IX.] IS THERE PROGRESS? 203 



men. Then there are the catalogues, with their fasci- 

 nating impossibilities, pregnant with the glory that is 

 to come. Between all these diversities, where is the 

 young .man to stand who loves plants and sunshine, and 

 is yet ambitious ! Is there any progress in horticul- 

 ture ? If not, it is dead, uninspiring. We cannot live 

 on the past, good as it is; we must draw our inspira- 

 tion from the future. This subject is of vital personal 

 interest to me; it must be so to you. 



I cannot forego the satisfaction of saying at the out- 

 set, that some of this supposed stagnation must be due 

 to blindness on the part of the observer. The appren- 

 ticed gardener underwent in his youth the stupendous 

 misfortune of having learned the art and science of 

 horticulture. The apprentice system in itself does not 

 often educate a man; that is, it does not make him a 

 student. It teaches him to base the whole art upon 

 rule, personal experience and "authority;" it is apt 

 to make him a narrow man, and he may not readily 

 assimilate novel methods. Those who have looked for 

 progress and have not found it may have looked in the 

 wrong place. It is possible that they do not understand 

 very clearly just what progress is. Those who arc 

 simply indifferent exert little influence upon our in- 

 quiry, and may be omitted. Those who see progress 

 upon all sides may be over -sanguine. Perhaps they 

 project something of their own passion into their state- 

 ments. And the catalogues, being for the most part 

 editorial rather than horticultural productions, may be 

 liberally discounted as evidence. It is apparent, there- 

 fore, that we must make an independent inquiry if we 

 are to answer our own question. Several considerations 

 incline me to believe that progress is not only making, 



