250 Missouri State Horticultural Society. 



the body and arouses the mind, but cannot satisfy its wants ; and 

 therefore, it is recreation — it is real pleasure to go out into the 

 orchard and garden to search for the hidden mvsteries of knowledse. 



As laborers in the orchard and vineyard, on the farm and in 

 the garden, we must remember in scanning over the jjages of the 

 world's history, that a large portion of those who have shone as 

 stars in the literary world or illuminated the path of scientific 

 knowledge ; who have been the benefactors of their race, the mas- 

 ter-spirits of their age, have been toilers, born in obscurity, reared 

 in poverty, and obliged to work for a livelihood, This is no time 

 or place to i^lead too much work. This is an age of invention and 

 investigation, and it is the working man that is to-day accomplishing 

 the most good in the world. It is to him we are looking to unveil 

 the hidden mysteries of science. To-day *'we have men w^ho labor 

 at the anvil, and follow the plow, wear the basket and tend the 

 loom, and yet have strength and time to imi^rove their race, to 

 send forth strains which elevate and purify and find a response in 

 every soul. We have philosophers, statesmen and orators eloquent 

 from among the working classes, who far outstrip men borne in 

 influence, and who make stndy the business of life.'' 



It is for the very reason that we are engaged in the gardens of 

 our homes, for the very reason that we sow the seed, and plant the 

 tree, and dig up the gronnd, that we are capable of accomplishing 

 more for the cause of horticulture than the man who makes study 

 the b.usiness of life. It is indeed n pleasure to study the science of 

 entomologj^, to examine the progress made in natural history during 

 the past centuries ; to read the workg of Aristotle, Linnaeus, 

 DeGeer and Fabricins, and to know how under the more extended 

 research of Avriters of our own, day, the number of insects knowm 

 and described has prodigiously increased ; yet it is more real satis- 

 faction to watch the develoj)ment of these varied insects, watch 

 the natural changes they undergo, changes from one class of insect 

 life to that of another, and group them together in their different 

 orders ; to actually observe the stages in life at which they do their 

 mischief ; liow^ to protect against their depredations, and when 

 they can be most easily destroyed. In this way the working man 

 has the advantage of the theorist and the mere classical student, 

 who wearies of continued mental effort, whose mind is weakened, 

 and who fails to realize in a truly practical way the living, moving 

 world, living apart as he does from its active scenes. The working 

 man gives example as well as precej)t to the Avorld. He is in it, 

 and of it, and can make himself felt by it in a manner the theorist 

 cannot. 



