THE ETHICS OF HORTICULTURE. 211 



Beauty of every type belongs to that geologic age to which man be- 

 longs. With man came the splendor of the sky and those mountains 

 of burning amber and gold which often stand sentinel at the gates of re- 

 tiring day. I never knew an ox or a horse to show the least apprecia- 

 tion of the beautiful, but I have seen the child of a year old go into an 

 ecstasy of rapture over a gorgeous sunset, and apostrophize in baby 

 glee and in his unknown tongue the loveliness with which he wished 

 to be better acquainted. I have driven over vast areas of wiUl flow- 

 ers where, far as the eye could reach, greenness and blossom were 

 blended and the air was all fragrant with the breath of the sweetness, 

 but I never knew my horse to take the least interest in it all. So we 

 are irresistibly brought to the conclusion that all the beauty and splen- 

 dor of earth and sky, the loveliness of forest and plain, and mountain 

 sublimity are especially for man. All these things are the alphabet 

 by which he is to study the sublimer lessons of the hereafter. 



It is amazing how man can develop the useful and the beautiful 

 and what he has done with the material given him. In the Arnold 

 Arboretum of Boston are about six of the world's primitive apples. 

 These in their own habitats have remained the'same with no power to 

 improve themselves, some of these apples no larger than a currant^ 

 and it is supposed that hybridization and cultivation has evolved from 

 these the mighty and luscious apple family of to-day. 



The single flower is a product of nature, the double flower the de- 

 vice of man to a large extent. Who ever saw a double rose growing 

 wild? Some of the brightest intellects of the world are now at work 

 on new species. I have a friend who is at work on developing new 

 roses. He crossed the little single rose of Japan with the General 

 Jack and sold the product for $300. There is an endless field for de- 

 velopment here. We have no idea how much of talent there is given 

 to the science of horticulture. In our eastern states they have gath- 

 ered the beauty of the world, and by crossing and improving, there 

 are almost endless varieties. I have seen 120 kinds of lilacs alone, 

 and the work of improvement has only just begun. So with the 

 honeysuckle. Going through a nursery in Massachusetts I saw an 

 upright honeysuckle one flaming mass of red berries. "Where did 

 you get that?" I asked. " liaised it from seed" was the answer. 



A friend of mine saw a remarkable shrub growing in Newbury- 

 port, Mass. It was one mass of white. He took a branch down to 



