|‘ MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIFTY. § 129 © 
Wuereas, The general dissemination of a knowledge of horticulture is 
one of the most important means for promoting the interests, improving 
the taste and advancing the happiness of the people; and, 
Wuereas, Nothing can contribute so efficiently to these great objects as 
the actual demonstrations afforded by the cultivation, under competent di- 
rection, of the best varieties of plants, flowers, and shrubbery; therefore, 
Resolved, That in the judgment of this Society it is the policy and duty 
of the State so to arrange, decorate and cultivate the grounds connected 
with its public educational institutions as not onlyto afford examples of 
the varieties best adapted to our climate, but the means for thorough and 
practical instruction upon this subject, to those who are to become the 
teachers of our children and youth. 
It received a second and Prof. Phelps made some remarks in sup- 
port of the resolution as follows: 
Mr. Phelps :—In offering these resolutions I desire to express my 
high appreciation of the work which the State Horticultural So- 
ciety has undertaken to perform. The first duty of a free com- 
monwealth is to educate the people, and thus qualify them for their 
weighty and solemn responsibilities as citizens. I can utter no 
more truthful aphorism than that the true wealth of a nation is its 
cultivated sons and daughters. It is none the less true that the ed- 
ucation of the people should be such as best befits their condition 
and circumstances. The masses and the industrial classes are 
identical. Hence the masses should be taught those things that 
most concern their daily life, and that will best minister to their 
enduring happiness and prosperity. Among these things horticul- 
ture, the growth of plants and flowers and luscious fruits, that so 
minister both to the beautiful and the useful, must ever occupy a 
prominent place. 
What greater boon could be bestowed upon the people than the 
disposition and the ability to beautify their homes and surround 
them with that ‘‘ which is pleasant to the sight and good for food.” 
How is the tendency of our youth in the rural districts to rush into 
the din, the turmoil and the temptations of city life, to be checked, 
if not by such influences as will make them contented with their 
lot amid the freedom and the purity of the country that God has 
made? A knowledge of horticulture and of the science of culti- 
vating the soil, is the great need of the hour, and I believe that the 
State should do everything in its power to diffuse this knowledge 
among its rural population. 
As a step in this direction permit me to suggest that it should 
begin by a suitable cultivation and ornamentation of the grounds 
surrounding its public institutions, particularly its State University 
17 
