196 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



But few people realize the extent of fruit culture, even in the state of 

 Nebraska. It is true that commercial orcharding has not been developed 

 very extensively, but the day is fast approaching when a large number of 

 such enterprises for profit will be found in the eastern third of this state. 

 Aside from the commercial orcharding, the farmer has his orchard and 

 fruit garden for home use, even the city dweller may have fruit with a 

 small initial investment. Who will venture to estimate the value, for 

 home use alone of the fruit crop of 1911? Of course we often find a man 

 who sees more beauty in a Jersey Red hog, than a Jonathan apple, but we 

 need both the hog and the apple. 



Out of the dim mists of the past rises the G-arden of Eden, at the 

 dawn of our race, and from that time to the present progress has been 

 marked by horticultural achievements, the tendency constantly being 

 toward higher and nobler impulses and grander moral and mental devel- 

 opment. The alarmists and magazine writers are calling our attention 

 to the fact that the American people are living at a killing pace and 

 that there is great need for diversion, something to cause a man to for- 

 get the daily grind and create a breathing place. I have a professional 

 friend who tired of horseback riding for recreation; he said golf was a 

 positive waste of time; of reading he did too much; dabbling in poli- 

 tics bored him; an "auto" was beyond his means. He appealed to me 

 to make suggestions as to how to spend his leisure moments. I suggest- 

 ed a flower garden. This was four years ago. He scarcely knew a 

 dahlia from a phlox, but he bought some books, a hoe, and some other 

 hand tools, some seeds and bulbs and plants, and today on his lot, 140 

 by 140 feet, he has by far the finest flower garden in the city. He has 

 become an enthusiast, has better health. The neighbors are doing like- 

 wise, and a short time ago he said he could sell $250 worth of surplus 

 plants each year if he were so disposed. 



A short time ago I asked a banker how business was coming along. 

 With the faintest suggestion of a sigh and a half-hearted smile he said, 

 "Business is first rate, deposits large, interest rates are going up, but do 

 you see that pile of mail? I work till 10 o'clock to keep up with my 

 business, and it is simply killing. I wish I could just do some common 

 work. I would like to saw wood or carry brick, or drive a dray or some- 

 thing." Now that man's physician should prescribe that our banker 

 join the nature club, plant a flower bed, raise some small fruit, pick 

 strawberries and mow his own lawn. That is the remedy for tired 

 business men. 



Each recurring springtime, when the frosts and snows have melted 

 away, and the sun begins to warm the earth, a veritable miracle is per- 

 formed. No one can explain it, even the scientist does not tell how it 

 occurs. It is the growth of plant life, a very common phenomenon but 

 clouded in deep mystery. 



Go into your garden in the spring and take a handful of earth. It 

 is not pleasant to the touch, the odor is not inviting, the sight is not 

 pleasing, but great possibilities are contained therein. For each cubic 



