8 



Annals of Horticulture. 



fulness of every detail in a multitude of plants and endeavors 

 is essential to success. So it comes that horticulturists are 

 usually good observers. In fact, in the finer branches, good 

 observation is the chief requirement and . the most important 

 stock in trade. As horticulture appeals to the emotions as 

 well as to the simple requirements of existence, it follows that 

 it becomes a most fitting vocation for a full and happy life. 

 All this demands a culture in the individual, and a keenness of 

 perception which few occupations require ; for occupations 

 are rare in which high emotion is necesssary to the conduct 

 of their elementary principles. All the beauty and variety of 

 contiguous nature and the most interesting types of the 

 vegetation of the world, become plastic materials in the hands 

 of the cultivator. It is but a step from all this material form 

 and color into that larger realm which composes landscapes 

 and paints imaginations, a step so small that horticulture all 

 but passes into fine art. 



Unhappily, there are comparatively few horticulturists who 

 possess the delicacy of feeling necessary to the full enjoyment 

 of the art, and there are perhaps fewer still who have the 

 special knowledge necessary to the largest material success. 

 There are few, even, who know the scope of horticulture. 

 Pomology and floriculture are so widely separate in the minds 

 of most cultivators that no affinities are seen between them. 

 The horticulturist must possess both narrowness of applica- 

 tion and breadth of view. He not only needs books, but he 

 must have them. To read and to digest his thoughts must be- 

 come a part of his business rather than wholly his pleasure. 



