76 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1898. 



whole human race in learning the influence of all cultural condi- 

 tions upon plant growth ; the problem of making two blades of 

 grass grow where only one grew before. In giving this lesson 

 we thus place the child in the great tide of human effort which 

 has done more than anything else to advance civilization. There 

 is no bottom and no limit to the amount a child or a man, a 

 horticultural society, or a human race, can learn in such a lesson 

 as this. And, we may add, from throwing about his little plant 

 the best possible conditions of life and growth, it is only a short 

 step, it is in essence the same thing, to placing around any 

 human life that may be entrusted to his care the most favorable 

 conditions for growth, not only physical, but mental and moral 

 as well. 



As a matter of fact, with the kind assistance of your Secretary, 

 a list of about ten plants were selected which would grow rapidly 

 and bloom by the middle of June, thus giving the children gin 

 added satisfaction. Each room was given seeds of the same 

 plant, something very easy, dwarf nasturtium, for the first grade ; 

 and we attempted to distribute them so that the ascending grades 

 would each have a slightly more difficult task. Still the highest 

 grade had dwarf petunia. This is certainly easy to rear, but 

 not one child in the room succeeded in raising a plant from 

 his seeds. As intimated above, the plan of conducting the ex- 

 periment was faulty, as to choice of varieties in the first place, 

 but especially in the fact that the children were not told what 

 kind of seeds had been given them. The idea being to let them, 

 as it were, read a continued story and be eager to see the out- 

 come. But neither parents nor children knew what to look for 

 as the plants came up, and not recognizing them, in many 

 instances, pulled up the flowers and saved the more showy 

 weeds instead. And weeds formed a large part of most of 

 the exhibits. In fact, nothing but weeds were exhibited in 

 the highest grade, and, I fear, the worthy members of this 

 Society who were kind enough to act as judges, Mr. Hadwen 

 and the Hon. Henry L. Parker, considered the experiment a 

 failure. To my own mind, nothing could more fully demonstrate 

 the value and the absolute necessity of such work. Think of it ! 



