STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 35 



collect and disseminate this kind of knowledge, and that if you will 

 join it and pay the nominal sum of fifty cents we will furnish you 

 books giving instructions, showing how and what to plant and how 

 to care for the same when planted. They give the experience of such 

 men as Mr. Smith, of Wisconsin, who grew two hundred and seventy- 

 three bushels of strawberries per acre last year, of Mr. Latham who 

 had eighteen tons of grapes, of Mr. Lyon and Mr. Pearce with their 

 acres of raspberries and strawberries, and of many other famous hor- 

 ticulturists. 



But methinks I hear some hard-fisted old farmer, whose chief diet 

 has been pork and beans, tobacco and hoe cake or corn dodgers, say 

 that this berry growing is too small business for him to attend to. To 

 such I would say that your appetite and taste is so blunted and demor- 

 alized that it might be dangerous for you to change your mode of liv- 

 ing and occupation to that of a horticulturalist. 



A.S we roll back the curtain of time 6,000 years or more we behold 

 our first parents in the garden of Eden and their occupation that of 

 caring for their vines and trees thereof. They were the first horticul- 

 turalists. I know it has been the custom for the sons of our farmers 

 to go back on the occupation of their fathers and become doctors, 

 lawyers, etc. But I believe the tide is turning, and we predict that the 

 good time is soon coming when the high places now filled with lawyers 

 and millionaires will be filled with farmers and mechanics, whose 

 qualifications will not be measured by the size of their bank account. 

 When the one who is following the occupation of old Adam will be 

 the most honored in the land. 



But the mission of the horticultural society is not only to encour- 

 age the growing of fine fruits, but to encourage the raising of veget- 

 ables for home and market, the planting of trees both for useful and 

 ornamental purposes, the cultivation of flowers and ornamental shrubs, 

 and the proper management of lawns, so as to make of our homes 

 pleasant places in which to dwell. Surely, these are subjects worthy 

 of the attention and support of every intelligent citizen. 



But I am sorry to say that such is not the case. Horticultural en- 

 lightment is done by a few sacrificing individuals. Our State meeting 

 was held in St. Paul last winter, with perhaps a hundred members 

 present. A prize fight was held in Minneapolis at the same time and 

 it was said 8,000 men (but no ladies) gave one dollar each to see the 

 brutal display. 



At our fairs five or ten dollars is offered for the best display of 

 fruits or vegetables (a id often not paid), while some professional 



