WOMEN IN HORTICULTURE. 29 



Fashion^ the tyrant, and the near relative of Want, has 

 excluded woman from many channels of usefulness, and 

 often compelled her to walk the downward road to deg- 

 radation. Shall these influences continue to exist when 

 her labor and society are needed in many positions of life 

 where at present she is seldom admitted ? Would not the 

 very presence of w^omen in horticultural society be a ben- 

 efit to the profession ? for out of respect for the ladies 

 some of us -would be more gentlemanly in our dejjortment, 

 and more civil in all of our dealings with each other. We 

 think that it would have this desirable effect, at least it is 

 well worthy of trial. 



This is no insignificant subject, nor one that should be 

 passed with indifference. W"e do not Avish to harp upon 

 the already much abused subject of women's rights or 

 wrongs, but we respectfully submit these remarks in be- 

 half of the general welfare and progress of Horticulture. 

 If our mothers and sisters are so fortunate as to have been 

 born in or raised to a position of comparative freedom 

 from manual labor, Ave should not forget those who are 

 not so well situated, but endeavor to find or make em- 

 ployments that while they furnish the means of subsistence 

 will be the less arduous because of their congeniality. 



Our government has liberally endowed the i:>rospective 

 agricultural colleges of our countiy for the education of 

 men ; Avould it not have been well to give a portion to the 

 endowment of horticultural departments for the education 

 of both sexes ? Must the mothers of great men, yes, of na- 

 tions, be circumscribed in their usefulness, and be compelled 

 to walk in channels unsuitable to their proper development 



