92 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



communes with nature. Here he can come in touch with Mother Earth, 

 and draw from her again both strength and vigor. The trees he plants 

 in orchard, garden, or lawn, are more than for profit. They challenge 

 more than the carnal eye, and awaken sentiments of the soul deeper than 

 those of merely material gain. They are the homes of birds and flowers. 

 Songs mingle with the rustle of their leaves, and thousands of bright- 

 hued blossoms smile beneath the protection of their shade. What a 

 delight, also, their varying aspects of light and shade and color give, as 

 the seasons come and go! Now just dawning into green when the blue- 

 birds come and the daffodils bloom; now with innumerable leaves wooing 

 the odorous winds, when 



"The year grows lush with juicy stalks," 



and now, when autumn sheaves are culled for Ceres, making the hillsides 

 and valleys glow as though a thousand sunsets had left the skies and 

 spread themselves over the earth! What tender chords of feeling they 

 touch, the loss of which would make silent large spaces of the soul! 



How often in our youth, beneath their shades, have we watched the 

 Nymphs, and heard the pipes of Pan! How often in their dewy silence 

 have we heard mysterious whisperings within our souls! 



Who would miss, therefore, to look upon this side of life and glory, to 

 gain a fresh emotional sympathy with nature in her forms of beauty? for 



"Vain is the glory of the sliy, 



The beauty vain of field and grove, 

 Unless, while with admiring eye 

 We gaze, we also learn to love." 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE PLANT WORLD. 



BY PROF. L. H. BAILEY OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY. 

 [ Stenographer's Notes of an Extemporaneous Address.] 



I was exceedingly interested in what Dr. Thomas said about the boys 

 of the farming communities, and the necessity for their having the advan- 

 tages of education. 



To me the education of farmers' sons and daughters looks somewhat dif- 

 ferent than to others, engaged in the same occupation, but I think I have 

 quite outgrown the desire to place the burden of my effort upon the mere 

 information I can give them concerning their pursuits. I said to a body 

 of young men a few days ago, who came for instruction, that I hoped they 

 did not feel as though I were going to tell them how to hoe turnips ; that 

 there were plenty of farmers to whom I could refer them for this infor- 

 mation, but if they wanted to know why to hoe turnips, or of some 

 other fundamental principle, I would try to teach them the best I could. 



In other words, what we want is not only training, which they can get 

 at home, but fundamental principles; and I will guarantee that when the 

 young fellow knows why he hoes turnips, he can hoe better than I. 



