THE IDEAL HORTICULTURIST. 415 



such plans and hopes ever assume, recognize the iniinortality of the 

 finite soul. When studying the nature and results of competition 

 and co-operation, he should recognize the fact that no one can live 

 and rejoice alone, or suffer and die alone, but that we are all united 

 in natural and indissolvable bonds of mutual sympathj^, whereby 

 we joy or sorrow together. When studying the various forms and 

 colors that characterize specific qualities, he should learn not only 

 to enjoy the harmony that pervades the beautiful in external na- 

 ture, but also to feel the refined sj^mpathj- which aesthetic natures 

 ever share in the presence of the beautiful. 



Practical training is essential to the highest success in producing 

 the flowers and fruitage of nature; mental, moral and aesthetic cul- 

 ture are essential to the development of the perfect flower and fruit- 

 age of true character. The ideal horticulturist must not only have 

 both, the practical to make him successful in the perplexities and 

 labors of his calling and the personal culture to develop his moral 

 character, but he must place upon each its proper estimation and 

 jlfive to each its due consideration at the proper time. When he buys 

 his land, fertilizes his soil, selects his seed, plants his fields, culti- 

 vates his ground, trains his vines, prunes his trees, kills his weeds, 

 harvests his crops, he must be a geologist, a chemist, a phj-sicist and 

 a botanist as well as a horticulturist. When he markets his pro- 

 ducts, he must be a merchant or a peddler, a philosopher or a crank 

 a neighbor or a lawj-er, all things to all men, as occasion requires. 

 But in and through it all he should remember that his every suc- 

 cess in raising and selling his crops is not an end but a means to 

 an end. Ail his horticultural products must perish, and all the 

 money received for them must be left for others; but the character 

 which he develops is immortal, and the good which he does will re- 

 main as his own eternal reward. 



The ideal horticulturist is deeply conscious of this truth, and every 

 day of his life bears witness of the fact. His every plan is made not 

 as a temporarN- means but as a factor in some permanent end. The 

 beauty of his flowers is to him a source not only of passing pleasure 

 but also of refined culture. The luscious richness of his fruits is a 

 promise not only of quick sales and large profits for himself but 

 also of happiness and blessing for others. His every success is a 

 satisfaction not merely because it increases his wealth and magni- 

 fies his reputation, but because it brings him into sympathy with 

 he happiness and good will of others. His highest ambition is to 

 be thorough in all his plans, successful in all his efforts, faithful to 

 all his duties and grateful for all his blessings. In so far as his 

 ambition is realized, he is an ideal horticulturist. 



