70 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1896. 



could picture fairer flowers for Edeu ! If such results come from the 

 influence and instruction of a horticultural society, is there no other 

 mission within its sphere of work? The answer is that it ought to 

 foster a wider love of the beautiful than exists, for the sake of beauty, 

 and not for the sake of dollars and cents ; it must aim to educate the 

 young to enjoy and to work for floAvers ; it must quicken all to the 

 si)iritual significance of nature. The world is given over to the wor- 

 ship of the material things which conduce so largely to bodily comfort 

 and luxury. We need not go the extent of Ruskin in denouncing the 

 introduction of machinery, but we do need to strive to overcome the 

 tendency of looking at things from a purel}' mercenary point of view. 

 What better way can this be counteracted than by cultivating a love of 

 nature in all its manifestations. To but few is it given to visit the 

 grand and beautiful places of the earth — for all flowers l)loom by the 

 wayside and in gardens, speaking a language known to him who loves 

 them. The highest mission of a horticultural society is to lend its 

 strongest influence to the educating of children to a love of flowers 

 which wijl lead them to be willing to give time and labor for their 

 cultivation. 



At a horticultural exhibition we see the rarest plants which the con- 

 servatories of the wealthy can obtain, the products of hot-houses, 

 whose owners, for the sake of business, vie with each other in display- 

 ing the results of their skill. Their rare exotics adorn the tables of 

 the rich, or the weddings of the millionaires ; while the lilies or violets 

 that ought to bloom only for those who love them are used to assist in 

 a vulgar display. Rarely at these exhibitions is there any place for 

 flowers that have been watched and cared for by some tender lover, for 

 whom " beauty is its own excuse for being" ; or if such are sent they 

 seem out of place by the companionship of their more gaudy and 

 imposing relatives. Committees that award the prizes look upon them 

 very much as "poor relations " are regarded in society. Rather should 

 they be placed in a section where they do not apparently suffer by 

 comparison, and where the contributor may feel that humble efforts in 

 flower culture are appreciated and encouraged. A beneficent work 

 for this Society to do is to publsh lists of plants that will grow in small 

 yards where conditions are unfavorable for many varieties of plant 

 life, and yet where children by care and labor could make some flow- 

 ers grow. It can do more than this — it can urge upon those favored 

 by fortune to give from time to time rose-bushes and hardy shrubs 

 suitable to grow in dooryards to such children and adults who would 

 show sufficient interest to cai-e for them. Doubtless many a florist 



