nth January, A. D. 1900. 



ESSAY 



BY 



Rev. McGEE PRATT, Hartford, Conn. 



Theme: — The Justification of the Flower Grower; or the 

 reasons why people grow flowers, and the good 

 they do generally. 



My Friends and Mr. Chairman: — I am very glad to be 

 here. The more I look around the world, the more I under- 

 stand my own limitations and have new revelations of my 

 ignorance of things that pertain to my own life. Now, I had 

 no idea, when coming to Worcester, that I would meet a society 

 so large and so influential as the one that honors me by asking 

 me to address its meeting this afternoon ; and I am sure of one 

 thing, and that is, that if it were possible to trace the influence 

 of this organization, we should find that it has extended well- 

 nigh throughout the State ; that the work done by this society 

 through the long years that it has existed has altered, in some 

 shape or form, for good, the thoughts and habits of hundreds 

 and thousands of men and women. I say that because my 

 thought this afternoon runs something along that line. 



I have talked about technical floriculture so many times that 

 I am almost tired of technicalities, and I thought just for a 

 little while I would get away from the mere elements and 

 methods of culture and see if it were not possible to find out 

 some reasons that have made me, at times, crazy about dowers, 

 and perhaps add some facts to the minds of those who listen to 

 me for just a brief while. 



I have been asked many and many a time in my life, " Mr. 

 Pratt, what in the world is it that so fills your mind with flori- 



