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A PLEA FOR THE BEAUTIFUL IN HORTICULTURE. 43 
shade, noticing the rough trimming of the branches, the bushes in 
the garden and the suspicion of weeds here and there, and he re- 
marked: “You really need a gardener in this yard all the time.” 
Seeing I did not enthusiastically appreciate his uncomplimentary 
remark, he hastened to add “but nature has done a great deal for 
your place,” and I suppose he stroked his satisfied self as he rode 
away contrasting our home with his own, around which was an 
iron fence painted green and in the pattern of the “weeping willow.” 
He failed to see the restful beauty of the deep shade, of the variety 
of the trees, the rolling stretch of the lawn, the rank profusion of 
the flowers—even the out-door games and comforts that had so de- 
lighted the children, escaped his notice. He simply took a critic’s 
place for his standard in life and overlooked the beam in his own 
eye. 
When this city was in its infancy, with less than forty families, 
one of our minister’s wives conceived the idea of beautifying the 
town and educating its few ladies in the pleasure of floriculture. 
She sent for a quantity of potted plants and distributed them among 
the ladies to be cared for until the autumn, then they gathered to- 
gether, and a floricultural fair and sale was held. This fair was one 
of several held by the ladies, the result of which isnow our Austin 
circulating library. Not alone was the library the fruit of this 
beautiful work. It instituted in the hearts and lives of those ladies 
the love of flowers. It lightened the lonely lives of the pioneers 
and helped to make their privations more endurable, and today you 
can scarcely find a home where these influences reached but the in- 
mates refer with pleasure to those early times, and the many bless- 
ings resulting from the refining influence of this early lessson in 
floriculture. 
The pioneer who first settled on the plain where I now live was a 
Baptist minister, from New England. He was particularly fond of 
a dish of cooked greens and sent to his old home for seeds and 
planted them. About the same time a brother of mine, one of our 
early settlers here, planted and cultivatedin his garden some dande- 
lions, the seed being sent him from his native state, because he’s too, 
enjoyed his dish of greens, and now the curled dock and bright 
dandelion, though they may be public nuisances by their prolific 
increase, yet show how seed sown and cared for in season can bring 
fourth many fold. 
If you have shrubs to plant and seed to sow, even though the 
place and condition are not in strict accordance with the presént 
ideas of this organization, do not hesitate to accept the best offered 
you, but plant, sow. 
Iam reminded of the notion that a hedge of sweet peas should 
lie north and south, and because I was obliged to plant mine east 
and west, several ladies sought to comfort me by discouraging me 
in my attempt. I wish to boast of the fine results of my east and 
- west hedge. It was so luxuriant, and covered in bloom, its sweet 
odors were wafted over the lawn from early summer till the frosts 
came. A neighbor’s child after filling its hands one morning with 
the rich blossoms to take home, asked his mother why God did not 
