Reports of Committees. 33 



have made the earth without any adornment. He might have made apples 

 and chestnuts to grow without the beautiful flowers which herald their 

 growth, but in His infinite wisdom and benevolence, He beautified the 

 earth with flowers, and the man who questions the expediency of their cul- 

 ture, questions also the wisdom of the great fruit cause. 



It has always seemed to us a sufficient answer to the cavilers against 

 flowers, to say that God made them, and His works are all good. In im- 

 itating the Great Husbandman we shall not be far astray from the right 

 path. l>ut there are good reasons for God's creation of the flowers, ami 

 good reasons for man's cultivation of them. They serve purposes in the 

 economy of nature which are as essential as the fruits, grains, and vegeta- 

 bles. The latter gratify the sense of taste, and entering the stomach sus- 

 tain our physical system; the former gratify the sense of sight, and also pu- 

 rify the air upon which man lives more constantly than he does upon food. 

 Flowers not only gratify the sense of sight, a higher sense, by the way, 

 than that of taste, but also the sense of smell. The inferior animals may 

 feed upon and tread upon the flowers, and derive no pleasure from their 

 exquisite coloring and fragrance; but man was made capable of higher en- 

 joyments, and he degrades his nature where he lives mainly for the grati- 

 fication of his lower senses. 



This leads us to say that flowers are emblems of moral beauty and puri- 

 ty, and it is chiefly because of their effect on the higher life that we recom- 

 mend their cultivation. A wicked man may be an ardent admirer and cul- 

 tivator of flowers, but they must exert some influence upon him, and there 

 is no knowing how much more wicked he might have been, had it not been 

 for his love of floral beauty. Flowers and wickedness are certainly incon- 

 gruous. When Satan presented his temptation to Mother Eve, he did it 

 in the form of fruit. He knew too much to tempt her with fbwers. 

 Whenever we see a home adorned with flowering shrubs, and a little patch 

 here and there devoted to verbenas and pansies, we expect to find more or 

 less intelligence, refinement, and purity in the household. The contempla- 

 tion of the skill manifest in the arrangement of the stamens, pistils and 

 petals, in the functions which the small parts perform, and in the coloring 

 which so far transcends the aid of man, must lead the mind to thoughts of 

 Him who made all things. If "anundevout astronomer is mad," much 

 more is an undevout florist. The stars are far away, but the flowers come 

 right home to the senses, and under the microscope reveal a perfection of 

 beauty and arrangement unappreciable by the naked eye. 



If a farmer wishes to expel his sons from the pursuits of agriculture, he 

 only has to neglect all esthetic culture, pay no attention to the flowors 

 which grow in spite of his neglect, depise all the embellishments which cost 

 little, but add so much to the comfort of home, and we will warrant the 

 sons will choose some other pursuit in which their tastes can be gratified. 

 God made the world beautiful with flowers, why should we not make our 

 homes beautfiul in the same manner. God made us capable of securing 

 much pleasure from flowers, why should we not cultivate this capacity ? 



We rejoice, therefore, that our agricultural societies are encouraging in- 

 creased attention to the flower garden. These wardens will make the homes 



