Horticultural Education. 53 



sibilities may be nourished and quickened. Cowper has truly said, "I 

 would not enroll upon my list of friends, though graced with polished 

 manners and fine senses, yet lacking sensibility, the man who needlessly 

 sets foot upon a worm." The finer sensibilities are not grown by com- 

 mands and learned lectures, they are developed by the nourishment 

 they receive. I am a strong believer in the potent influence of environ- 

 ment. The large red corpuscles that give life and vigor to the body arc 

 but the transporters of health and energy gathered from the atmos- 

 phere in which we move. We can not expect to develop strong and 

 rugged manhood in a malarious atmosphere, neither can the moral 

 fiber be improved, by the deleterious environment of the back alley 

 or the modern livery barn. Look at the condition we find in the coun- 

 try home of today. The woeful ignorance of the simplest form of ani- 

 mal or plant life. We have been so busy teaching our children the su- 

 preme importance of learning to read in a dead language the remarka- 

 ble fables of Caesar's Gaelic wars, that it has been thought a serious 

 loss of time to consider the "lilies of the valley." 



The following question was asked in a teacher's examination, and 

 a farmer's daughter was taking the test. What is an insect? She 

 could not tell. Another question was; Name four domestic animals 

 fered much as to the importance, but nearly all agreed that the cat must 

 most useful to man. The six teachers answering these questions dif- 

 be one of the four indispensible to the farmer's need, while the goat 

 and dog were freely mentioned. Not one word was said, however, 

 about the Belgian hare. Another question: Name four beef breeds of 

 cattle. The Durock and Percheron here had their admirers. We do 

 not give these facts in jest, it is too serious a matter. To think that we 

 can live forever in surroundings in which we take no interest, though 

 God has nothing more beatuiful in store for us than the things we teacli 

 our children to ignore as we have done in the past. 



4. It cultivates the esthetic — who can study the life history of a 

 plant or a flower for a single day, and not his finer feelings coming ta 

 the surface. If we live in the atmosphere of plants and shrubs, oui- 

 spiritual condition will be measured by the emotions that our environ- 

 paent stirs within us. 



\ We could say much more that should be said along this line, but 

 te forbear, lest our contention be granted with the inevitable "that's 

 all right, but — it won't stick to the ribs. We therefore turn to the 

 piactical side of this qeustion and give the true American reason. 



\ 5. It pays. This is axiomatic, and needs no proof. No one will 

 taie the statistics of the fruit grown in new sections where special at- 



