PROCEEDINGS OF THE HORTICULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 663 



tions that gladden Iiini, as from step to step he goes onward in liis analy- 

 sis until he attains the results. Actual experience alone can make us 

 acquainted with his joy. 80 it is with the pursuits of the Botanist. 



There are few who cannot admire the beauty and variety of the many 

 Uowers that cloth the meadows, or enjoy the fragrance which they send 

 forth ; but this is a mere drop of pleasure from that stream that flows in 

 upon the soul of the botanist as he treads the fields of nature. The super- 

 ficial observer may indeed be filled with admiration as he contemplates the 

 bright and many colored i)lanis that grow around his pathway, and his 

 spirit charmed with the scene, may say, with the poet Thompson, 



" Who can paint , 



Like Nature ! Can imagination boast 

 Amid her guy crcntion, hue? like these; 

 And oan she mi.v them with that matchless skill, 

 And lay them on so delicately fine, .» 



And lose them in each other, as appears 

 In every bud that blows." 



But the botanist, as he examines the structure and functions of plants, 

 lifts his soul in the language of inspiration, and says, " In wisdom hast 

 thou made them all" ; or, with Milton, 



" Thou sittest above all heavens. 

 To us invisible, or dimly seen 

 In these thy lowest works, yet these declare 

 Thy goodness, beyond thought and power divine." 



It is not, however, a superficial observer of anything who discovers 

 merits or detects faults, it is the close and careful observer. This is pecu- 

 liarly so with the plants that cover the fields of nature. The science of 

 botanical arrangement first assumed a regular form under the auspices of 

 Conrad Gesner and Cesalpinus, but it was reserved fur Linnceus, a native 

 of Sweden, to place it before the world in a systematic and attractive 

 form. His great mind systematized the science, and opened up a pathway 

 which leads the student pleasantly onward in his researches into the arcana 

 of vegetable nature. He saw and urifolded to view the fact that every 

 plant has distinct characters by which it can at once be classified. He 

 also discovered and expounded the generic or family character of each 

 plant, and demonstrated how the various species may be ascertained. A 

 much surer and easier method for the attainment of a knowledge of the 

 science wets by him pointed out, and a great impetus was given to the 

 study of botany by his discoveries and zeal in teaching this branch of 

 natural science. 



Upsala, once the capital of Sweden, where he taught, became a place of 

 great attractions. The students attending his lectures increased from 500 

 to 1,500. It was not, however, his fame alone as a naturalist that caused 

 this great increase. It was also the intecest and importance connected, 

 with the science. Nor was it only in his own country, and among his 

 countrymen that Ik; did so. He awakened the whole civilized and edu- 

 cated portion of mankind, and sent many forth zealously to explore the 

 whole vegetable kingdom. Young men, animated with the spirit of their 

 great teacher, explored every country. Many, indeed, lost their lives in 

 pursuit of their favorite science, but many returned bearing with them, the 



