132 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



try boy thoughtful if he has the capacity for thought. He is 

 brought in contact with a power beyoud his reach. The deepest 

 religious sense of the world is connected with comnmniou with 

 nature. 



Discrssiox. 



Rev. A. B. Muzzey said that if the presentation of this subject 

 had taken hold of others as it had of him, it was a happy circum- 

 stance that they could attend this meeting. When he saw this 

 subject in the list for the season, he thought it the best of them 

 all ; it strikes at the root of all the operations of this Society. 

 He would throw no discredit on those who follow the business of 

 horticulture for profit ; but he was amazed to see how much some 

 men care for the accumulation of money while they care nothing 

 for beauty. They appear not to comprehend the love of Nature. 

 He stood not long since talking with a man successful in business 

 and possessing a large property, and expressed to him his admira- 

 tion for a fine orange tree full of fruit, near which they stood. 

 The man replied that he thought the oranges could be raised for 

 seventeen cents apiece. Now that man could not see anything in 

 the plant beyond its market price ; l>ut his remark gave the 

 speaker a shock from which he had as yet hardly recovered. He 

 would have every child so educated as to be able to appreciate 

 beauty, especially the beauty of Nature, from that in the com- 

 monest things around us, up to the beauty and grandeur displayed 

 in the order and glory of the heavenly bodies. How can a mature 

 person see nothing in the objects around him but their pecuniary 

 value ? He was glad to have lived to see a special effort made to 

 interest children in gardening, but even yet there is not enougli 

 interest taken in it. The love of beauty should be called forth and 

 developed in the rising generation. The young no less than the 

 middle-aged of the present time should be led to put their hearts 

 into this work, as one of the most effective means of elevating 

 the present, as well as coming, generations. It should be done 

 unitedly, and by all means and methods, up to calling the 

 attention of government to the matter. While children should be 

 trained intellectuall}^ we ought no longer to neglect a culture of 

 the love and appreciation of the beautiful. 



Henry L. Clapp asked, What is the object of these discussions? 

 If not intended as a means of education he did not know their 



