2i6 State Horticultural Society. 



pests — the product of sin. But Divine Justice is ever tempered with 

 mercy. God's law^s are inexorable and unchangeable whether they 

 be natural or spiritual. At the same time He inflicted this penalty 

 for this first transgression of law, the promise was given that the 

 seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head. And this rain- 

 bow of hope and promise spanned the ages from the first Adam who 

 was of the earth earthy into the second Adam who was the Lord 

 from heaven, who should come with healing in his wings, ushering in 

 the morning of the glad day as seen by prophet of old when he ex- 

 altingly exclaimed : "The wilderness and the solitary place shall be 

 glad, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose." The 

 finger of time was ever pointing toward the Messiah, and the glad 

 morn ushered in by this coming is hastening on toward the noonday 

 of the Sun of Righteousness. 



Scientific research ; a study and better understanding of nature's 

 laws, is but the outgrowth of religious liberty and christian civiliza- 

 tion. And these we can proudly say are the products of American 

 soil, fostered and protected by Caucasian manhood, which is leading 

 the world in everything that enlightens, elevates and blesses it. Our 

 public school system is one of which we may well be proud, for surely 

 we merit a place in the front rank of the educational world. But to 

 my mind there is one very important branch in the course of study 

 as it now is that has not been provided for, viz. : Agriculture. Why 

 should this, the most comprehensive of all sciences, be ignored while 

 we are preparing our children for all other vocations? It matters not 

 that he ever owns a pig, or plants a tree, the way should be made 

 plain and easy for the young student to know something of how 

 animals and plants grow. The laws governing these makes agri- 

 culture a science to which all others must pay tribute. The coming 

 agriculturist who is ambitious and expects to be in the front, whether 

 he pursue horticulture or general farming, must begin preparation in 

 the common school and finish in a higher institution, such as our own 

 State Agricultural College at Columbia. This institution, equipped 

 as it is for educating along its lines of study, is an honor to our com- 

 monwealth and will more and more add dignity to the labor of the 

 tillers of the soil. And whenever instruction is begun in the common 

 schools, especially of the rural districts, this institution will have to 

 enlarge itself in every way in order to meet the demands for the in- 

 struction it gives. 



As one who has gained what little he knows largely by experi- 

 ence and observation, T would advise the young farmer, or the one 



