CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



branches, and what interest he took in 

 the growth and ripening of its fruit, 

 and in the gathering and eating of the 

 same. Who can forget the fragrance 

 of the old lilac and syringa bushes in 

 the front yard, or the whiteness of the 

 snowball, or the beautiful brightness of 

 the morning glories that climbed over 

 the porch and kitchen window, or the 

 smiling faces of the old-fashioned tulips, 

 pansies, peonies, poppies, sweet wil- 

 liams and marigolds, that greeted him 

 along the garden walk ? Who does 

 not recall with pleasure the search for 

 wild flowers in the forest, in the early 

 spring time, and the gathering of wild 

 strawberries in the meadows in summer, 

 and the nutting expeditions of autumn % 

 There is a natural taste in childhood 

 for horticulture, and the question how 

 to cultivate and develop it is one of 

 great importance, and one which I am 

 glad to see is taking a place amongst 

 the discussions of our Fruit Growers' 

 Association. The subject of introdu- 

 cing it into our schools and making ex- 

 perimental gardens of our school- 

 grounds, which was brought up at Ot- 

 tawa, is one of importance and which I 

 hope to see carried out ; but in the 

 meantime we should be doing some- 

 thing at home to interest our children 

 there. How many of our farmers ever 

 give their children a rod of ground to 

 cultivate for their own, either for fruit 

 or flowers ? or give them a tree to plant, 

 the fruit of which they may claim as 

 their own ? How few of them ever 

 exercise any taste themselves in laying 

 out their grounds, or in planting shade 

 and ornamental trees, shubbery or 

 flowers, to make their homes attractive ! 

 and yet they wonder when their chil- 

 dren go where these things are, that 

 they should be attracted by them. I 

 believe that the nice grounds and the 

 well-kept lawns stocked with choice 



trees, shrubs and flowers of our town 

 and city residences, are one of the great 

 attractions to farmers' sons and daugh- 

 ters, and that if the home yards were 

 more tastefully adorned with them, 

 where there is no valid excuse for their 

 absence, the young people would be far 

 less inclined to leave their country 

 homes. Then interest the children at 

 home in these things ; give each one 

 a plot of ground for his own ; give 

 them seeds and plants and trees even ; 

 teach them how to cultivate them, and 

 let them feel that they have an owner- 

 ship in the farm, and they will not be 

 in so great a hurry to leave it. A few 

 years ago I was enlarging my fruit 

 garden, and my wife suggested that I 

 should plant a tree for each of the 

 children. It was astonishing with 

 what eagerness they all joined in with 

 the suggestion, even to the youngest, a 

 little girl of six years, — "And can I 

 have a tree too, papa % " she said, " and 

 have the fruit all to my ownself ? " 

 Well it was finally arranged that each 

 member of the family should select a 

 tree of what ever fruit they wanted, 

 and they wei-e planted. None entered 

 more joyously into the scheme than the 

 little ones, and an old uncle in his 

 second childhood who lived with us, 

 and the care and attention that those 

 trees received would put to shame 

 most of our orchardists, each one vie- 

 ing with the other to see who should 

 have the finest tree and the first fruit. 

 The old uncle's ripened first, a golden 

 apricot, which was the last fruit he ate 

 before he entered the golden gates to 

 eat the fruit of the tree which stands 

 by the River of Life, in the Celestial 

 City. The fruit on the other trees 

 lias since ripened and the children will 

 soon be separated, but I am sure none 

 of them will ever forget their own fruit 

 tree on the old homestead. 



