32 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



From the beginning down to the present time, horticulture has 

 claimed the attention of civilized people of every age, and of every 

 clime. Palestine, land of sacred missions, home of the stately rabbi, land 

 where the Saviour of the human race lived and taught, and in the fulness 

 of time died for the salvation of men, was one blooming garden, and 

 before the destructive hand of war was laid heavily upon her, turning 

 the beauty and fragrance of life into the desolation of death, priest 

 and prince looked from the towers of the temple upon a land made by 

 cultivation as fair as a vision of paradise. That wonderful race, the 

 ancient Egyptians, sought from fruit and flower images for the ornamen- 

 tation of those monuments of architecture whose crumbling ruins are 

 yet the wonder of the world. The great city of Babylon, once Queen 

 of the Orient, whose fate was foretold by priest and prophet, lavished 

 untold treasure upon gardens that were the pride of her own citizens, 

 and the delight of the teeming thousands who bought and sold in her 

 markets. The Komans — nation of soldiers, conquerors by profes- 

 sion. — took time to cultivate gardens, filled with roses, violets and other 

 flowers and fruits. 



That artistic aud polished race, the ancient Greeks, looked not for 

 beauty in the marble statue or pillared temple alone, but devoted 

 much time to the culture of fruits and flowers. Kings and emperors 

 have established royal gardens, in which every known flower bloomed, 

 and every known fruit was cultivated. The mighty Charlemagne, 

 " Emperor of the West," made it a part of his policy to add to the 

 beauty of his dominions by establishing magnificent gardens, and did 

 not deem it beneath his royal dignity to prescribe every plant and tree 

 to be placed therein. 



The rose, fragrant and beautiful, the red and the white, were the 

 chosen emblems of two royal houses of England and their followers in 

 the olden time, and the chosen chivalry of that great nation met on 

 many a hard-fought field and battled to the death in support of those 

 represented by these gentle flowers. 



But in tracing horticulture back to its origin, and in enumerating 

 some of those who have found in it pursuit of pleasure or of profit, 

 the subject assigned for this paper, which was the advantages to be 

 derived from the organization of horticultural societies', had possibly 

 better not be entirely overlooked. 



In this prosaic and matter-of-fact age, when men do not go to war 

 under a red or a white rose, when the struggle for a livelihood is con- 

 stantly before us, the true test of the success of every undertaking is 

 its advantages, its benefits; sentiment and poetry are lost sight of, and 

 the question is, will it pay ? Such organizations are beneficial in many 



