patch. In fact, great 

 men in all ages have been like the fabled giant Anteus of old, of whom it is 

 said whenever he touched the earth he renewed his strength, and so his ene- 

 mies continually tried to keep him from earth that they might crush him in 

 mid air. When weary they have sought the healing balm of mother earth. 

 Is it not a significant fact that so many of the greatest men in all professions 

 have been lovci's of nature? The beautiful cadence of Gray's "Elegy in a 

 Country Church yard," the measured beauty of Bryant's " Thanatopsis " or 

 his ''Death of the Flowers," Longfellow's stirring words on "The Launching 

 of the Ship," Whittier's simple, charming story of " Maud Muller " or even 

 Carleton's quaint " Farm Festivals " — all these and many more, interest and 

 edify us because their authors found a place close to Nature's heart. 



The most skillful artist, whether he be a Michael Angelo or a Raphael, 

 with his almost matchless creations; a Phideas whose conceptions seem to 

 leap into life itself, under the almost divine touch of his chisel; a Shake- 

 speare whose word paintings of the human soul and its passions have yet to 

 be equaled or surpassed by the human mind; a Beethoven whose creations 

 seem to lift the soul to the portals of Heaven itself, or a Demosthenes whose 

 very voice seemed to possess the power to make men either angels or demons 

 — the most trutliful artist, whether he be painter, sculptor, poet, musician 

 or orator, is he who most accurately interprets Nature. 



The greatest master of the English language said that mercy is twice blest. 

 But horticulture brings a four fold blessing, at least, for to him who engages 

 in it, it brings health to the body, rest to the weary mind, and inspiration to 

 the soul, while its reflex action blesses his neighbors. The proper care, 

 either of a vegetable garden, a flower garden or of a lawn — each or all together 

 furnish healthful exercise for body, mind and soul, and every home should 

 have at least one of them, if it be only a window garden in summer and pot- 

 ted plants in winter. Whatever makes home more beautiful, more enticing 

 within or without, is not only a blessing to its inmates but to all who look 



* Size of Cincinnatus' farm, 4 acres. [See Barnes' General History, p. 221.] 



t In 305, A. D. both emperors resigned the purple. Diocletian amused himself by workinc: in his 

 garden and when Maximian sout^ht to draw hira out of his retirement, he wrote, '" If you could see 

 the cabbages I have planted with my own hand, you would never ask me to remount the throne." 

 [See Barnes' General History, p. 263.] 



