228 ANNUAL REPORT. 



higher standard of aesthetic culture. We certainly have learned that beauty and 

 utility are not incompatible terms, and but few among us will dispute that the 

 study of ajsthetics is quite as important as much of the learning now considered es- 

 sential in our schools. That the atiuisition of this knowledge is more agreeable 

 than that of much else which is taught, and that its pursuit has a salutary influence 

 on the mind and life of the learner will, I think, be universally admitted. 



But the inculcation of a lesson in ;esthetics is no part of the intention of this pa- 

 per, and I fear that I have already used too much of your time in introducing the 

 theme proposed in the title, but hardly yet alluded to. If you will bear with me 

 a few moments longer, however, I will endeavor to apply the ideas I have advanced 

 to the science of horticulture, and ask for this branch of the study the recognition 

 and approval of this association. In most other of the practical sciences, the im- 

 portance of aesthetic features is already acknowledged. The outer decorations of 

 our dwellings with handsome cornices, graceful columns, ornate towers and castel- 

 lated chimney tops, do not affect the health and comfort of the inmates-, yet they 

 are recognized as essentials in architecture, and add largely to the value of the 

 building. Even the renter of a humble tenament, who earns his money by his 

 daily toil, will willingly pay more for a residence that has an attractive exterior. 

 The same desire to embellish and beautify is also manifested in the interior finish- 

 ing and furnishing of modern residences Even the cheapest quality of furniture 

 must make pretentions to beauty to find purchasers ; and while many of the win- 

 dow trimmings, wall hangings and other decorative objects may yet exhibit crudi- 

 ties of taste, there is certainly vast improvement in this respect within the last 

 quarter of a century. The old fashioned window shades and half curtains are rele- 

 gated to attics and unused apartments, to make room for graceful lambrequins and 

 laces Common wood cut prints and black silhouettes are banished from best 

 rooms, and their places usurped by well executed engravings, chromos and photo- 

 graphs ; and in place of wreaths and ornaments of straw and autumnal leaves, we 

 now find elaborately wrought embroideries and other truly artistic ornaments. 

 The flower beds and borders which ornament the house yards are no longer limited 

 to a few varities of common flowering annuals, but teem with a profusion of 

 gaudily colored exotics, gathered from every land with which we have commercial 

 intercourse. Even business houses and offices of professional men seem to have 

 caught the infection, and wherever we go our eyes are gratified to observe efforts 

 at decoration more or less tasteful and mature. 



In short, we are unconsciously tending, in ever}' walk of life and among all class- 

 es of society, to increased love for and devotion to the beautiful, and it behooves 

 our horticulturists to accept the situation and strive to discover and teach correct 

 rules for decoration in selecting varieties of trees and shrubs for groves, yards and 

 streets; and in planting and training the same so as to produce the happiest effects. 

 If this is done now, in this western country, we shall e=cape the infliction of a long 

 succession of incongruities and crudities, through which the individual members of 

 the community will each endeavor in his own way to arrive at the knowledge for 

 himself. Even now, if we will take a cursory look through our respective neigh- 

 borhoods, we can hardly avoid perceiving what results such individual experiments 

 mtist lead to. In a large level yard, where the ground is covered in the spring and 

 early summer with a luxuriant growth of grass, and where shade is essential for 



