AS BELATED TO WEALTH. 105 



has not failed, but we have failed for the want of 

 science. As we bend our minds to patient study 

 and careful observation, we may be able to arrest 

 disease in plants, improve those already useful to 

 man, and discover valuable properties in thousands 

 now apparently useless. Many of our valuable 

 fruits were once entirely useless or noxious. That 

 they have been brought to perfection, or that all 

 those capable of such improvement have already 

 been pressed into the service of man, we have no 

 reason to believe. In fact, the progress made every 

 year, and especially the progress made the last 

 twenty years, gives great promise for the future. 

 This rapid progress has been made because those 

 engaged in Agriculture and Horticulture have 

 worked by the light of science. When we see 

 beautiful nurseries and gardens, we shall find in 

 the owner or keeper the knowledge of the science 

 for which we are here contending. If they have 

 not the broad principles, we shall find them acting 

 by the rules of some broader mind, who is at home 

 with Decandolle, and Lindley, and Lowdon, and 

 Gray. We can hardly overestimate the advantage 



