446 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



been aching for the beautiful. Father Terry, of Iowa, has given 

 us over loo new and choice paeonies, and among them his Victor, 

 which is victorious ; and Excelsior, that excels ; and Morning Star, 

 with delicate rays radiating from a heart of gold. What a troop 

 of loveliness to rise up and bless the old man as he goes toward the 

 land of the setting sun. I visited him last summer on his seventy- 

 eighth birthday. His creations seemed to rejuvenate him, and I 

 found him planning for twenty-five years ahead. See how he has 

 blessed the world by bringing cheer to so many homes ! It is 

 said he is a benefactor who makes two blades of grass grow in 

 the place of one. What shall we say of the man who in the place 

 of none shall clothe the brown earth with a splendor on which the 

 soul can feast, who discovers gems which will increase to mil- 

 lions? There is altruism here. It is like an almoner handing out 

 the richest gifts of Providence to a needy world. What I wish to 

 do is to awaken a zeal so you can go out and possess these new 

 fields. There is a charm in taking flowers already established and 

 propagating them, thus clothing barrenness with beauty. But we 

 have reached that point where the ordinary man or woman, boy or 

 girl, can add to the treasures of the world, the delights of society. 



A quiet woman in Indiana a few years ago planted some paeony 

 seed. One plant, on my advice, she named General Lawton. It 

 was sold for $ioo. It is a splendid flower. Another she named 

 for her departed husband, and a leading florist paid her $150 for it. 

 Another of her creations, Walter Morgan, has a charmingly fra- 

 grant blossom of pure gold. There is no overshadowing trust to 

 interfere with this business, no law which forbids research along 

 these lines. God sets up no signs with "No trespassing here." 

 What wonder when I see these things that the fascination comes 

 over me ! I have broken the world's record by planting thirty-five 

 pounds of the choicest paeony seeds the earth affords, and I con- 

 fess I am willing to forego the pleasures and delights of heaven 

 for a season to see the new forms of beauty which will spring up 

 from those seeds. No two exactly alike, and among them there 

 will be some which will be the joy of the florist and the delight 

 of the home. 



Note this fact : When flowers are first developed from the 

 original type they have a tendency to revert back again. It prob- 

 ably took 1,000 tests to produce a double dahlia. Now the family 

 is so well established that the progeny partake of the characteris- 

 tics of the parent. A lady not long ago sowed some dahlia seeds, 

 and was amazed to find a pure white, immense double flower which 

 she named Surprise. Last spring I sowed a lot of seeds from the 



