94 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



adornment; but it was only when the race had entered the realm of a 

 higher civilization that the verdant and floral beauties of nature found 

 recognition. 



Though our knowledge of primitive man is restricted to such evi- 

 dences as the earth has preserved for our discovery ; yet even now, in 

 darker regions of the globe men are found in conditions so similar that 

 we may infer that what is true of the one was true of the other. The 

 denizens of Central Africa and the wild Indians of the plains manifest 

 their appreciation of the beautiful, in barbaric efforts to adorn their 

 persons and to decorate their dwellings, weapons and implements. The 

 same tendency appears in the history of all races in their savage con- 

 dition. This innate sense found higher expression in the sculpture, 

 painting and architecture of Egypt, Greece and Eome ; but horticulture, 

 though not wholly ignored, received more tardy recognition. 



In our own times, though a rose or some flower, cherished as a 

 remembrance of other homes, may have bloomed near the pioneer 

 cabin, yet some remove from the demands for unremitting toil has 

 been necessary before things merely of beauty could find place as 

 established necessities. To some the awakening never comes. This, 

 I fear, is shown even in our midst. To find dwellings with no vestige 

 of beauty within or without is not difficult. No flight of fancy or 

 artist's picture can make the impression of these desolate homes more 

 sad or clear. On the other hand, we have all felt suggestions of 

 something purer and higher when passing a cabin where a carefully 

 guarded flower is seen blooming in the window, where in the small 

 yard, fenced away from pigs and chickens, a little plat of grass and a 

 bed, it may be only of four o'clocks and poppies, comes to view. 



The vicious, coarse, vulgar and depraved may live in homes em- 

 bowered and adorned by nature's choicest gems which their own hands 

 have planted, but our minds reject the belief as incongruous and un- 

 natural. There is no farmer favored with health who cannot find hours 

 of leisure sufficient to enclose a little space around his dwelling, and if 

 he can do no more, plant such trees, shrubs and vines as he may find 

 in the nearest valley. An ivy or a wild honeysuckle trained around 

 the porch or over a window shuts out the fierce heat and glare of the 

 summer sun. 



A rustic arbor is the work of but a few hours. Grapes planted 

 here afford both shade and fruit. A wild climbing rose will clamber 

 along the paling fence, a row of hollyhock form a background for 

 hardy perennial flowers, and a few seeds of annuals may be had for 

 the asking. Cedars from the rocks will form an evergreen clump, or 

 screen from view an unsightly object. 



