420 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
It is full of manly labors, while it answers most tenderly the hos-— 
pitalities of friendship and the claims of home. The delight of 
children, the pastime of woman, the privilege of the poor man, as it 
is the ornament of the rich man, the praise of the scholar, the 
security of the citizen, it places man in the truest relations to the 
world in which he lives. He who is insensible to them must lack 
some chord in the harp of humanity, worshiping, if he worship, at 
some strange shrine.” 
I have thus rehearsed some historical facts and quotations to show 
how the renowned of this world have looked upon the art and 
science of horticulture in its broad acceptance, and also to show 
how highly we should esteem it because of its exaltation by our 
Creator and His Son, Jesus Christ. 
We all know by observation and experience that the employment 
of our hands and minds has a vital influence upon our personality. 
As each person has his special idiosyncrasy or weakness as a 
censequence of sin, heredity or surroundings, it is his required 
duty at the right age and time to enforce his will power in selecting 
that business for life that will aid in his uplifting instead of dragging 
him down to uselessness in the world and his own destruction. 
This is true, notwithstanding another general principle, that one. 
will make the greatest success in that employment for which he has 
the greatest natural aptitude. 
Itis far better to succeed in that whichis good and right with 
required onerous efforts, than to fail to obtain the greatest good by 
easily drifting down the smooth current of our natural propensities 
amid the vicissitudes of life. If a youth is not led by example, 
influence and instruction to the employment of his body and mind 
in some useful and disciplinary work, it is almost a certainty that 
the labors of his manhood will result in a failure. There will be no 
more exceptions to this principle than are found in the nearly 
certain truths of mathematics. I am just as thoroughly assured of 
the beneficial or injurious effects on character by the class or kind 
of employment in whicha person may engage. History, biography 
and our own memories are fullof illustrations proving the truthful- 
ness of the assertion just made. Hence, as I have before remarked, 
both the old and young, especially the latter, should strive to adapt 
their natural capacities and aptitudes to those occupations in 
which they can not only attain a living or competence and be in 
harmony with their tastes and capacities when advisable, but that 
shall assist in creating and strengthening all the requisites neces- 
sary to the formation of a noble, true character, resulting in a 
useful and beneficial life. Among such studies, 1 consider horti- 
culture takes a high rank. Anything that leads us to truly study 
the laws of nature, which are the laws of God, with a proper spirit 
and a practical purpose, draws us into closer relations with our 
Creator, if rightly incorporated into our being. 
In proportion as we see and appreciate the harmony, beauty and 
efficacy of nature’s laws, we shall, to the same extent, continually 
be ennobled and advanced into nearer relations with the Creator of 
nature and her Jaws, As we approach such relations, we become 
