228 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
And, then, as we rest after the day’s toil and gain fresh strength 
and courage from the breezes which rustle the foliage and bear the 
perfume of the flowers, our minds turn with gratitude to the good- 
ness and bounty of the Great Artist and Gardener, who at the 
creation united to its fullest extent the useful and the beautiful, 
and with his omniscient judgment pronounced it all “good.” 
The president next introduced Dr. M. M. Frisselle, who was 
announced to speak of ‘‘The Development of Horticulture.” 
The Doctor said that the secretary had added, after assigning 
him a topic, that he could alter it, or speak of anything he 
pleased, and so he took the occasion to tell in a very pleasant 
speech something of the development of horticulture from a 
biblical standpoint. He said: 
I will speak of the development of horticulture, and I will be 
brief, asI don’t know much about it, for I want to say only what I do 
know. No matter how far back in the history of the world we go, 
the clergymen claim to know all about it. This world has existed a 
good deal longer than some have supposed; some say 60,000 years, 
and perhaps that would not cover it. I don’t know what they did in 
horticulture 60,000 years ago, but I will come down to the Garden of 
Eden. Everybody knows all about this. The clergymen have told 
us all aboutit. The fruits and flowers there are reported to be very 
fine, but I mistrust their being so fine as reported. I believe they 
had no such roses as these. They had fig trees, but those had no 
blossoms that showed. I don’t believe they had any strawberries, 
and on the whole, I don’t believe the horticulture in the Garden of 
Eden began to compare with that of today. Getting along to Noah, 
we find he had a vineyard. I know there is a good deal of enjoy- 
ment in a vineyard, because I have one myself. Noah and his boys 
enjoyed cultivating their vineyard. We even know that he got 
“high” on the fruit of the vine. They must have grown some pretty 
good grapes. I have seen a variety of grape called the Syriac, with 
clusters more than a yard long. I believe in the growth of the 
" grape. 
Solomon did something in the way of gardening and of beau- 
tifying his ground, and I think was a pretty fair horticulturist, 
You know the ladies did a good deal in husbandry in those days, and 
he had a good many ladies to help him, and I think all the fine work 
in his garden was done by the “wife.” Then there is Nebuchadnez- 
zar. Lalways hked Nebuchadnezzar for one thing—not that he ate 
grass—I think he ate salad; but I have always liked him for one 
thing; he always tried to please his wife. She came from a moun- 
tainous region, and when he brought her to the prairie country, he 
built for her the hanging gardens which are so famous in history. 
I think that I shall speak the sentiment of the ladies, when I say 
that Nebuchadnezzar after all had some good qualities. In Egypt 
they did a good deal in agriculture, but I don’t suppose they could 
quite equal this place. They didn’t have greenhouses, but they had 
a good many leeks and onions. The Israelites groaned some when 
they went out to Egypt, because they didn’t have enough onions. 
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