160 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



to his early efforts along this line, as well as the people of Missouri, for generations 

 will profit by the eff^orts and knowledge of such men as our worthy President, J. 

 C. Evans, and his co-laborers, Goodman, Murray ( and hosts of others). We fully 

 appreciate the sentiment contained in those beautiful lines of Lucy Larcom on the 

 planting of a tree : 



He who plants a tree, 



He plants love. 



Tents of coolnes spreading out 



Above wayfarers he may not live to see. 



Gifts that grow, are best; , 



Hands that bless, are blest; 



Plant! life does the rest. 



Heaven and earth helps him who plants a tree. 



And his work ite own reward shall see. 



But I digress. Not far distant was the old school-house, whose silent walls 

 told no tales of the many whippings the unruly youth had received in the past, as 

 the ruling spirit of the time was, "spare the rod and spoil the child;" according 

 to that, we judge the chastisement was frequent. Near by the dear old home, 

 church and school, is the beautiful little cem<»tery, where are buried the grand- 

 father and mother, and other relatives sweetly sleep. This little spot is cared for 

 by tender hands and loving hearts, and overshadowed by the grand old trees, pro- 

 tecting them from the winter blast and the scorching rays of the summer sun. 



But I must turn my back to the dear old home, with its sweet and hallowed 

 associations, the memory of which will ever linger like a sweet refrain from the 

 song of other days. 



Other homes are found dotting the country over, vacated by those who built 

 them. Other families have separated and dispersed and aided in the development 

 of our great and glorious country, to build its institutions, cultivate its soil and 

 plant orchards, vineyards and gardens — not alone to make the whole like " the 

 garden of the Lord," but as well to prosper in all that is good and desirable for the 

 upbuilding and development of man, the home of millions of freemen, honest in all 

 their thoughts, just in all their ways, the last great nation to emerge from the 

 hands of Divine Wisdom, His loved and His own. 



At this great meeting of the chosen sons of horticulture, I would impress the 

 thought that, though we come from widely separated homes and parental hearth- 

 stones, though unlike in person as in origin and place of birth, all have one heart 

 and theme, and all seek the good of each other, in the dissemination of useful and 

 practical information adapted to the enlightenment of other men, and their im- 

 provement in the social aud, commercial world ; for, as that which hurts one hurts 

 all, so, and much more, that which helps one benefits all. This meeting, there- 

 fore, is for the personal good of each, and the general well-being of all. If, then, 

 where one member suffers, all other members suffer with it, how much more when 

 one member receives benefit, the good done becomes disseminated aud widely dis- 

 tributed, and the human family isimade to partake thereof through the ever-aggres- 

 sive and enterprising press. How much one man owes to the good another has 

 done is exemplified in the old home and homestead referred to, and in thousandsof 

 others, for most assuredly the trees there now found, that were intelligently 

 planted, have borne good fruit, and will for many years to come, for the benefit and 

 good of all within its reach. And so as we journey through life do we each leave 

 our impress for good or for evil, and it is that the good may predominate that such 

 meetings as these are held, where ths combined wisdom of the horticultural ages 



