36 _ ANNUAL REPORT. 
scattereth the hoar frost like ashes, Re forth His ice like canara toF 
who can stand before His cold?” ; 
It seems a thing impossible that a horticulturist should be a sceptic, or 
a wicked man. There are such wonders constantly revealing themselves 
to him, that not only must his mind acknowledge a God in all these things, 
but his heart must be softened and warmed to Him, who taketh such 
thought and tender. care for,even inanimate objects. 2 
As proof that the study ana culture of flowers affects the heart, as well 
as the mind, let me give you an extract from a letter from the South: 
“The Euonymus, which is valuable either singly or as a hedge plant, has 
also the silver-leaved variety. Its leaf buds are very conspicuous in win- 
ter, and have a size and vigor that somehow gives one a sense of courage. 
It is the plant of all others I would choose, to illustrate two points in 
botany that often escape the eye of a superficial observer, but which are 
full of interest, even to young children, when pointed out, viz., the forma- 
tion and careful packing away of young leaves in the leaf bud, and the 
existence of the embryo in the seed. The fruit of the Euonymus, in mid- 
winter, before drying, is a lovely study. The pericarp opens and discloses 
from one to four egg-shaped orange-colored seeds. Beneath this pretty 
seed-coat, and the inner, thinner one, lies, embedded in pure white starch, 
an embryo of bright green color, its two leaves elliptical in shape, so 
easily separated and so exactly like the large leaves growing on the shrub, 
that one feels a sort of awe in looking upon the wonder, followed by an 
impulse to caress softly the sleeping baby plant.” 
There are heart lessons, as well as great enjoyment to be drawn from 
this beautiful science, and from the healthy moral influence it exerts, it be- 
comes the duty of Christians and philanthropists to encourage it. All 
cannot have a greenhouse filled with tropical beauties, but all can cultivate 
one or more window-plants, and the gentle humanizing influence of these 
lovely silent teachers, much more than compensates for the care bestowed 
upon them. One never feels alone where there are flowers. They seem 
like sentient beings, and to the old, the feeble, and infirm, they are espe- 
cially dear. We all know their blessed effect in a sick room, and some of 
us have seen a feeble, suffering invalid shed tears of joy over a single gera- 
nium leaf, hugging it to his heart as if it was a living friend. 
If I could convey to the wards of a hospital my graceful fuchsias, my 
scarlet geraniums, my pretty twining smilax, and my precious calla, now 
blooming in all her queenly purity in my window, I am sure they would do 
more good to the weak and sorrowing ones than the doctor’s visit. And 
this leads me to speak of the great good accomplished by the flower mis- 
sions, now so much in vogue, and to suggest that we in Minnesota, who 
love flowers so well, should make a move towards supplying our hospitals 
and asylums, our alms-houses, aye, our jails and State prison, with these 
beautiful gifts of God. 
Any one who has read the very interesting and instructive story of Pic- 
ciola must be convinced of the benign influence of flowers on those unfor- 
tunates who are shut out from their fellow men. 
God gives these blessings to us so liberally, not from our deservings, 
but out of His own great love: shall we not share them with those who 
wai 
