181)1.] E.SSAY8. 137 



into a fairy-land more hcwilderino: and l)eautiful than tiie 

 fantasies of a Rider Haggard, or even the visions of a Don 

 Quixote, could have conceived to be possible. Not satisfied 

 with these, nor with the processes of forcing the growth of 

 phints, already known, we ex[)criment at Cornell University, 

 and other places to find how much power electric light contains, 

 and may be made to exert for this purpose. 



Edison, the electrician, has recently devised a method by 

 which the utterances of a public speaker, together with an exact 

 representation of his bodily presence, may be given to an assem- 

 bly at any distant point. Let us apply this invention to horti- 

 culture, and we may see the photographs of plants at distant 

 points, and l)e saved the expense of a journey, to examine or 

 purchase them. It is yet an unsolved problem because of its 

 recent application how far electricity may benefit horticulture. 

 Should the motor supplant steam power, and electrical engine 

 supersede the steam engine, as some have prophesied, we shall 

 realize, more fully, its power over nature. 



Those who are actively engaged in horticulture, have ob- 

 served the numberless inventions which tend toward lighten- 

 ing the work of the present century. Labor-saving machines, 

 in almost all departments of their work, are giving them an 

 opportunity for reading and recreation Which their ancestors 

 never enjoyed. These inventions have been sent to difierent 

 parts of the world, until machinery is an important ex- 

 port. Improvements in tools for the horticulturist, improve- 

 ments in greenhouses and methods of heating and ventilatin<r 

 them, improvements in fertilizers and methods of irrigation have 

 led to wonderful results. As a continent, we are not yet fully 

 developed, but we are progressive. As we read the histories 

 of many of the countries of South America, we find the fact 

 stated that one })lant or another would be of profit, were there 

 enough laborers to care properly for them, or more labor-saving 

 machines. South America then is full of resources and capa- 

 bilities, and when more of the inventions of North America 

 together with something of the Yankee energy shall l)e supplied 

 to her, time only will reveal the increased benefits she will 



