556 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 94. 



quires and rewards, and never can rise 

 above this level. 



The relation of horticulture to moral and 

 spiritual health deserves a more extended 

 consideration. The horticulturist deals di- 

 rectly with nature, and finds little or no 

 temptation to juggle or stoop to trickery. 

 " Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he 

 also reap," is immediately and palpably true 

 in his case. Nature never has and never 

 can be cheated. 



The horticulturist, acting as a horticul- 

 turist, soon comes to realize that his success 

 depends upon absolute verity, and he is not 

 likely to be lured from the straight path 

 of integrity and righteousness. When he 

 goes into the markets and becomes a trader 

 he is subjected to the same temptations as 

 others, and may be enticed into some of the 

 many devious ways of rascality. The whole 

 tendency of his vocation, however, conduces 

 most directly to a reverence for honesty and 

 truth. It is likewise conducive to a genuine 

 independence and thorough manliness of 

 character. 



The horticulturist is not obliged to swal- 

 low any creed, support any party, or defer 

 to any prejudice, in order to successfully 

 follow his calling. 



He may be a Democrat, Republican, Popu- 

 list or Prohibitionist ; a gold-bug or a silver- 

 ite ; a free-trader or a protectionist ; Chris- 

 tian or infidel ; yet his fruit and fiowers will 

 sell for exactly what they are worth. Social 

 intolerance of adverse opinions is never 

 directed toward him. 



But it is horticulture as a fine art that has 

 the most abiding influence. Who can meas- 

 ure the efiect of the landscape horticulture 

 of our parks and public grounds, or estimate 

 the value of the external adornment of the 

 home? 



Horticulture is nature's best interpreter, 

 and through this art the blinded eyes may 

 be opened, the dormant aesthetic powers 

 awakened, and the heart made ready for a 



just appreciation of the beautiful. It is well 

 to bring art into our homes, to adorn and 

 decorate them with painting and sculpture; 

 but we must not forget that the sense of 

 beauty must be cultivated before the treas- 

 ures of art can be made our own. If I 

 were called upon to point out one of the 

 most serious weaknesses in our modern sys- 

 tem of education, I should answer, '' its fail- 

 ure to accustom the eyes of childhood and 

 youth to the beautiful in nature." The be- 

 ginning of all true education should be a 

 love, of nature, and nature study ought to be- 

 the dominant note in every educationl sys- 

 tem. 



What a wealth of beauty there is in 

 tree and shrub and flower, a beauty of 

 which we never tire, and which ' is its own 

 excuse for being ! ' When the art of horti- 

 culture arranges trees and shrubs, flowers- 

 and lawn, so as to present an expressive 

 picture to the eye, the beauty is multiplied,, 

 and this development of the beautiful is 

 the end and aim of all landscape horti- 

 culture. 



The claims of horticulture in answering^ 

 our spiritual needs are no less than they 

 are in answering our physical necessities. 



In the first and most essential of human 

 arts we are beginning to recognize one of 

 the last and most useful of human sci- 

 ences. 



Hoiv and where and ivhen can this art and' 

 science best do its appointed work ? 



It is a part of my social creed that there- 

 need be, and should be, no paupers who are 

 not infantile, imbecile or disabled. Yet 

 the world is full of men and women doing 

 nothing, mainly because they don't know 

 how to do anything. To correct this, youth 

 should be a season of instruction in some 

 trade or useful art, as well as in letters and 

 various sciences. There should be a blend- 

 ing of labor with study, of training with 

 teaching, so as to preserve health of body 

 and vigorous activitj'^ of mind. 



