Tenth Annual Meeting 67 



the growing of our product and the methods that we pursue, so 

 that he shall know better what values are put into the things 

 that we take to him to sell ? Would it not be a perfectly safe 

 thing to do to consider his judgment with regard to the kind of 

 things we should grow for the market, and through this 

 pleasant sort of copartnership, to be led to fewer mistakes in 

 creating what is ordinarily called a "glut" in the market? 



And then, there is the other fellow, the most important of 

 all: the one who finally buys our products for the table. He 

 is the man to consider. We may not like his judgment; we 

 may think he is a great fool in many instances; but he is 

 there, and he is the man that furnishes us the money, and he 

 furnishes it the more readily to us if we can satisfy his wants 

 and even his whims. So it occurs to me that a pleasant sort of 

 relationship should be engendered between the man who is 

 close to the soil and the one who finally consumes the products 

 of that soil. The relationship will not only add to the stock 

 in trade of the consumer, but it places the consumer upon a 

 higher plane with regard to the products, because he under- 

 stands something of the infinite pains it requires to grow the 

 finest things for his table. 



I am heterodox in another matter, but it seems to me that 

 the horticulturist puts in too many hours of manual labor. He 

 makes of his occupation a piece of drudgery rather than an 

 added delight to his life. How can a man see the brighter 

 side of rural life who puts in sixteen hours in hard work and 

 the other eight in sleep, hardly ever looking up to rest his 

 back, and never thinking about the stars that are above him, 

 on the theory that he cannot get a living and get ahead in 

 the world without doing this. It seems to me that the mistake 

 is that he does not recognize the importance of the "think 

 habit." But the danger is apparent to one who has eyes to 

 see, that a great deal of the success in the life of the horti- 

 culturist depends upon his carefully matured plans, and these he 

 cannot make successfully while he is a slave to the hard manual 

 labor for all the working hours of the day. The time spent in 

 learning what others have done, through the press, through 

 public gatherings and institutes, is the best time that the horti- 

 culturist puts in. It does not breed laziness, but it does 



